Getting a 'new' truck

On my way to Denver today I get a QC message - bring the truck in for a transmission inspection ASAP, looking for fluid leaks.

So as I was sitting in line to be seen I was talking to another driver.
The tranny's are blowing up, as are the air bags.

With the tranny, all will be normal until CLUNK!!! Then all you have is 3rd and 7th gears and a whole lot of tranny fluid on the ground.
Freightliner knows about it, but won't bring the trucks in for the recall repairs unless/until it actually blows up.

The airbags are similar. They put a washer that was supposed to go on top, on the bottom (that is what I was told, at any rate). The bags are blowing, but again Freightliner won't fix them until they actually blow.

Heck of a way to run a company.

So Swift is bringing in the Cascadia's to check for fluid leaks - like that would do any good. Seems to me, from what I have heard of the problem, the fluid leaks are caused by a mechanical failure, not the other way round.


In the meantime, I am sitting in Denver until Tuesday because my 3-stop Home Depot load was rescheduled due to my being late, due to being told I could pick it up late (scheduled pick-up was 1300 the previous day) then having to get tires replaced on both the mt I got at the terminal (mismatched tires, so the trailer was red-tagged - but I had to keep the trailer and get the tires replaced) and the loaded I picked up at HD (that one had a flat, so I had to go back to the terminal to replace it before I could hit the road).

Too tired right now, but I'll call the terminal tomorrow and see if I can T-Call it.

 

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

It is the suspension airbags that are blowing.

 

Yup, it is.

Got a couple people jealous when I brought it in to the shop. No one can figure out how a 6 month rookie lucked into such a nice truck.

 

Nothing wrong with the truck, and most likely all the Cascadia's are being checked.

No, no downtime since this is a current load that has been rescheduled because I was late.

One thing I really like about this truck is that all the 12V plugs have separate fuses - 15A each for the dash and 20A for each of the plugs in the sleeper.
On the Volvo all the dash plugs ran through the same fuse, and I'm not sure the sleeper plugs even ran through a fuse.

I got a 12V oven that started melting a plug in the sleeper, and which would blow the 20A fuse in the dash plug within a couple minutes.
In the Cascadia it is working fine.

 

Gosh, gee wiz, what a nice truck this is!

Just started hauling my first heavy load with this truck - a 45k beer run to OK.

No mountains yet, but on the hills I have been on so far I have only had to shift down to 7th twice. That 475HP DD15 sure is nice compared to the 400HP Cummins I had in the Volvo.

Smooth and quiet engine, barely hear the Jake, great suspension and a much quieter cabin.

I was rather worried that I would weigh heavy on the front end, as I picked it up with 3/4 full tanks. But I only have 100 gal tanks, so I thought I would go ahead and accept the load and hope for the best.
Picked it up, set the tandems all the way forward, and it weighed out perfectly fine. 11,760 steers, 33,300 drives and 33,500 rear tandems.

Oh, and it seems it is a 2011 - not a 2010.
I have a 2010 manual, but the stickers show a 3/2011 manufacture date.