From the Office to Trucking

Be my guest. More power to you. I wouldn’t touch them. As you can see, look at what they did to the OP !!!! Now he has to fork out more money to get reinsured and hopefully through the process of 6 to 8 weeks, that he gets any credit coming back to him. I wouldn’t hold my breath. For the rest of you that think your getting a better rate, you best look at your policy and see that the underwriters ain’t OFFSHORE insurance. I’m referring to all the newbies. Best of luck to ya.

 

To the OP, any updates ?

 

Good luck OP. I thought you had already done this a long time ago. Oh well, there I go thinking again.

Depends on how much time versus money matters.

If you had a scan gauge you'd have something to test the data stream with. You can get the generic ones at RV stores, or get the Kevin Rutherford version. The KR one is a little more expensive, but has the instant mpg smoothed out more if that's important to you. Also some other cost per mile crap I won't waste the time setting up, but some do. Not starting a debate here on the merits of anything KR, but I like this particular product and think it's worth buying. You can also find them used here and there, again a question of how much time you want to wait looking for a deal.

Back to the original problem. If I wanted to spend more time than money, I'd start by checking the physical condition of the dashboard connector to start with. Get it out of the dash and check everything on the back of the connector. Looking for loose/broken wires. Follow the harness and look for obvious old repairs - non-factory lumps of black tape, crimp splices, etc. Find any, take them apart, clean them up, and do a correct repair using the right tools and terminals. If you have room to do it, solder and heat shrink tubing.

Kenworths with plastic hoods are also notorious for windshield leaks degrading things around the fuse panel. Look for loose/worn out spade terminal sockets that don't make a good connection. If you can't get at them for a correct replacement, you can buy some time by bending the tab on the fuse or relay into a slight "U" shape (looking at it from the end) to make it "fatter" to engage the worn terminal better.

Edit to add: on cleaning up previous repairs, it might be worthwhile to visit a KW dealer with your vin and get the ecm wiring diagrams. You never know when someone did a hack job repair and introduced a problem. Sometimes you can spot mismatched wire colors and whatnot, sometimes they can be mismatched from the factory. In other words, get what you need to make sure you're putting it together right, not just the way it was before.

At the ecm end look for the same sort of things on the ecm connections. Take them off, clean/inspect, reinstall. If appropriate, use dielectric grease to keep moisture out. In fact, go to an auto parts store and buy 3-4 tubes of it. Keep one on the big truck, one in your POV, one at home, maybe more elsewhere. You'll need it all the time and if you buy just one tube, it will never be where you need it at the moment.

Or, if you have money left and in a hurry or don't feel like getting dirty, find an independent shop that knows what they're doing. You can get to a good one by referral, and it will most likely not be a KW or Cummins dealer. Be prepared as wiring jobs pay by the clock. So a better value is paying a higher rate to someone that knows what they're doing versus a lower rate for someone to learn how to do the job at your expense.

It would be helpful if you put a location in your profile in case anyone has a referral. You're in central NC if I recall. If so, there's an inactive member in that area who could point you to a good shop for electrical/ecm work. Alternately, I trust the shop I use and would refer them, but they're probably not as convenient location-wise. Send me a PM if your interested in details.

 

Glad you were able to get the insurance worked out. That sounded kind of odd them cancelling coverage right after writing the policy unless you changed something after the policy was issued like going to Hazmat or something similar.

 

I admire your patience. I also appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. I just got on the road too. I have thought about laying out my journey from more of a time and cost point of view to let perspective O/O's in on all the red tape you have to cut through to get on the road. It has cost me a few thousand and untold hours on the phone and working out all of the FMCSA/DOT stuff and insurance stuff and I'm still making calls while I drive after being on the road about 3 weeks. I leased a trailer and bought a 2015 Volvo tractor. I know some here would disagree but it has been phenomenal so far. It's all about the research IMO. I'm not afraid of emissions trucks. My previous company truck, a 2015 Cascadia, was hardly ever down. They all require maintenance. The Volvo is getting better than 8 mpg and has an APU to boot.

Coming from about the same place as you (25 years in shipping for me, plus almost a year of leased O/O Expedite in a van just before I bought my tractor) I would recommend this: Get in with some 3PL's that can keep you moving! I've been scheduled out for a week ahead since the day I hit the road (also lucky with my first load on a Saturday). I had the same problem getting set up with brokers but once I did they hit me hard. I keep my truck posted 3 places but have hardly needed to. CHRobinson (Navisphere Carrier), TQL and DAT. DAT is the only load board subscription I bought and I only used it to get my first load.

It sounds like you are more patient than me and I can understand that since you are new to driving a truck. I drove TT for 10 years as a company driver (25 with that company) so the learning curve for me was just with the brokers, negotiations and the #### guvment (DOT/FMCSA).

Keep us posted on your journey, and congratulations. I love the freedom. I feel freer than I ever have in any job and I'm making in a week what I formerly made in a month.

 

If you can get two runs in a day for your day rate then I would lower the quotes. If not why sell yourself short?