Cargo Express - Boise Idaho

JUST THE FACTS MAM...JUST THE FACTS!

How many times you have to be told...knock off the common sense and factual stuff....it confuses far too many!

 

I know what an ICC bumper is, just asking why it is still referred to as such. It hasn't been since 1967. Oh well, small potatoes I know. It is much more concerning to me when I talk to a driver that has a Hazmat endorsment and he can't tell me what class eight is. I wonder if they could call the color of the placard?? Note to: self.
I talked today, to a driver that had seventeen years of experience. He told me that in all that drive time, pre-trips and people he had met, no one had ever told him how to check a truck for broken motor mounts. How does that happen?? I said something to him about doing a "tug test" to check brakes and got on the topic. While he was pondering the idea, I could not help but be appaulled at that. Needless to say his idea of a brake test was foggier than fisherman's warf. It is an often occurence. I tend to get the same reaction from drivers while discussing starters, checking connections and security thereof.
I got into trucking ten years ago. I was working at a landscape company for $9 an hour and had to pick up concrete blocks to do a retaining wall. I sat on my 16' trailer waiting for the load and watched as a driver attempted, three times to throw a strap over his flat bed load. It was then that I knew I was in.
I thought by getting in to trucking I had broken the family mold of teachers. I mean allll of 'em. I know why I am, where I am. The trucking industry needs teachers too. Lots of 'em. Recession?? What recession??
Drivers be safe out there and thank you. SnyB

 

Usually once something has a name it's hard to change it.

ICC it's been for years, it's easy to discern what you said in a noisy environment and what else would we call it but something like the trailer bumper? It's easier to say ICC and we all know what was said! We know that there is no more department of the gooberment called the ICC!

I have never know how to check for broken motor mounts! How would you "tug" a 500 or more pound engine? The only way I would think of checking for a broken mount is to maybe hear the engine thumping, excessive shaking at start up or watch the engine while you turn the key. If it torques to much to the side that might be a good indicator that one is broken. or maybe use a very long crowbar and just slide in next to the mount and do what you have to,to get it to move. If there is a way someone tell us!

A simple way to test brakes is to be on gravel. Turn to your left and as the tractor is coming around start to put pressure on the brakes and watch in the mirror to see if they engage at the same time then turn the other way and do the same.

BUT the best way to check your brakes is to have a slack adjuster tool and a tape measure or ruler and slide under the truck and put the tool over the slack adjuster and push the brake forward and have the tape against the rod and measure the travel.

OR get those colored plastic "washers" that go over the rods and slide then till they set against the air chamber then go to the tractor and apply air pressure to the brakes and then go back and measure the distance the washers moved on the rod.
The travel should not be more than 1.5" any more than that and the brakes need adjustment.

The easiest way to adjust self adjusting brakes is to move the truck at maybe 1MPH or so and then put about 30 pounds of air pressure on the brakes. Do this several times. You WILL feel the brakes come into adjustment. Then put the truck in reverse and do it again. your brakes will be in adjustment but still go back and look at the distance between the brake pad/shoe and the drum. They should all be about the same distance. If one has a much bigger distance you should really have a mechanic check that brake out. You can also do this while coming to a stop. Just give the brakes the 30 pounds and stop roll a bit then do it again. Also you will NOT wear out your brakes doing this. Heat causes the brakes to wear out but you are not creating heat when you are barely rolling. Besides that is how they were designed to adjust.
FYI: For those of you who always use the trolley handle or hand brake you are not adjusting your tractor brakes if you have self adjusters on them. I have seen many O/O's and L/P's thinking they're saving their tractor brakes using the companies trailer brakes for stopping, get written up at a DOT on their tractors because they were out of adjustment! They didn't save much after the fines!
I always did an adjustment before I pulled out of the parking spot each day before I started my drive. It also lets you check your emerency brakes and air horn warning too! They will go off when you are at the end of this cycle! And I have to ask...how many of you really do check to see if your low air horn works and the emerency brakes pop out when they should?
Lets see those hands! Now you can do it every day and kill two birds with one stone! brakes adjusting and air pressure check!

DO NOT do an adjustment on a self adjusting slack adjuster yourself unless you have been trained to do so! A manual you can IF you were trained to do so BUT NEVER let a DOT officer see you do it if you were put OOS for brakes! He'll still have you call a mechanic as you aint one unless you have your certification on you and a lot of them do not recognise "I own the thing" much any more!

 

I only see one thing I can "disagree" with you on. the "tug test" is to ensure the 5th wheel has a secure grab on the trailer...not a brake test or a motor mount test. Once you hook to the trailer, (4th gear is enough tug) a slight tug to be sure you are hooked...then get out and do your walk around, and under checking for the king pin lock bar has positioned correctly. Of course all air has been activated before leaving the cab...hard to understand how these drivers can check for an air leak if the air hasn't been applied! But I have seen it...so many do just that...check the trailer without applying air...just doesn't make any sense to me!

 

And with you at the helm, I'm sure they will get there, Dennis.

 

So, did you hire the guy?

 

I never said that a tug test was a sufficiant brake test nor a motor mount test. The idea in the tug test to check motor mounts, is that a short tug (with the hood up) can create, as the other guy said, a slight thud or or improper movement in the engine to the rest of the vehicle. The only true inspection of these is to physically look at them on the inside of both frame rails. I have never spotted one yet but did discover a broken cab mount on a truck once while inspecting the other. In telling folks the importance of the rear area of the block you can get them looking at fuel lines to the head, starter, hear air leaks on the top of the transmission and so on.
I also advise in the up keep of a personal maintenance log documenting such dates and items checked. Things that do not have to be checked daily, like, under cab shocks and exaust mounts under the cab.

The best "find" I have had in doing a pre-trip so far was a dead snake in the air filter housing. I have always made it habit to pinch the rubber collection ports attatched to most AFH's and did so one day only to discover a bull snake's head falling out. I removed the air filter and found the rest of him in there. About 2-1/2' to 3' long. Don't ask me how. It was not my truck. Just checking one over with students. I could not get over the smell though. How the hell could the driver not smell that in the cab??

I agree with you Otterhalf, about the MV3 valves to hear leaks on the tractor/trailer as one does his/her walk around.

The breakdown occurs when the following happens....I give a driver a road test. He does quite well on the pre-trip portion of that test. I qualify him for employment by MY employer. I see, said driver, waiting most of the day in the lounge for his truck to be readied for the road by the shop. He gets his truck and hooks to the trailer. I take notice, in preparing to leave work for the day, that he does a two minute walk around on his trailer. I happen to follow him out of the yard and stop him just out of the gate, to point out A GAPING HOLE on the inside wall of his trailer tire that I spotted from my car behind him.....?

I think we all can agree that there is nothing wrong with encouraging checks that should be made on trucks. I also think that brake tests are grossly neglected by many driver's and should be brought in to the light a bit more often.

Brakes and rubber earn ALOT of dollars OTR if you choose to ignore them. If you do not do 100% of your shopping at the truckstop, then why make the company you work for? Best regards, SnyB

 

They did hire the 17 year driver. I will do my best at the helm, thanks. SnyB

 

my eyes hurt, i not smart enough to understand this thread.... im just a lil potato...

 

LOL NO WAY! ! ! I am reading this right... Well I am a former Cargo driver... well more like "a dedicated refrigerated freight relocation steering wheel holding specialist" I Went through thier school (what a mistake) 2 weeks of school total got cdl, then 20 days otr "training" then into my first solo truck.... a BRAND NEW KW T-660..... Ran from boise to Walmart in Pauls Valley, Ok... nice run for a rookie I thought..... then I got to know the real company..... So, lets see here where to begin....
Dispatchers who will purposley make you sit 5-8 days without a load (well untill i changed dispatchers to Steve Ball---- great guy and former driver--- stood up for drivers, never questioned me when i said i needed something, avail to me 24/7, even had a sense of humor... but as with any company any dispatcher that actually does thier job.... they got rid of him.... Trucks breaking down on the road and they will NOT allow repairs on the road unless the truck is under manuf. warranty then you gotta fight them to allow you to get warranty work done. Boise, Idaho to Murray, KY then to PHX, Az with NO A/C or Jake Brakes, then I finally was allowed to take it to International (prostar) they screw you on your home time... missed 2 court dates that they knew about 3 months in advance and constantly reminded of because they couldnt get me a load back. trucls governed at 60 - 67 mph... ok whatever i can deal with that... then they give you hot shot loads and tell you that if you dont run over hours to get the load there on time then you will be terminated for late loads, never mind the fact that the load has been sitting at tyson in waulla waulla washington for 4 days already waiting for someone to pick it up...ohh yea it has to be in Denver, Co. by 10am the next day... Navajo Express (the parent company as they are all owned within the family.... DSCO, Navajo, and Cargo.... Now ACT joins that line) cannot talk to cargo, and vice versa you will get your load from cargo then Navajo will cancel and re route you then cargo gets pissed that you did what Navajo told you. its just a huge Cluster **** there.... As for the Frankenstein truck refered to earlier.... that truck was rolled 3 times at the least while i was there.... it wasnt a motor rebuild... the entire truck was rebuilt to keep from having to salvage it, and pay take the hit on th insurance... look at their yard (1358 e. beechcraft ct. boise, id ) and you will never see it empty of tractors, but you can always count on at least 4-8 Wrecked trucks being lined up there. theres to much to list here. but my all time favorite is cargo tried putting on my DAC that i had a DUI with Rollover with fatality a month before i left them..... I had to hire an attorney to prove it was false but i got it removed. just goes to show how they are... you dont drive for them you dont drive period.

as for the poster : seenyourblackeyescream

i know him His name is ERIC and he is the Schools trainer... (insert title of paid mouth piece here for the company) and although he claims to have those awards, i have not been able to find anything on him as a past winner or even cargo participating in any truck rodeos.


bottom line is: run, RUN, RUN ! ! ! away from cargo express..... take it from someone elses mistakes and dont repeat my mistakes.....


ANYONE WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT CARGO EXPRESS ILL SHARE AND ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS AND NOT JUST THE NEGATIVE BUT ILL SHARE THE POSITIVES ASWELL.....