Roehl....from a wife's point of veiw

All your husband had to say is I don't feel safe driving the truck and I'm shutting down. Get someone here to fix it. We had our air dryer freeze up in Wy with winter and maintenance wanted us to see if we could free it up. They tell you to try things because maybe there will be an instance where your husband is on some back road somewhere and making a temporary fix would mean the difference from sitting there until someone could get there or nursing it to a t/s. But all he had to say is no I don't feel comfortable. We said we tried and couldn't get it free. Got it to the Pilot in Evanston and Road Service was there to fix it.

 

I had some problems in TN awhile back. Called maintenance, they tried getting me to do a bunch of things. I told them I wasn't a mechanic, I didn't understand anything he was talking about (parts wise) and that I wasn't going to risk breaking it more. There was a wrecker there twenty minutes later.

 

I was going LA to some place in Florida when across Texas I started hearing this horrible grinding noise. Got so bad I pulled over. I was afraid to stay on the interstate so I took some old highway and stopped at several places to talk to locals and ask for help. My company mechanic tried to help but pretty much told me I'd have to contact the Volvo dealer in San Antonio which was close to 100 miles away. Now I'm wondering how I'm supposed to call them when I don't even have their number. I'm thinking "Wouldn't it be easier for the company mechanic to call the dealership?" I don't know much at all about trucks.

I get frustrated and call my brother. I ask him if it could be a front wheel bearing that is grinding. He says maybe. I'm worried it is the tranny. I finally nurse the truck to a fix it shop where the mechanic is so busy I go back to my truck and just stand there looking at the rig from a distance with frustration clouding my vision. Then I see it. The back of the truck is sunk down and the front of the trailer is sunk down. I crawl under the drive wheels and find a mysterious metal rod hanging loose off the frame. I call my mechanic back and he tells me it is a leveling rod and to look for where it used to be connected. I find a broken plastic fitting like a rod end. I lift the rod back into place and realize it inflates the airbags.

So now I have done something. I go inside and spend my own money to buy some wire and a vise grips. I tie that rod into place and get back on the road to Houston for my first drop at Walmart DC. I am almost late after busting my *** to get through traffic during rushhour. I get to Walmart DC and they tell me I am supposed to have delivered my load before I ever picked it up in LA. Huh? Is that really possible? Dispatch says Walmart is crazy but I get to spend 24 hours in the punishment box at local Flying J before Walmart will unload me. Now I'm 24 hours late getting on the road to the next Walmart DC in FL. And I thought fixing the truck was the worst part of my day. Hell I was actually proud of myself for that.

It's always better to fix the truck yourself than rely on people who don't care while your not getting any miles.

BRI

 

I would rather not do it. If there is something I can do, something small and blatantly obvious just to make it to a safe place, ok, but otherwise no. I am not a mechanic. I am not paid to be a mechanic. If I mess it up worse, guess who gets blamed... Yeah.

 

I agree. Little things no problem but I don't want to screw up something even further. I had the brake chamber go on a trailer I was pulling on Hwy 12 in Chicago suburb. I put on the 4-ways, put out the safety markers, a city cop pulled up behind me and my husband called break down to get a wrecker there. The guy did something to release the spring brake and he led me to a vacant lot where he replaced it. By the way the mechanic also found a problem with one of the brake shoes which would have caused a problem. We drove back to Gary Terminal and gave the old brake chamber to parts and had maintenance red tag the trailer.

 

It depends on what it is whether or not I'll fix it.
I had a fuel filter on my reefer engine spring a leak last week. Happened to be down the street from a large TA. Called maintenance and had them give me a PO for the filter, I put it on and was on the road again in about 30 minutes.
It was a spin on type filter and I didn't have to re-prime the engine (thank God!) so it was an easy fix that would have taken 2-3 hours if I had to wait on the TA people to do it because the shop was full.
Yeah, I saved the company some money, but I look at it more like I made me more money by keeping on the road instead of sitting and waiting.

 

That's the spirit hammer! I think the wrenches up in Marshfield would try to talk you through an engine rebuild on the side of the road if you let them.

 

You are absolutely right there!
I saw the problem, called them and told them to give me the PO and that I was going to put it on. Didn't even wait on them to pull their "I'll call you back in 4 hours with a shop to take it to" BS. Saw it, fixed it, down the road...
Granted it was a pretty minor fix though, but they have a tendency to make those minor fixes last half a day sometimes.

 

As was posted by a couple of others. A driver should be prepared to make simple repairs on the rig.Being an owner operator for years taught me this. Later on driving a company truck,I always had a toolbox stored in the sidebox of the truck.Sorta makes sense to do the little things yourself and keep rollin. No a driver should not have to be a mechanic,but just a little mechanical knowledge is sure helpful out on the road. Example,I did a drop and hook one morning in St.Paul,MN.It was 17 below zero and the air slide for the trailer tandems was froze up. I called the maint.dept. and the guy gave me a couple of tips to free it up.And by golly they worked,10 minutes later I had the tandems slid to where I wanted them and was on my way to WI. to pick up a load going to Atlanta. Had I waited around for road maint.to get there I would have missed out on a load with good miles.Now,who was further ahead by me doing a simple job,Roehl for not having to send out a repair truck,or me for getting to my load with the good miles? In my opinion,we both were further ahead. Not everybody looks at things that way. Another item,Roehl furnishes each driver with a fuel filter for the truck.I changed a couple of these on the road,with no problems.I also saw other drivers take the truck to a truckstop and have it changed there,and Roehl woud pay for it.Not a big deal,but I would just as soon do it myself and get moving.