New company giving me old truck

I wouldn't have took the job on that alone.

But since you did.
Did you ask the 2nd most important
Question after they told you it has no APU.

Do they have idle restrictions.
Do you have to freeze your ### of for a paycheck.
Are they going to harrass you every day about
Idling the truck.
Your not going to want to fight that battle
Everyday.

Do you want to be miserable all the time in a
Parked truck with no heat or air conditioner.
Winter is coming.

I would get the answers to these questions before
I set foot in orientation.

I wouldn't take any job that I have to sleep
In the truck,without a APU.
Those days are long gone.

If they don't have them, they either can't afford them,
Or they don't give a crap about the drivers.
It's bad sign either way.

I know small 5 truck outfits who have them in
Every truck. There's no excuse for it.

 

There has been a few trucks older than I was on the earth running pretty well in my time.

The oldest one I recall was two. One was a 1958ish white two axle hood day cab. 17 foot strick I think van with rounded front and wheeled landing gear One axle in the back. The other was a late 40's Diamond. I will have to look up the archives to see the model year in particular. That one was well maintained, loved on as it putts about the milk route back in the 80's

One was a dodge 55' flatbed dually three manual on the tree With approximately a 460 in it or bigger gasoline V8. Weighed it down with 15000 pounds of stone was pretty good considering. Normally a flatbed is not a stone truck and its not very fast with that heap on the back. (Don't lose a stone, you buy new windshields then...) get to the farm and dump it easy up and off.

There was a mack 20's bulldog with chaindrive and a 4 foot 2 inch thick wooden steering wheel up and down in front of the open cab bench. Solid tires. I did a circle with it a and a figure 8 and that was in a field on one of our steam up days either Carroll or Arcadia among other events. Let me tell you on grass that steering wheel kicked my ###. Arms were like rubber and I was pretty fit in those days.

I can only imagine trying to arm wrestle say a 40 year old int the 30's who make a living driving that #### thing loaded. Like to break my bones.

To the OP with the older truck, hand that to me. There are big advantages to having a older (Read: Much older...) truck in a company. Boss knows I will love on it and drive it more or less properly. But he will have to have Napa on hand with parts and tool orders now and then for it. Starting with a pile of toggle switches and a couple of spools of stranded treated silver wire 8 gauge couple thousand feet, two colors.

Make sure you have a allout idle policy. Meaning you idle 24/7 and no one gives a #### except California and their clear marbles disposing stacks in the back of the cab. (And preferably no emssions.) But if you are sleeping in a emissions truck then you need to have cotton pants no nylon or plastic clothing (Burn and melt into you with horrible problems...) ready to bail at any time because your engine will be running high to maintain the necessary heat levels burning the urine inside your emissions box.

 

Nothing wrong with idling, as long as they never,
Ever,ever,say a word to you about it.

I think it's a gallon a hour of diesel idling the truck,
you add that Up over a week.
Trust me when I tell you, the first thing to go
When money or freight gets tight is you idling
That truck.
No matter what they say.

You never had a truck without a APU,
Well now you're gonna find out why once
You have one, you won't ever go OTR without
One again.

Good luck.
The first time they say one word about how
Much fuel your burning, you tell them when
They turn off the air conditioner in the office,
You'll turn off the truck.

 

Nick, you are right to be concerned. Most companies lease their trucks and then get rid of them after four years.
Check and see how many mechanics the have and how busy they are. Ask one of the mechanics ,discreetly, about any previous mechanical issues with that specific truck. He will probably tell you if you make it clear the info is confidential. Have them check all the fuses before you leave. Check both the a/c and the heater. Check all lights (which you should do anyways). If you are a new driver, they probably stuck you with this truck because no one else wants to drive it, or possibly the last driver quit and did not report any ongoing mechanical issues. Make sure the truck has no visible vehicle code violations, which means no tape and no cracks anywhere.
If your truck indicates an issue, such as "check engine fault" do not drive it until the issue is resolved. Do not listen to them if they tell you to ignore it, it means there is an issue with the truck which has to be addressed. If you drive it and it breaks down, you will get blamed because your truck's computer indicated there was an issue and you didn't get it resolved. I also would not drive an older truck without first ascertaining the company's breakdown policy, i.e. do they pay for a motel room in case of breakdown? Give you any money for good? Detention?

Believe it or not, some companies send their drivers out using trucks with preexisting issues, but no one tells you. Unfortunately, once the truck breaks down somewhere far from home, you are at th he mercy of your employer to provide shelter or a Greyhound ticket home. And some companies are reluctant to assume responsibility.

Believe it or not I have been placed in numerous situations such as this, where there were existing issues with a truck and the company I worked for did not want to address the underlying issues, which r

 

I wouldn't worry about the truck

I'd be more concerned with the maintanance.

I went from a brand new FL. To a 07 w900.

 

Just don’t be like this poor soul....

 

Truck companies are known to take real good care of their trucks and equipment so the drivers are happy...?

There is a difference between if you own the truck and you make the decision about the maintenance; and someone else own the truck and they make the decision about maintenance for the drivers.

 

Us old guys that drove the junk when we started out.. because that's the way it was... you work your way up..
Are chuckling at this thread.

You'd pop a gasket if you had to drive the heaps we were assigned.