Cold weather starts

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Gunner75, Jan 1, 2018.

  1. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    Told this story a few years back...

    Was running down i81 in PA, 1am, when I saw a truck on the shoulder, with the trailer on fire. I slow down and I see the driver with his interior light on, holding the phone to his head. He was probably calling Night dispatch and asking what to do.

    I said on the CB, “Driver, drop the trailer!” A few minutes later, I hear another hand say, “I wonder if he knows that he should drop that trailer.”

    Every company has their company policy. Some drivers have to keep their idling at a certain level. Some can’t drop their trailers without authorization. Some can’t add additives. Some can’t think for themselves. Some have authorized fuel stops. Some have weapons policies.

    But bad things happen. A few months ago, I made a comment about the number of trucks that got flooded over in the Loves in Baytown Texas after Harvey. How in the heck does something like that happen when you have an entire week to clear the area? Well, the drivers had to wait for the desk jockeys to make a decision. And they got flooded.

    In the big blizzards, when the road gets shut down, the truck stops are going to run out of fuel within 4 hours. And here you are at an unauthorized fuel stop. They will allow you to run out of fuel in a blizzard.

    I got stuck in MinotND one winter, waiting for a load. I had some woman call me and tell me that I had been idling the truck for 24 hours and that was unacceptable. I told her that when the sun was up, the temperature outside was 3 degrees. She tells me, “Driver if you are cold, turn the heat wide open for 15 minutes, close the curtain to the sleeper, bundle up, and turn the engine off.

    I have a company policy: Staying Alive.
     
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  3. gokiddogo

    gokiddogo Road Train Member

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    Turn the truck off when it's very cold....ya ok ... and when it refuses to start they will probably want you to get on a bicycle with a small generator to charge it...
     
    Grubby, Bean Jr., snowwy and 1 other person Thank this.
  4. nax

    nax Road Train Member

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    LMAO!!
     
  5. intrepidor

    intrepidor Medium Load Member

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    I can remember my Dad standing on the back of a cabover being pulled down the highway squirting ether into it.
     
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  6. Diesel Dave

    Diesel Dave Last Few of the OUTLAWS

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    I was referring to the ones “without the heater or glow plugs”. Common sense.
     
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  7. d281833

    d281833 Heavy Load Member

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    Ain't nothin' common about it anymore.
     
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  8. magoo68

    magoo68 Road Train Member

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    As a company driver my theory was if they let me bring it home I plugged it in .. if at company yard I plugged it in so to return the favour of bringing it home I did the same
     
    Oxbow Thanks this.
  9. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Im a little foggy from those days, that taste in the mouth has not yet burned off... =)
     
  10. s0231198

    s0231198 Light Load Member

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  11. Ezrider_48501

    Ezrider_48501 Road Train Member

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    here was about a week ago or so when i wasn't paying attention to the forecast and was caught a little off guard by a -20* morning

     
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