Change of Plans

Well , mn driver, just to give you an update on this pos cascadia you say i will get used to.... I am sitting in carneys point n.j. At the flying j after driving this truck from la to sf to salinas then to here.... I still say this truck is a pos... Its a cut back dog , just finally got a new antenna mounted after using a little bit of brainstorming ,,,, the friggin mirror won't allow you to clamp an antenna on
like the good ole tube style mirrors of real trucks.... Btw the twin antennas that came on this truck are total junk .

I fixed that by buying a couple c clamps and stopping at a truck shop and having a piece of 2 inch angle iron cut and a 5/16 hole drilled in the center , i then bought a volvo bar that is bolted into that hole thus i can clamp an antenna on the volvo bar and c clamp the angle iron to the mirror arm on these pos cascadias.

The design eng. Who designed this truck should be given a frontal labotomy for generally being incompetent and
stupid.......... Yes, i ##### about the truck but its my pos and for now i am stuck with it... It does make me a living but i still don't have to like it , before some big mouth tells me if i hate it so much to get a different truck.....

This idiot design guy puts the frigging jake switch in the steering column where at nite i have to hunt for it. Instead of a good ole toggle switch in arms reach that you can slap on and off.... The throttle is governed at 65 and has a delayed throttle response thats just this side of dangerous....they whine about fuel mileage of big trucks but load them with all kinds of unnessecary crap thats extra weight , aero dynamic my butt. And the def tank and all that other anti pollution crap.... Fairings under the trailer , i got hit my a wind gust the other day that almost shoved me off the hiway... All that aerodynamic crap does is make a friggin kite with wheels . Out of the truck.

Then the genuis puts the god d a m n fuze box in the dash behind the friggin glove box , thus you better have the proper size torx screwdriver to pull 4 screws out of the glove box , to remove it totally and then access the panel over the fuzebox to be able to access the fuzes which are then a major p.i.t.a. To pull out and replace with the limited space available, and go forbid your eyes are not as good as they used to be. Trying to see in there.....

Wtf happened to the days when trucks were built tough and simply. Oh ya, btw , i am telling you how i really feel , right here and now..... These new trucks may be new but they are crap compared to the real trucks of yesteryear.......now that i have pissed and moaned , i do feel better and i am sure there are plenty of fellas out there that wholeheartedly agree with me too.....

So now i have again told ya how i really feel!!! The first guy to offer me a decent job driving a decent 379 will see a big dust cloud of me arriving to go to work lol more on this later........

 

so tell us how ya really feel????

 

Old dog, new tricks is what comes to mind is all I can say.

 

wise guy huh? Why i oughta!!!!!!!

 

half of what you complain about is ECM parameter settings for the engine. Your company SET the truck up to be a dog.

I agree with you on the antenna's. I put one on the slide bar behind the cab for the one I drove.

I'll also agree with you about trailer skirts. But what's that got to do with the truck.


Oh I know....

trucker, complain, happy....

Have a nice day..


NOW ######.

 

Reefers can haul dry loads also so reefer is more versatile.

Watch for restricted routes for some produce loads. Farm Fresh comes to mind, at CR England you had to stay south of I-70 (produce I believe).

Shippers and receivers can't count syndrome, get ready for too many cases and no one knows what to do with them. Usually end up at a food bank if one is in area. All time taking.

Have boots on hand for rainy weather, a lot of meat loads if they are pre-loaded or a drop end up with you out in a mud lot hunting a trailer on a rainy day in the mud. Be prepared to dig out said trailer 3 deep when you go to look for it. Also it will be jacked up sky high and you will have to dolly it down to hook up, oh yea.

A few meat places or others have their own washouts and scales if you are lucky.

Take your time and have fun.

 

A few things I haven't seen mentioned here.

1. Pre-trip your reefer unit. Both Thermo King and Carrier units have a pretrip function in the microprocessor which will run it through a battery of tests including cooling heating, valves, and other critical internals. The pretrip takes about 5 minutes, but can save your rump when you have a failure that doesn't throw a code, or is failing within range. On carriers, just hit the options button and scroll until you get to Pre-Trip, then hit "=" to start it.

2. Temp & Count. On single product / single source loads, I pulp every 2-3 pallets. On mixed loads, or multi-pick, I pulp every pallet if I can. When I do this, I am recording the pulp temps, and the product count in a hand drawn load map on the back of my rate confirmation. One column that says TEMP, the other says COUNT. I draw one long line down the center (vertically) of each column, and then draw a small line across the long one for each row of pallets. In the end, it looks like a football stitching, with numbers on each end of the stitch. It's a simple load map, but allows me to go directly to the data of any given pallet in question if needed.

3. Temp tale recorders, (also called ryan recorders in the old days) are used with most temperature controlled loads these days. Some shippers will activate the recorder before you are loaded. Watch for this, and make sure that they don't have your recorder sitting on the shipping counter in the heated office before they stick it on the load. Typically the recorder will have instructions on how to read it, but usually they are on and running if the little sunshine icon is visible.

4. Perishable goods transportation protocols: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3021003 This guide was originally posted by Condo, and is truly a great reference for those times you need some guidance but don't have anyone to ask. It lists info for pretty much any perishable commodity you might haul, as well as loading suggestions, and much more. If the USDA gets involved in a dispute or rejection claim, and you have followed this guide (written by them), you've done yourself (and company) a big favor.

Good luck to you guys.

 

Have to agree with the company setting it up to be that way.

The jake button you just have to get used to where it is. The antenna issue is easily solved by an antenna mount specific for Cascadias. You pull two bolts off the mirror mount into the body and place the antenna mount on there with two longer bolts that come with the antenna mount. A good CB shop has them.

 

Well happy days, cascadia developed coolant leak in air compressor on series 60 detriot found when had one pallet of mushrooms to put on and roll westbound. So another company truck took my trailer full of west bound mushrooms and left me an empty dog track trailer , ryder got me a replacement tractor , volvo with a cummins and 70 mph truck vs 65mph.. I was in em!!! Probably end up getting cascadia back but enjoying the cummins and the volvo.... Co driver no likes volvo but i love it compared to cascadia , still want that 379 pete.... Home now , going out again on monday morning early...

 

Make sure you use new panty hose or you might have another odor that you need to get out of the trailer..