couple TMC questions

Most co's are testing apu's we are as well. The problem with flats is the loads we get. A lot of these coils are 50.000 + and in order to be able to carry the freight flatbed co's try not to put anymore weight on the truck than they have too.

 

The appearance thing is they want you to be presentable and professional looking. Hair can't be past collar, facial hair trimmed and NO peircings. Same with the truck. Thats why they have us wash them every week and provide the other cleaning products to keep trucks looking good.

 

My pop drives for a "Freight company" and he said DOT will let them be over a little with apu, but not if the truck doesn't have one.

Reason I ask about the grooming, I was off sick for 20something days a while back, i didn't get out of bed except for DR appt or ER for IV. anyway I grew what I can of a beard then and the wife liked it, she said she wants m to grow one when i retire from the Navy.

Andther ? i thought of after the 1st post, what about XM, do they have it in the trucks or do they allow those portable ones?

I think that's all for now.

BTW I decided a few years ago I am going with TMC when I retire, if they will have me. back when the O/O were still Fortune Xpress, and Columbia was called something else, don't remember though.

 

All TMC trucks have satalite capable radios. 2005 and eariler do not have the satalite receiver, you have to intall one yourself and the antenna. It isn't that hard to do professionally. 2006 and later trucks have the receivers and antenna factory installed. You have to pay for it in both cases.

 

There are three downsides to APU's, first is that the APU will run nearly constantly to keep your truck at 68 degrees when it is 72 outside and you might not normally idle to keep your truck at that small difference. Second is that when it is really cold like below 15 degrees you keep the engine idling anyway to make sure that it starts, so that doesn't save you there. Third is that some locations have laws against small diesel engines as well, so you can't get around the anti idle laws either.

 

That makes perfect sense, on our concrete trucks you see weight shaving on a lot of things for the same reason so we can haul more concrete. I think it was McNeilus that started using composite drums a few years ago which shaved a ton of weight off the truck allowing us to carry an extra half a yard of concrete. I didn't even think about the weight saving and I think you probably hit the nail on the head.

 

My roommate at orientation had a beard. Neatly trimmed. It didn't keep him from getting hired.

 

Rawlco...As a current driver of a max 0 idle company I have researched apu's exhaustivley. Almost all now have dpf's on them. The weight thing is the biggest problem. I drive for a reefer outfit who trys to compete for dry loads.

 

On Sattelite radios:
Most of the older pre 2006 trucks without the sirius receiver should have been retired by now. My '07 just crossed 300,000 miles. I doubt that there are very many left in circulation, but I could be mistaken.

Even with the built in sirius my trainer had a suction cup mounted XM receiver. If you do want to do that get Terry's advice on mounting the antenna properly. Of course Sirius and XM are nearly identical now anyway.

 

Got XM in my car and the wife's. thought about getting it when it first came out and decided not to. I bought a new pickup truck in 04 and it had factory XM, I said I'll take the 3 free months and cancel. well still got it. I still got 2 years left in the Navy, and with the merger the equipment should be universal by the time I get out there.