Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Actually these new ones only have 100 gallon tanks on both sides. I've scaled 44500 Gatorade, full of fuel legally. Shorter wheel base. Still turn and ride good. Only made for one person. Behind drivers seat is microwave spot and fridge, behind passenger seat is TV hole and cabinet for hanging clothes. I had to buy plastic see through containers to store can goods under my bunk. Plus...I'm fat. My belly only clears the steering wheel by literally 2 inches. That's with the seat all the way down and back.

*Also this new system on the Qualcomm will take some getting use to. Every time a status change, you have to add a note. No way around it. Plus add the load info. Seems like it kicks over to driving way faster than the older ones.

No problems with the truck so far, except antifreeze. After 800 miles I had to add a gallon to get it back to full. Dont know if it blowed some out or a leak. I'm watching it closely.

 

Thanks for the info.
How does it handle that much weight going down the hill with Gatorade?

 

Yeah, that's the "Intelligent Vehicle Gateway" unit. Funny story, a few months back it worked just like the old QC units. Then in the middle of the day Omnitracs dropped an unnounced major update to only the IVG units, and not just the ones at Abilene. Gone were the days you could go a few days without getting your load tab up to date and daily logs certified (previously "approved"). Now they have to be up to date each day or it'll throw up a certify notice before you can make a duty status change, or it will not let you do anything at all until you get the load tab back up to at least the current day. It also removed the "Driving" button from the user-initiated duty status. It now determines that status automatically via the wheel sensors. Now you REALLY have to watch all that slow movement getting around locations, like going from a guard shack to the dock. It'll switch that back as Driving if you go too far or too fast. That can be avoided/exploited by just changing to any other status before you roll off. I lost a LOT of time those first few days before I figured any of this stuff out, both on my HOS and my life.

Even with the update the IVG has some things over the other units. It seems to lag less even when your message queue is full, I'm guessing it has more onboard RAM. It also has the option to recalibrate the touchscreen so unless you've physically damaged it you can fix that problem without any downtime getting the unit replaced. And it has the physical buttons on the unit for brightness, volume, and Home. That in itself is drastically more user-friendly.

 

Well, I'm still learning the disc brakes but the engine brake is just a noise. Doesn't seem to do anything really. Usually 80mph down and 10mph up lol.

 

Boarshead Ocala for the morning,looks like one of those Abilene specials lol.

 

Whats the deal with it.

 

Ocala is a piece of cake. Try one of the pickle runs down there in FL. 10 stops and each one tighter than the one before.

 

Theres 2 different ocalas you been to the one on se 1st ave.

 

Really!
My KW is older and it goes allot faster uphill. I guess maybe is a safety thing.