how mechanically savvy should u be ?

And you can be sure that mechanics say the same things about us. Except of the Ahole mechanics that think ALL truckers are lower than pond scum.

 

I found one. Great guy. Not Truck mechanic. He kept my personal vehicle up. I no longer drive but still trust his judgement when it comes to people I know buying a car.

 

What bothers me is I cannot even get inside a newer car's engine bay to get at the engine belt without unbolting half of it/ it's BS. The other half is you need a shop computer to figure out what's wrong with it. And the factory that builds these #### things don't always put a spare core for a cylinder or something in a box for future need.

 

One mechanic in particular was a bully back in school. We had a quiet talk for about a hour to close the book on that problem before I let him replace the alternator on my truck. He did the work well and I eyeballed him the whole time. We were fine when I paid the bill and left. Life is like that sometimes. The core problem was I was deaf and was not like anyone else he knew in school there and therefore I was a freak or something. And for my part I liked to fight bullies. So that little converstation did more than 4 years of trouble ever did to help us understand each other.

 

Same to you, many don't know how to take it but being in business and seeing more crap, it gets frustrating. I want people to succeed the best they can but sometimes it is painful to tell them the truth.

Got to tell you that when I hire a driver, he gets tested.

I want to see if they know where the dip stick is and how they read the oil level, and a bunch of other things. Got a truck sitting down at the yard in Indiana that is setup just for this, there are a bunch of things wrong with it and it isn't ever going to see the road but man it is a great testing rig.

Now I do keep some stats on what I do, and you know what? It is one in seven who can actually pass this simple but effective test, a few flunk on the dip stick part, some can't even figure it out, it is even marked OIL in big black letters on a yellow handle. So I get that my wish of a good test won't come true unless we really push for it, however we are so scattered and fractured, we are lucky we can talk to each other at the fuel isle.

 

That's the trouble today. Everyone thinks you just put the thing in drive and go. But on the other hand, if someone wants to pay me $50 for a half hour labour to change a tail light, who am I to complain?

 

I want to reiterate my position on this. I am not saying you need to have any mechanical knowledge to operate a truck. You can get along nicely without it. I was just never the type of person that did that. I was never a mechanic anyway. However my father taught me how to change tires (car and truck) way back in the 60s. It was all I could do to swing that hammer busting those truck tire beads. Over time I got to where I could put a new tire on a wheel in about an hour out on the road using nothing but 2 long bars and a hammer and using my trailers air for my air. Those old lock ring wheels are dangerous and I highly advise unless you have some training changing them to leave them be. I used to drive an older Volvo tractor with an APU that had a small oil leak. Even though I checked that oil 2 or 3 times a week I had to put about a cup every 2 weeks in it or the APU would not run. I carried Oil for that sole purpose. I'm a throwback but honestly today's truckers can learn some lessons from us old school guys. You are a driver. You are not a mechanic. Yes if you feel comfortable changing some bulbs or a wiper go ahead and do it. However the more you know about your trucks systems the better off you the driver is when trying to relay this information to roadside assistance. One more thing on this driver mechanic issue. I knew all the roadside assistance people that manned the desk 24/7 at my last 2 companies. My last one the man that oversaw roadside knew me. One day I was trying to tell a new hire my leveling valve in my Volvo was going bad. I kept getting this what do you know your just a driver reply. I just hung up and called his boss. About 10 minutes later that same guy called me told me he was sorry and a guy was coming with a new one. The boss did this because he knew I knew what a leveling valve was and why mine was out. You don't get this kind of respect from the shop foreman overnight. You get it because said shop foreman has come to know you are old school and won't open your mouth unless you know what you are speaking about. Just about every trucking company has old drivers that when they go in for service generally don't get messed with because the shop management wont put up with it. This means there are times when a mechanic or some foreman wanabee is pitching a fit and you are just standing there looking either at his boss or the floor and later on that same boss walks up to you and says give me an hour hoss and we will get you out and thanks for not punching that guy. Contrary to what you might read there is still some respect out there.

 

Moose, the reason I have the test is to see first if they know what these things are, it is hard to have road service come to a truck on the side of the road when the driver said "it stopped" and not knowing anything else.

The other thing why I feel it is needed to know how the truck works is to understand its limits. Many drivers think it is a car and that's all it is, so they drive it just like a car and trash it quickly. Knowing how the brakes actually work, or how the engine has a belt for the A/C and alternator can help when they do a pre-trip. BUT my time on the road, I've had to show people how to check oil, how to check the belts and even to show them where the washer fluid goes. There is no excuse why mechanical knowledge shouldn't be taught so they could pass a test about it for their CDL. I guess as my daughter said 'this is a profession, knowing as much as you can to be a professional has to be acquired'

 

In the near future, there won't be hood releases, there will be a sticker, "You have no business under this hood, for service, please see dealer".

 

Good mechanics are harder to find than good drivers.