Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

I wouldn't worry about the fuel cost of a bunk heater if its that cold I'd idel the truck I'd be more concerned about the truck starting up additives do help the fuel but it takes alot to turn a cold truck over. I remember waking up one morning in Spokane Wa 14" of new snow on the hood of my Volvo wasent that cold the cold lies around the three lakes area as well as Wy and Co. The bunk heater has a knob you can adjust the temp unless its below 10 degrees the batteries should hold up. If your running a Pete or any truck with a refrigerater in it I'd wake up every 3 hrs fire up the truck the reserve may not be enough to start a cold truck.

Make sure the batteries in your truck are good if your at WVC or any terminal have the shop run a test to see it cost a lot of money to have someone come out and give you a jump if you lease it's out of your pocket do your preventative maintenance for the winter.

Even though you have a new truck if there a built in refer as with the Pete's and your GPS is on bunk heater running or anything that draws power the batteries will be draind unlike the summer the block gets cold and makes it harder to start in your colder states most people install a block heater just for that reason. If you lease everything that goes wrong and the cold is not covered under your warranty cost you so ideling in the extrem cold is cheaper then a service call. If your in WVC sitting a couple of days idle the truck every once and a while.

 

For those of you who's trainer did not talk much about winter driving here's a tip.

When you pull into a truck stop don't set your trailer breaks reason snow gets into the break drum and can freeze the shoes to the drum. I've always tryed to teach my students to take a piece of chalk and draw a line down the top of the tandems while you bump the tires after your walk around move the truck forwards 2 feet get out and check the line if it moved from its posistion alls well if not something's locked up. If so you will need to crawl under the trailer with a hammer and tap on the drum to break the shoes free make sure the breaks aren't set just the tractor it will make a loud pop.

When a break is locked even in the snow the bottom of the tire heats up causing it to blow. If your out in the middle if nowhere could be a long wait for a repair truck to show up you could miss an appt.

Good luck

 

i like that chalk idea thts an awesome tip im gonna use

 

Here's alittle food for thought.

When it comes to the winter time your DM works twice as hard there main job is to push there fleet to make there appt times. I know all of you think the better you do for your DM the more miles your gonna get I'd dispute that but I don't have the time. I will tell you this if its your first winter it will be your toughest as you won't know where your comfort zone is. If the weather gets bad to the point where your not comfortable shut your truck down. Any kind if an accident could cost you your job. If you do shut down and send a message to your or any DM they aren't going to be happy more then likly ther going to try to push you. If so send a message saying your gonna need to talk to safety and OSnD I'd bet your DM comes back alittle more understanding. Now I'm talking some very bad conditions not the drop of a snow flake, icy roads heavy snow stuff like that. Safety can't afford an accident and OSnD dosent want to pay for the loss of the freight. DM's are responsible for there fleet being on time and have to answer to someone if there quota is down. They lack understanding because when there day is done they get to go home. I don't care how many DM's have driven before when they have to answer to someone higher there gonna try and push you first. Central claims to have a 97% on time and they use the bonus to push you don't press your luck. As winter moves on so will your ability to run in it but still ++## happens. You could be going along at a slow rate of speed and out of nowhere comes a super trucker gets into a situation and takes you with him. I don't care how slo you drive you can't control the actions of others.

Be safe out there.

 

Caulk works for many things.

Say you need to move your tandems mark the present hole move the tandems one way or the other based on your mark you can tell how many holes you have moved also let's you know where you started at when you first weighed your truck you can always go back and strat again no guess work you can also chalk to hole you need to stop at say 400 lbs per hole.

This will also work on your fifth wheel 125 lbs per slot. Mark as above.

 

make sure you chave a can opener too.!!

 

can opener,. check

stove check

propane burner check

water check

now all i hneed is some darned food.

 

wouldn't it be ironic if someone died of hunger because they were snowed in while pulling a loaded reefer?

 

And make sure when you buy said food, it is something you eat come spring. This is another learn from our mistake. I will go no further.

My wonderful hubby knows when I am not having power surges I am the coldest person in tbe world. He bought me a 12v blanket. I love it. The first little bit we were out we used the German feather bed. Sometimes when it was just a little cold (like upper 30's, so no danger in gelling) and I needed just a few hours of sleep, the cold became my alarm. You get uncomfortable you wake up. We do that with the heat sometimes too. I know silly.

Speaking of alarms, my dumb butt forgot to set the alarm this morning. I woke up because the NOAA alert portion of our CB went off. We have a newer one with Bluetooth, and when an alert is issued it automatically switches channels so we hear it, and even comes on when off for the same reason. Ours was only $20 with points at TA. Much better than fighting with our old one to find the right channel as you drive in the conditions. Switching back to cb is just one button which now I can find with no issues. Just an idea.

Oh, and know the phone numbers (look in the front of your atlas) for the road conditions, and the website as well. Twice we have had AZ not tell on the phone of an issue, but it was on the website. Once CA had it the other way. Both together will give you a better idea.

 

I got stuck at a rest area in the Sisques (Norther CA I5) during a wild fire. They told us we were going to be stuck all night. I had people comming up and asking me what I was hauling with a hungry look in their eyes.

I ended up cooking pancakes and eggs (I had just gone shopping so I had like 3doz eggs and my wife makes a great pancake mix she sends with me 2 gallons at a time. Add to that some potatos from some other drivers and we made sure all the kiddos had something to eat. That was fun.