Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

Speaking of chains Long day in the trenches. Picked up a load of onions out of Hermiston, OR after delivering the Sumner, WA load. Thanks JD for the Lowes info, had no problem finding it and got the tank and burner head. Had to throw iron coming up Cabbage, really did not need to but the old yellow lights were on. Roads got worse and a #### snow plow nearly ran me off the road. Decided to call it a night here in La Grande as the chain light was on again and I just didn't have the desire to deal with that again with what little time I had left on my 14. Pulled into the FJ and no sooner had I got parked they shut down I84 eastbound due to a wreck so guess I made the right move. Hopefully they will have the roads ready tomorrow when I head out.

As far as fridges I got a pretty good size black and decker (2 door with freezer) which lasted about a year. After that went out I bought a smaller (2.7 cu ft I think) one with a smaller freezer. It is much easier to move in and out of trucks if you have to switch over to a loaner although that may be a non issue now that all the old trucks are getting sold off with the regular APU's on them. I use a 1500 watt inverter and haven't had any problems with it thus far.

 

I love it when things work right. Headed in a bit early to deliver my Brazil load...and low and behold, the receiving dept hours started an hour earlier than I was told. A quick unload, then a quick zip over to Indy to pick up my preloaded trailer for MN. Scaled...legal. Just as I am about to leave the truckstop, Outbound calls and sets me up on a load out of Up North it was a load to Mass or a load going back to N. Vernon, I picked N. Vernon...that's 5 days planned ahead. .but I figured that going to N.Vernon would net me a round trip back to UPN so I'll add another 1300 miles to the paperwork I'm turning in Monday(so I can get my logs in on time). If it works like it's expect, I will turn in over 5100 miles and 5 extra stops by Valentines day.

But what a change in climate. Sunday night at home in FL the a/c was on...even at night. Last night it was -15 in Brazil. Honestly, I can't remember when I have spent so much time below zero. And Punxy Phil said 6 more weeks of winter...I wonder if groundhog tastes like chicken...someone should shoot him and have a BBQ....

 

Hey guys! Do the trucks have inverters? My husband asked HR, but they weren't really able to tell him anything about that. Just wondering what size if they do, or if we need to get him one. It sucks because we used to have everything from when he was OTR years ago, but we sold it all off a few years ago. Now we need to buy it all again! He'll be down there starting orientation on the 18th!

 

I would wait to see which truck he gets assigned to before buying one. The newest trucks on the lot have a 1000-1500 inverter built in and 2 2-outlet 120v plugs hard wired from the factory. We also have some trucks with the Dynasys apu, which has 120v power...I have one of the last ClimaCab trucks they bought before going to a regular apu(ClimaCab is a battery powered a/c and diesel fueled bunk heat system). I have been waiting to see how things work out with people getting moved into a new truck before I have a big inverter installed. With my luck, I buy the equipment, have it installed, then they offer me an apu truck.

If you do end up buying one. Poly allows up to 1500 watt. You need to supply the inverter and 2 6 foot 2-gauge cables...Poly's shop has to install, and they provide the big 12v breaker/fuse. I'm not sure if they require the cable ends to hook to the battery or if they put those in as well..he could check with the shop to be sure.

 

oh, btw...welcome aboard

 

Definitely wait on buying an inverter. Welcome aboard.

 

I dont understand the issue on the new trucks. Is the apu straight battery powered? And I can barely weigh legal now are the new trucks that heavy? I'm 12000 on steers now with the 5th all the way back. With a half a tank from pol tex. 79800 and change. Just a fyi. The windshield washer from poly america i got froze so i dumped it. Just bought $50 of minus 30 at loves. And they fixed my washer fluid leak with electrical tape. Broke. 30 minutes and the TA shop replaced the whole line.

 

I'm guessing the extra weight is for all the new DEF BS. The new trucks have 13000+ front axles, but tires aren't rated that high. Drivers were having issues being allowed to leave the yard...bobtail. The whole 'no idle' hvac system is battery powered(fuel fired water heater but it uses the trucks regular vents and rear fan). There are actually 2 sets of batteries. 1 4 battery, 2-story box, behind the cab on the drivers side and 1 4 battery box under the drivers side seat behind the bodywork.

I had the same issue with my washer fluid line. It turns out that there is a friction coupling half way across the front(they put it under the front then inside the drivers side frame rail so it doesn't get too hot going around the turbo and egr plumbing going the other way). That coupling just comes apart when the blue washer fluid freezes(-20 my *bleep*, I've had the blue freeze at 0). I took mine out and heat shrinked it together then put it back in. So far, so good and it's been as low as -15.

 

Wrong about the def. i had two brand new trucks with def system (cascadia. ) and never had a weight issue with tripac apu. Not even close. And never froze. Only problem i had with it was at the beginning and it was electrical.

 

I know I may complain a bit here but I do like the gig. I just hate driving a truck in general for a living. But Poly is ok. Better then ok to most. Just my place to vent. Gonna get 4000 miles this week. And to tell you the truth I could do with less. I'm burnt out.