'Must Have' Tools

Allen and torx bits are often overlooked but certainly come in handy. These have been mentioned already but several pairs of vise grips of different sizes and a ton of zip ties are my most used tools aside from the tire thumper. I also carry some fat washers and always at least one spare mud flap. Check the back curb at the truck stop and see what fancies you. You're guaranteed to find a dozen laying there. Not so much a tool, but don't forget a good first aid kit too.

 

So, the starter goes out, you got it covered? The alternator? Fuel tank strap? Oh- and the hex to take the dash apart.

I have done many things to cripple leg a truck back to the yard or even to deliver the load.

Help from a driver that knows more than you is always almost needed.

Just remember this, with 95% or more companies out there you are more than expendable.

You open yourself up to a bag of worms if something goes wrong after you touch that truck.

Besides that, chances are you are working on it for free.

I have so many tools in my truck I not only can drop tires on the road but wouldn't need to many more to rip into the engine itself.

Pushing sticks into airlines just so I can keep rolling?

Doesn't. Matter if I can call my mechanic or not, I will not do to much on someone elses truck.

Brownie points in trucking gets you nothing!

I almost forgot, say you have a water leak and you decide to fix it only to find out later it found it's next weak spot, now truck over heated and blew the head apart along with a bunch more damage, remeber- all you needed was a screwdriver and a knife so you can cut the bad part out and it's all fixed.

 

Best to do your pre trip and leave the mechanical errors to fall on the mechanic not you.

 

If the solenoid is junk? Jump starting is not what you need, sometimes you can take a screwdriver and cross the starter solenoid terminals and get a few more start ups out of it.

Again I say to you- best leave what you don't know alone.

 

You said it right - a monkey can fix.

The monkey was trained, was the driver?

 

Filter wrench. (and spare fuel filters)

 

Yes, with a lot of things that are on the truck that are not easily fixed, and I'm not talking lightbulbs or mud flaps or even fuel filters, I don't want a driver screwing it up even more.

Most of the time the monkeys are smarter than the drivers and know better then to attempt a repair, especially things like a tire.

here's one for you that cost me some money, I have a driver who was going east on I-8 east of Yuma, close to Ligurta. He just got out of the Loves after he did his 10. He was on the road passing another truck doing 55. He is passing the trailer and as he is approaching the truck, he hears a BOOM and the truck swerved into his lane and clipped him, running him off the road. The driver blew the left steer.

So in finding out about this, my driver informed me this guy was sitting at the Loves in Yuma with a flat and he repaired it himself. This guy told my driver when he aired it up, he kept loosing air so the brainiac put in as much air as he could so he could make it to the next rest area or Gila Bend (I don't remember which one) to fill it again. But the reason he was losing air was because he didn't plug the tire right, it wasn't all the way past the carcass and he didn't use any sealant.

The tire ran low, heated up and blew out.

The loses I could not recover from insurance was about $23k, my lawyer was going to pursue suing the company and driver both but when he did the background check on the driver, his assets were less than I spent on fuel for my pickup that year - so it was pretty much a write off for me. My lawyer went after the company because they provided the tool kit, I know this sounds petty but imagine your wife and kids were passing a clown like this and he hits them, it has to be something said about some of this stupidity.

NOW here is the thing, you may think this is absurd but when some one who is not a mechanic, not trained to be one, nor is tested on any real functioning of the truck repairs something on the truck, then causes an accident, isn't prudent to say that the best tool is the road service phone number?

 

He plug repaired a steer tire? Wtf!

 

Sometimes the smallest things can help limp you in. Used a pop can tab like this to keep the trailer lights on for over 100 miles,