Cheap tricks we forget to pass on...

I tried that once... I could ever seem to make any miles with them in the bunk!

Buy your spare lights at the parts house, it'll be half what the truckstop wants for the same item.

And when sliding tandem/5th wheel, use the johnny bar instead of the park brakes; the service side applies much more force than the park brake. ( I know a lot of fleets spec trucks w/o them, but use it if you got it.)

If you do drop and hooks, keep a 3 lb. hammer in the truck to use on frozen trailer brake shoes. The extra weight compared to ball-peen hammer makes a huge difference.

 

IF YOU CANT MOVE THE TANDEMS ... swap the air lines, it will lock the tandems in place and allow you to break a rusty or icy tandem free.

 

Get a 48oz deadblow hammer. They work much better

 

^^^^
Also, be patient. With shipper/receivers, other drivers, dispatchers, fleet managers, scale masters, etc. Like you, they have to do their jobs. Patience keeps the blood pressure down.

For fueling, I carried a pair of rubber gloves. I kept a Tupperware bowl filled with kitty litter (it's absorbant) in the sidebox. The gloves went into the kitty litter after fueling. I never had to smell diesel in the cab. I was careful not to step in fuel--that also kept the smell out.

 

Smash the core end of a head of iceburg lettuce on the counter and you can twist it right out!

Was this only trucking tips?


Mikeeee

 

If you pull the same trailer all the time, STP oil treament poured over your 5th wheel gives it a good coating.
When you trailer has a dog-leg to it and you need to slide tandems and they dont line up right, hold the handvalve and do a half circle with the T/T in the direction of the dog-leg. Helps line the pins up.
The enviroment doesnt like us using bleach on the drives to get unstuck in the winter snow and ice. Gives you traction, but reduces the life of your tires.

 

With as bright as LED flashlights are these days, I do not need a 6 D cell baton for what I do. Just a small 3 AAA light is fine for night inspections, checking the fifth wheel jaws have locked (and my old eyes do not adjust to the dark in there with the brightness all around it)

I stuck a magnet on the flashlight and stick it to the side of the base of the driver seat. I used to have it in one of the cubby holes, but was always climbing back in the truck 'cause I forgot it.

Now it is always in reach, in the cab or out.

Also, my Volvo does not have a load lock rack and we are forever collecting them. I bet there is 60 pounds of load lock on my frame rails, if not more. I would not trust that much weight to any number of bungee cords. I use the small 2inch orange ratcheting tie downs to secure them. I feel much more confident that they are not going to come off when bouncing down the chicago streets and highways.

Mikeeee

 

Don't laugh ! But a fresh can of P. B. and if your a trucker , you wrench and you need good spray type of lube this is always good to have !!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

If you bust a strap hold onto it, if it's still long enough you can get a hook re-attached, if not, start cutting it into 10-inch sections and you've got some quick strap-protectors.

If you use throw-overs on your chains and you're worried about the winch-bar getting away from you as you're pulling your chains off, get your steel-toes on and use your toe or heel and get under the handle to pop it open, just don't get yourself hung up in the chain. This may be getting outdated though, throw-overs seem to be on the way out...

And, on that note, throwovers always work better on pipe than ratchet binders...

And, for goodness sake, when you stop, whether its to wash the tires or to pour a little fuel in, walk around and check the temperature of your tires, if they're getting hot, back out of it. Going a few miles an hour slower and avoiding a blowout is a lot better than having a blown tire.

And remember, the smaller the tire the hotter it'll get at speed. If you're towing something with 255s and you're on 11R24.5s doing 75mph, the rotational velocity of the 255s is significantly higher than the 24.5s and will be generating more heat.

 

If you are in a tight situation and you have the option to back in or pull in (thinking flatbeds), always back in. You will always be able to pull out, but if you pull in, you could spend lots of time trying to back out.