CRETE - A Year in Review

On my way home...w/a decent load. I delivered in Springfield, IL this morning. True to form, the axis of A-holes lived up to their reputation. I hate the kind of customer that gives you that "what do you want, you're bothering me" attitude. But, I just smiled, did my best to klll them kindness. Then off I go to Mattoon, IL to pick up a load headed Lakeland FL for Thursday. An 1110 mile load, hometime and a decent week to boot. I end up with 2537 miles for this week, and will be ready to go back to work on Tuesday, so it won't be too bad of a week once I get back out.

As much as I dislike this Maxxforce, I still am impressed with it's hill climbing. I have a 45500 lb load. So nose heavy that I am playing the 50 gallon shuffle. I hit Monteagle, and only dropped to 8th, and was actually picking up a little speed, can't complain...and it's fuel mileage has normalized a bit. 7's are not unusual, and almost 8 at times.

 

I did a little mileage math while I was on my 34 this weekend. Had I just taken that Jacksonville load before the holiday, then my hometime. I would have not only screwed up 2 weeks miles, but it would have cost me in the neighborhood of $700 in pay compared to the way things ended up. Instead of a 2000 mile week last week, and maybe 1000 mile this week...I ran 2 2500 mile weeks, and next week I should have a 1500-1700 mile week, even with hometime. Sometimes it pays to be a stubborn S.O.B.

This Thursday will be the end of my 7th week out on this tour of duty. Once I deliver, I will have 20200 miles since I left home. That is an average of 2885/week. It isn't ET-like miles...but a vast improvement over last quarter.

 

Well, the mystery is getting resolved. Lost my airline to the shifter solenoid on Fri. Camped out most of the weekend and grabbed a load across IA bound for NE. I80 mm 55 hear loud pssssshhhhhhhh under shifter. Airline gone again. Did some quick calculating and figured closest TA is mm3 Council Bluffs. Motored into shop without having to stop until in driveway. Played the "Who's on first" routine with breakdown. They came back denying the repair as it was a warrantee item and I was to take it to a dealer. However, in the mean time I was chatting with the maintainer and mentioned that I would have repaired myself, but I was not certain enough slack in line to cut out blown section and reattach. Well, he did that and completed repair. On my way to north-central NE about 10 miles out of destination......PSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHT again. Pulled over at stop to assess...another blown airline. WTF over? I used some electrical tape to get the lower gears to get started and off to the rodeo. Arrived at TS and completed an airline-esectomy. Called home yard to discuss recurring night mare. Maintainer asks, "Do you have an exhaust leak?" Shazzam! About the time this all manifested I swore the engine sounded like it had an exhaust leak. Kinda like the old dodge pickups when they lost their exhaust manifold gaskets or the straight 6 had a cracked exhuast manifold. It also explains some melting of the tube prior to blowout...always at the same location. Oh well, off to the dealer tomorrow after delivery for some warranty work. I might be slow, but I learn.

 

We've had drivers that had exhaust leaks that were quiet...and the only reason they discovered it was because the drivers were starting to act like Homer Simpson because of all the Carbon Monoxide getting in the cab. Sounds to me like Crete needs to equip every truck with a $30 CO detector along with a package of rechargeable batteries and a 12v battery charger. It would be much cheaper than paying the damages of 1 workers comp claim since they're having all these 'known' issues with exhaust leaks.

You have a '12 Maxxfarce Prostar right?

 

Well Im sitting at the terminal in Lincoln. Prequals at 730. Hope my blood pressure is good. Be safe drivers. Hope to see you out there.

 

I'm currently fighting with Lincoln...trying to get them to understand that 1700 miles this week is not acceptable, even with a holiday. I'm running short of patience here....pre-plans are not pre-plans. A pre-plan would be one that was already planned for me while I'm under the preceding load. I've been sitting more between loads this week, and in general, and I'm getting plenty sick of it.

I'd kill to average 2800 per 7-day week. I'm not even close.

 

"You have a '12 Maxxfarce Prostar right?"
BINGO!!!!!

 

Would you like me to send you a complimentary pair of supersnackbar hip boots suitable for putting ones foot somewhere that might get someone inspired to increase productivity? I believe I have most sizes available in the snackbar gift shop.

 

I will top off the rechargable batteries before I idle tonight. How many miles did you have when it started melting stuff? I'm sitting just over 100k, that way I have an idea of when to expect another potential defect.

 

I am right at 107k. Last week the leak started and is getting worse. It involves the EGR and will take 2 days to fix. As a side note the Jakes got real throaty too. Sound bad, but not more stopping power. Now I can't use them in Muffled Jakes only areas.