Good Night From II

Here I sit, 180 miles from the house, with a newly repaired tire, and a tire rep on hold with Onroad trying to get a PO # for the repair. It took an hour of being on hold for me to get through to a rep, an hour waiting for the tire repair, and now who knows how long to wait for the PO.

I wont ant be surprised if I don't make it home till tomorrow.

 

A day late should never be a surprise, especially when you need repairs.

It can take some time to get off hold with on-road, especially during the heavy times.
With these very cold temps they are probably busier than usual.
I had a trailer brake chamber freeze yesterday morning, so I went through it too. The repair only took a few minutes with a torch, but the total time cost me more than 4 hours.
Stuff happens...

 

That's true about stuff happening. I'm 3 days late, but on the plus side miles have been great.

 

As time goes on I've added tools and taken care of minor issues like frozen brake chamber's myself, rather than go through the hours waiting for OnRoad, etc. Having an air hose to inflate flat tires on trailers is essential. Changing trailer lights or even stripping and reattaching wiring is an infrequent, but necessary thing. Have mini carabiners on hand to rerig the springs holding up the air lines when the loop rusts through and your air lines drag. Get a fuel filter from the parts department, buy a filter wrench, and learn how to change your fuel filter (lesson learned after my last good "horse" died in Wyoming last month).

One thing is every driver should invest in a GOOD air pressure gauge. Don't rely on thump testing your tires. I KNOW what PSI every tire is at before I start out and whenever I hook to a new trailer I check all the tires. At least a couple times a month I'll hook to trailers with tires that are extremely low or completely flat. Take the time to inflate it right there with your air hose, then roll and recheck pressures frequently if you've had a low tire. Roll forward half a tire turn to check all sides of the low or flat tire to see if you've picked up a nail, bolt, or screw.

Anything you can do as a company driver to keep your horse fed and happy will keep you rolling. On Road is great, but sloooowwwww.

 

I agree Onroad is great. This is only the 2nd time I've had to use them. I have tools, and gauges, etc. but was done in by a self tapping screw.

I picked it up in the yard as I was delivering, so at least I got the load in on time. I also have a few trailer lights and glad hand seals in the truck with me, as I like to get going instead of waiting for repairs such as this. It could always be worse, at least I should be able to get a hot meal and a shower tonight.

 

I did great on miles last month.
The last 2 weeks were terrible.
This past week I pulled out 3100 miles, and I have a fairly low start this next week. Around 700 miles over 2 days.

It goes up and down, this time of the year.

 

Yeah, stuff happens. I've been considering getting one of those tire repair kits they sell in the truck stops for situations like that. Pull the screw, plug the hole, then reinflate. Sounds simple but I'm sure more complicated.

 

Last night in Wyoming I watched an old flatbedder pull up to the fuel pumps and pull through to where his trailer lined up with the air nozzle. He then proceeded to do the old ether trick to his tire while virtually everyone near him was shouting at him to stop. The fuel desk was not amused.

 

While we're on the topic of getting tools, etc. I think it would be a good idea for folks to know how to adjust the aim of their headlights. I say this because I've picked up two new trucks during my tenure with Swift, and both of them came with the headlights aimed way too low, like only 40-50' ahead of the truck. The truck I recovered last month had 50,000 miles on it and the headlights were aimed just like it came from the factory. A quick stop and five minutes later we could actually SEE well enough to drive at freeway speed at night instead of slowing to 40-45 mph to be safe.

Each truck is a little different how to adjust them. The Cascadias are dead easy, there's a plastic not on the OUTSIDE of the headlight. You don't have to do anything but insert a screwdriver and turn. The KW T680 requires you to park, crank the wheel hard to the right or left (to have room to do the job), unscrew the back headlight cover and pop it out, then turn a dial to adjust the headlights.

 

How do you deal with a frozen brake chamber except to apply heat to it?
Do you also carry a torch with you?

I don't. That is not something I would consider standard equipment.