Driving for Swift......Take 2

I've been out for a week and a half so far.....let's see what happened.

Lancaster issued me a POS. 5.2 MPG with a 10k load on I-45.
AC blew hot in the bunk. Fixed myself, not waiting 2 days to have an actuator installed. 3 screws and a wire, installed.

MPG improved some.....and all was well and dandy until day 4 on the road.

Was at a shipper, doing my workout routine (walk around tractor/trailer 10 laps, 4 times a day) and tripped myself. You know, just in front of the landing gear, that sharp 45 degree angle on the bottom of the trailer? Guess where my head landed! Sliced my head open (about 4" long). After inventing new curse words from the pain, got bleeding under control, regretted not bringing my jump kit (Smaller EMS bag filled with trauma supplies....carried that last time around as my "first aid kit....full size ems bag was too darn big anyways) got bleeding under control, got to a truck stop quick before my 14 ran out. Then all AC in my truck went completely out. Refrigerant blew out of the shiny new AC compressor. And it was especially warm and muggy that night.

Called my DM to say my AC went out, and I hurt myself. Said hurting myself was NOT work related, however, wanted me to call claims and file paperwork "just in case". Sent me to Memphis with that load, T-called it there, and sent to the doctor. Doctor said "Well, you stopped the bleeding nicely, and it closed up nicely, so I am not going to shave your head and give you staples. If you would have made it here this morning, you would have got about 15 staples." Yay! I keep my hair! First good news in a while.

I put my truck into the shop as soon as I get back to the terminal. 2330 ETA the next day, and was told "probably won't be done by then." Write-up guy inspected truck, and found more stuff wrong. Both slack adjusters on the rear axle needed replaced, and were out of spec. 5 days out of being issued at Lancaster. That could have cost me money. 2 exhaust leaks, batteries weren't up to par, the list goes on...

Went to the tractor assignment guy in the morning. Told him what was up, and was issued a different tractor at lunchtime. I got my pick of a truck. All old ones, but could choose between a shaker, a volvo, and a prostar. Considering the shaker looked shaken apart, the volvo was literally my mentor's old truck from a year ago (and that thing was a shop queen), I grabbed the prostar for the more roomy bunk and more comfy ride.

Then my CB broke. Hopefully it's just the protection diode, because I have a feeling I hooked up the green and white wires backwards.....and it blew fuses like crazy afterwards. 2 bucks for a diode and a soldering iron should fix the thing....once I can find a Radio Shack I fit in.

Well, the DPF is screwed up in the prostar. Taken that truck to the shop twice in the last 5 days. Sitting at Greer right now, and they said "you might want to find a load somewhere else, there are 50 trucks ahead of you." Going back to Memphis. The write up guy here said to tell memphis to disassemble DPF and clean it out, replace if necessary. Lancaster shop said there was nothing wrong with it, and it just needed the codes cleared. Made it all the way to the J on I-20 (5 miles?) and it acts up again. And...the air horn is missing. Yup, missing. The air hose and fitting is there, air horn bracket is there......the air horn is not. Hmmm...... Besides that, for 445k on the truck, it does ride good, and pulls well, gets good MPG's, just need the dang dpf fixed, so if something were to happen, they don't blame me for not getting it fixed.

Tomorrow will be 4 times in the shop in a week. Memphis had my old truck in the shop working on it before I left out of there in the newer truck, so hopefully not many ahead of me when I get there tomorrow.

Even with all the stuff going wrong, with the trip I have tomorrow to Memphis, it will put me up to 2650 paid miles for the week. Hopefully I am out of the shop wednesday, and I can squeeze in a few more. Doubtful, but one can dream