Good Night From II

Well .... you are "Doc" Watson.

Yeah ... would have just looked at him told him that lyme disease isn't generally fatal, he'll probably live.

 

I would have told him to do it himself, and shower more than once a month.

 

OK lepton I did try that too no avail, still runs as bad. A21cav, I heard then on the radio as I was coming in last night, stopped in before I pulled into loves, OMG good BBQ! And even putting it against curb backwards won't keep it tracking straight. Guess just going to have to deal with it and try to get rid of it once mt. Not looking forward to being on New England roads with it but not a hugedeal just going to have to be extra careful.

 

Yeah I regret doing it now. Feel pretty ill just thinking about it.

Spent last night in a Walmart north of Fort Worth. Roads were a complete icy mess. Heading up to KC near Tulsa as soon as they find me an empty and heading to SLC.

 

At Sapp Bros in Du Bois, PA. Snow. It's 0730 and no one has budged. It may be just me, but I don't feel that this load of candles is worth risking the roads here in western PA. Sent my 22 illustrating reasons for a 24 hr delay. They must tend to agree since all I got back was a PTA update. We're ultimately headed for New Hampshire.

I finally got rid of that bane of my existence. Volvo #130989. It had broken down on me 9 times in five months. Mostly little annoying stuff, but this last one was a shorting electrical shut off switch mounted directly over the batts. A decent concentration of hydrogen and an errant spark and I'd either be barbecue or a fine red mist since they are directly beneath the drivers floor boards. Swift agreed when I called it a safety issue and sent me to my home terminal (Greer) to be reissued a truck.

While there I got that fresh start thing taken care of (RA now -30) and went thru the details of my truck woes with my DL and the Greer FL. Ultimately I was assigned a truck, got my keys, and nearly filled my shorts when I saw the truck number...

160635

A brand spankin new 2016 KW T680!!!! It's an automatic but with my knees I am liking it. I'll post some pics once it's not covered in snow, ice and salt. Right now, even though I'm getting raped by the health insurance (Thanks Barrack ol' buddy ol' pal!!!) Swift is tops in my book. Still smilin even if I'm sitting 24 hrs in the snow. Lol

 

Wow so they are obtaining some automatics?? I'm wondering if they will slowly transition the entire fleet.

 

Good luck with it; I hope it works well for you.

A few things that I've observed about Kenworths (and their Peterbilt cousins)...

Let us know when you find the leak in the sleeper. I've talked to several KW/Pete drivers; every one said that their truck has a leak. Usually around the window.

These same trucks reportedly like to visit shops regularly. You have the advantage of being a company driver, so at least you don't have to pay for the repairs.

I'm of mixed opinion of the autoshift. Does your truck still have the clutch for starting and stopping? If so, you're still clutching about as much as I do in my 10-speed Volvo. The problem is that driving an autoshift may limit your opportunities should you decide to go to a different company, something a whole bunch of US Xpress drivers have discovered.

I've been patiently waiting to be able to trade in my '13 Volvo. My manager has told me that there are two ways to get a new truck; have it show up on the auction list (which should be soon), or have a shop say it'll take more than 24 hours to repair (which is how you got your new truck). I've got the repair one covered... at 405K miles, the shop manager will take one look at the list, and tell me to go pick out my new truck.

Anyone know where they're hiding the '16 Cascadias???

 

Probably not. US Xpress tried that a couple of years ago, and found that they are rather expensive to maintain.

Swift buys a couple thousand tractors a year, and I'm sure is always looking for a good deal. These likely fell into that category. Possibly a company ordered these six months ago, then either went under or was bought out by another company. Paccar offers them to Swift for a few bucks above cost, and everyone's happy.

 

No clutch in this one. Only a fuel and brake pedal. So far it's good, it has been in the shop already, but that was because they did a halfassed job installing the Qualcomm. A big plus is it pulls great! I have 41k in the box and it climbs like it's only 16k.

No leaks yet. And it's gotta be better than my Volvo. 9 breakdowns in four months and only 332k on the odometer. But I'll keep updating. Maybe now I'll be able to make a good enough paycheck to buy a new laptop. Typing on an iPhone is a real drag.

 

Yesterday, packed hubby's laundry, got his truck filled with groceries and his stop engine light was on. So, after waiting 4 hrs for on road to answer and initially being told to start rolling toward grand rapids for a 24 hr shop (a 3 hr trip) the service guy finally understood it was the stop engine and not check engine light. Told him nothing in our area is open till monday. He got transferred to a dispatcher who refused to remove his loads and to send in a macro. So, after spending 5 days in wisconsin, he is still sitting. Only this time, at home.