CRETE - A Year in Review

You'd think after all my unlucky brushes with Karma I'd learn, wouldn't you.

It turns out they can't find anything wrong with my truck...but when a differential gets so hot it sizzles when you spit on it, and blows bunches of oil out the vent, something is failing, even the service manager says the same thing. But Crete told them to check both gear sets, seal it up and send me on my way. They couldn't get it all checked out and back together today, but will have it back on the road on Friday morning. The service manager said "They didn't actually use the words, but the attitude he felt was - they want me to drive it until it blows then they'll know what has to be fixed". At least I have a witness that there was something wrong in case they try to blame it on driver abuse...I plan on keeping a copy of the work order...and will have a card for the dealership stapled to it. My dad's favorite sayings(besides pull my finger) was CYA...and he wasn't saying goodbye.

I did talk to one of the boss' up there in breakdown. Talk about an attitude... He doesn't know who he's talking to I guess. I guess that's one list I'm not at the top of, yet... But I'm not in the mood to get into another 'whizzing' contest right now. But when a desk riding pencil pusher tries to lecture me about the inner working/non electrical parts of a big truck, it makes me want to ask him when it was the last time he had any grease on his hands, and not from the french fries he was scarfing down on his lunch break. His attitude was "it was only leaking, how long should it take to reseal it"... I told him that the axles(plural) were blowing axle lube out the vents, no seals were leaking...yet. His response, "sir, you only have 1 vent"... I guess he thinks we are driving single axles...which I couldn't help myself with a less than polite reminder - 'on each drive axle, we have 2 of those last time I did my pretrip'...' and it doesn't blow out by itself, it was so hot it was boiling it and blowing out...Plus it's been too long since a service to simply be over full...the blowing oil out just started all of a sudden' Guess this'll give them a reason to write me up for my attitude now, I talked back to High Command.....It'll only be a matter of time before it blows or blows a wheel seal, or pinion seal...but what do I know, 'I iz only a stoopid truk dreyever', I'm not paid for thinking, just riding and guiding... I guess the years I spent working on these things before I had a CDL and on my own when I was an O/O doesn't count.

 

This is just funny!!



Are you absolutely POSITIVE that you dont have a dark cloud hovering over your head?

At least you have everything documented. So, when you run that load, and the load doesnt get there because your differential locks up, the heat is on your service manager...... of course.... YOU'LL be the one losing money because of it, but you get the picture...



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!

 

ET, although I admire Cretes desire to "hire only the best", I believe their policy is flawed. I was turned away completely because I failed the driving portion of my CDL exam. Didn't even bother to ask why I failed, they just assumed that makes me a bad driver. I wasn't a bad driver. I actually did pretty well, except for one error in judgement that millions of 4 wheeler drivers make every day. Everybody wants the best, but I've seen so many situations where what appears to be the best isn't, and those who appear not to be the best are actually better. Call me a sore loser if you want, I'm actually not losing any sleep over it. Because of their actions prior to my failing the exam, they were actually my third choice. I just feel they are shooting themselves in the foot and are loosing out on some potentionally very good, dependable drivers. Rant over.

Good luck to you Luvstheroad. We'll be looking for you out on the road soon!

 

My love affair with the OnGuard ended today, I didn't know it would slam the brakes on if I had the cruise off. I was going around a curve that went left, I had a steady stream of traffic in the left lane doing the speed limit and a 4 wheeler driving on the shoulder, at least a foot and a half away from the white line. OnGuard started beeping and flashing red, I'm glad I had my seatbelt on and the pavement was dry.

 

Wow,a girl? I had no ideal. Now I have to reread about your truck, Wow. Seems like you're a real grease monkey. The only tipoff would have been the horse trailer.

 

Did you notify Safety to CYA in case of similar events in the future?
Glad you had no accident today.

 

Haven't pulled the horse trailer in a long time, but was pulling a 40' enclosed car hauler all over the country for the last several years.
Maybe not a grease monkey but certainly not afraid to get dirty. I learned a lot from that old truck. Thanks for reading my thread.

 

.... and yadi yadi ya

The onguard will not slam on the brakes. You have no understanding of the vehicle you are operating. Be careful it's really not complicated. Theres no way to not sound like a super trucker so all I can say is be safe and enjoy your travels.

 

Too bad you don't know what you are talking about. When I still had my Cascadia the On-Guard system slammed on my brakes several times. Next time before you go and make a fool of yourself you might want to think about it first.

 

I didn't mean to get you all riled up Longbow but onguard does not place a tractor trailer into an uncontrollable skid. The amount of pressure applied by the foot does that. It is not a toll used to sabotage a driver.