Calex Express....My New Home!

Glad you made it home buddy. I would write about my adventure as well but it will be boring compared to yours. BTW I hope the Volvo dealership here in Pittston does not observe MLK day. I am growing tired of this hotel room.

 

Well here goes......

I loaded in Belle Glade Wednesday and was done at 3pm. I had an open window for delivery Friday morning between 7 and noon. I got there right at midnight Thursday night. I was the first truck there so they told me to back in and they would knock on my door around 5am so I could open up the doors to get unloaded. At 5am they knocked, told me to open the doors and they would bring me my paperwork after getting unloaded. I've been here about a half dozen times and they are real quick about unloading, the problem is they have to wait on an FDA inspector to give them the ok before they sign the bills. At 10am I got my bills and got ready to leave.

It had gotten real cold during the night so I had my APU running. I started my truck up and heard a God awful rattle coming from the floorboard between the seats. The rattle stopped after the air built up and my air dryer went off. I had 125 miles to go to get to the terminal so I figured by noon I would be there. As I was turning into the yard the rattle got worse. I dropped my trailer then went to the shop and had one of the mechanics listen to the noise. Not good I was told. Then I spoke to Ray who is the head of the shop and explained the problem to him. He told me flat out in no uncertain terms that my engine just blew.

What actually happened to my truck was a known problem to Volvo and that mine was number 10 to have this problem happen. A gear that is on the back of the engine that attachés to the air compressor let go. This problem has been diagnosed by Volvo as their mistake, and when it goes they are replacing the engines with new ones under warranty. Apparently when these gears fail it contaminates the whole inside of the engine to the point of not being able to rebuild them so that is why they are replacing them. They found out that instead of putting a nut with a lock on the gear, they only torqued it, thus the failure. The problem is not that the engine needs to be replaced, the problem is Volvo is slow in manufacturing replacement engines. We have a truck in Washington state with the same problem, and after 6 weeks finally got an engine for it. My truck, with just 226k on the clock will be layed up for about 8 weeks.

Now the icing on the cake so to speak. I was given a choice of trucks after it was finally decided my truck was only going to our Volvo dealer and not back to Florida with me. One truck which was totally spotless was one of the 670's with a 10 speed and no APU, the other was one that was one of our older ones that had close to 800k on it. I checked both these trucks out and decided right there that this was not going to work. So in the 20 degree, windy and snowing day I walked into safety and explained to Brian that after being here almost 3 years, never asking for a thing, and never damaging any piece of our equipment or any other companies equipment, I feel I shouldn't be going in reverse on the truck assignment list. I guess talking things out in a peaceful, diplomatic way does work.

He looked at his list again and lo and behold I was offered another truck, my last one that took Volvo since last August to figure out what was wrong with it. I got out of xx311 with 398,065 on the clock on August 13th. and got it back January 13th with 398,250 miles on it. He told me that he wanted to make sure it was ready to go so he went in and asked Ray. Ray came in and told me it needed a new starter and that worse case I would get it Saturday by noon, best case Friday before 5. At 2pm Friday they pulled the truck into the shop, at 4pm it was finished.

Now the fun part, moving, again. I already was dispatched for my Florida load the day before and it was ready for me in McElhattan to pick up after 10am. Louie said that I could pick the trailer up Saturday with no problem. I had a chance to get home on Saturday afternoon, now it was more like Sunday around 5pm. I unloaded my blown engine truck and threw everything in xx311 in the freezing cold and windy night in northeast PA. I left the yard about 8pm and made it to the last rest area on 80 before the cutoff to McElhattan. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I pulled in the rest area, grabbed about a 40 minute nap over the steering wheel then went the last 20 miles to get my trailer. I got my paperwork, drop and hooked in record time then made it down to Lamar at the TA to take my 10 hour break.

And here I am, home. I only get to be home tonight. I won't even get to take a reset. Louie said he is over booked with west coast freight next week and that's where I'll be headed. Oh, xx311, it ran like a champ the whole way down this weekend. I will probably keep this truck, we'll see.

I do have to say thanks to Brian for understanding where I was coming from and agreeing with me about the truck assignment. I also want to say thanks to Ray for making sure my new old truck was fixed Friday in record time. Thanks guy's, very much appreciated!

 

Never any fun when you have truck problems but you hit the the nail on the head, sometimes you have to know how to handle things the right way. Plus it's nice when the company steps up to plate to make things right.


Two thumbs up for JohnBoy and Calex!!!!!!!!

 

Getting ready to leave for my delivery in the morning in Orlando. I got my preplan for tomorrow. I load at the Budweiser plant in Jacksonville at 3pm going to Wilmington NC for 7am Wednesday.

 

John , sorry to hear of all your problems with your truck. If you have not been to the Budweiser in Wilmington before, be sure and turn the street before the address. Otherwise you will end up on a truck restricited route and no place to turn around. Guess how I know this? Be safe

 

Thanks John. Are you in Orlando for tomorrow?

 

No, dropped this AM in Orlando ,heading out Wed.

 

Just dropped my load at Mt. Top Pa. I need to be back at the same place at 6am to pick up my loaded one going to Plant City Fl for Wednesday. I'm already preplanned to reload a load of lettuce in Belle Glade Wednesday afternoon going back to Florence NJ. I'll be home Saturday afternoon and can finally get my logbook in shape with a reset.

 

Yep, sounds like you had a crazy week so enjoy that time off and be safe heading home.

Can't wait to get back to Pa it will feel like Florida to me. Been up here in Wis, Minn, past couple days, talk about cold WOW!!!!!!!

 

Hey johnboy, I live in the Ontario,ca area. If I was lucky enough to get on with calex would I be able to get home weekly? Or do cali drivers run to the east and back? What would be a typical run? Thanks.