Basic truck care

Wow..u have an old school instructor. Good. Keep your ears open and ask him lots 'o questions.

Basic maintenance begins with preventivery maintenance. Tire pressures oil levels easy on the tranny stuff like that. Also when u do a pm, don't skimp. Even check the air dryer cartridge.

Smooth sailin.

 

A large part of the US fleet you can't idle for long before the engine idle cutoff stops the engine anyway.

 

If you get a newer truck that is properly maintained, and you don't beat it up, there will be very little for you to worry about other then making sure everything looks good. However, if you get an older truck, a lemon, or a truck that has not been well maintained or well operated ... well, good luck and you can't be too careful.

Modern engines are almost bullet proof and idiot proof. You will hear stories about the DPF (exhaust treatment) components failing, but most of the bugs have been worked out lately, and as long as they are properly maintained with proper replacement parts, they just aren't a problem anymore, either. You'll know in the first 2 months what kind of truck you were issued and if it's going to make you money or make you sit a lot. (and it's a crap shoot at many large and small carriers)

 

Just set the cruise control. Overrides (most) auto kills

 

When you get your truck, read the manual. Familiarize yourself with the warning gauges so you don't end up seeing one and not having any idea what it means or if you need to worry about it right now. (Or ever.)

The manual should give you a run down on what to do with it. Warm up, cool down, draining tanks. On a def truck with battery kill switch don't shut that off until the pumps have cycled the def out of the lines, etc.

 

Turbo will actually be good just sitting at a stop sign then pulling into the stop & parking. That's more for a rest area scenario.

Somin to think about before you jump out 100 mph to pee.

Buy a big sack of bulbs for your truck so you don't have to call your road service....don't be THAT guy xD.
Ask them to show you where the turn signals get pulled out so you know where to stick said bulb into plug.

....we've all been there stealing a brake light from another company(the same) trailer in Nogales Pharr or whatnot... Keep a stock of bulbs.

 

I would be curious how many fleets have left that function in, and how many (like FedEx Freight) have overridden even that function? They started doing that back when I was still there as a fuel saving measure.