How long would you go without AC

50 years ago would be May of 1970. I was 12 that year. I too am the son of a truck driver. I have good memories of this industry going back as early as 1964/65. I don't know the actual year that non-roof-mounted AC became an option, but the switch over was in the 70s if my memory is correct. It was also well into the 90s when the industry started the change from cab overs to these conventional's on the road today. It's important to remember most of the things drivers today take for granted were luxury items that the everyday driver did not get in a company truck 50+ years ago. It was the owner-operators that had them as options or that rare owner that respected a driver enough to pay extra. As far as stories go I could sit here and spin tales of conversations I have had with drivers that were active going back to the 20s and 30s. You don't have to go back much beyond the 70s to find trucks that had no AC, NO air ride seats, and no radios.

 

Not my old man. He HATED trucks. It's hard to understand, like how did you ever make it without a cell phone or GPS. It's just the way it was. We never had A/C, so we didn't know what we were missing. Fact is, the 1st truck I drove with A/C was my own in 1988. Vintage A/C couldn't take the vibrations and rough ride, and was costly to repair and there were other, more important repairs to deal with. While I'll admit, trying to sleep in a hot truck is not the best, that's the way it was, cold in the winter, hot in the summer, what did you expect, a rolling motel room? ( like today) The sleeper was to take a quick nap, and get going, not spending 14 hours looking at your floor mat in A/C comfort. To this day, I don't use A/C, I get sick if I spend all day in an A/C vehicle. As a kid, we never had A/C either. A fan was all you got, and somehow, we made it.

 

About a month ago the compressor died, called in and told them after the delivery tomorrow I will take it to the Freightliner shop in Macon.
By the way I carry a small fan in the summer and a sleeping bag in the winter.

 

So did I. I was OK sleeping in temps as low as the 30s as long as I was in a sleeping bag or had a large comforter in the bunk. Most of the time if the outside temps were 50 to 75 I slept with nothing but a fan sitting near my window. Curtains opened. The heat and AC were mostly when it was over 80 to 90 or under about 35. I don't rest very well in a heated room. Even today in the dead of winter I sleep with a window open.

 

Last summer when I was broke down in Cozad, NE for 10 days (7th injector and turbo went out) They paid for my hotel room and gave me break down pay. My room was $120 a night. They didn't say anything about the cost.

Hope you got it fixed!

 

Glad your getting it fixed. It’s a shame a 2020 vehicle is having those kind of issues.

 

I just can’t believe it is So hard to get a separate compressor to mechanically function and survive off these APUs.

I take it they just don’t hold up to the vibrations.

Time to build a Air Ride Apu

 

Silly consumer. If they make them vibration proof, they'll be out of business in no time,,,

 

Actually much easier to make the apu a electrical generator only and buy a split A/c you can run on shorepower when available.

If Commiefornia wanted to put their money where their mouths was for idle laws they would have truck stops have shore power hookups.