Life of a Owner Operator

I took a load from Phoenix to salt lake. Night trip. Nothing wrong when looking around while loading and tarping.

Every couple hundred miles there was a knock. Pulled over and couldn't find anything. 150 miles to destination. Knock and vibrate. Still not seeing anything. Thought maybe I lost some tire weights.

Then came the biggest knock and vibrate gone.

It's daylight now. I'm looking around and see a section of air bag mount missing. Then I see the brakes. Still mounted. But the drum was gone.

 

Just another day in trucking, lol.

I posted in #5 about my headlights, I had my switch melt the connector Thurs evening and I lost my headlights 7ish mi from my house on the narrow twisty road that is full of deer at night. Got a new switch Fri morning at Peterbilt to the tune of $65. That is a simple 4 pole on/off toggle switch. Went and got loaded, stopped at Petro for fuel and put the switch in. Left side hl was nice and bright, right side was dim and power was bleeding over to the high beam, highs function normally, except the right side low beam would turn off. We make tracks to the house, got enough light to get home. This morning I start double checking everything I touched, starting with pulling the right side hl out, which I found the plug was only partially plugged in causing my issues. 5min later it was buttoned back up and my lights work correctly again.

Now all I have to deal with this week is a leaking pinion seal and a leaking air dryer and 2 worn out drive tires, lol.

 

I can't beleive how expensive switches are.

My set/resume for the cruise just got replaced. According to Google.

ONE HUNDRED DOLLAS

 

At least the op didn't need a tow. Or worse shut down in a scale.
Good luck.

 

The brackets that hold my air dryer broke several weeks ago and I unknowingly drove about 300 or so miles (I think I know the huge pothole i slammed into on the interstate that busted it finally and then caught it at my destination when I raised the hood) with my air dryer laying down inside the front bumper. My FLD'S front bumper has like a shelf and the dryer was laying in it riding down the highway. On any other truck it would have hit the road and gotten tore all to hell before getting run over Lol..

As with most of these type incidents I saw the bracket before it broke, someone long ago had broken it and half assed welded/fixed it, and knew it needing addressing but put it off. Had to bungee strap and zip tie that on there to make the last 1,000 miles home to fix it lol... Now a brand new one sits in it's spot with the bracket welded back and fixed right. #### happens but more often than not it can or should be caught before it does.

 

Spend alot of my home time messing with truck. Start in with obvious needed fixes. Truck gets greased almost weekly. Gets me under truck to look things over.
By now I am bored with truck and go do other things. Seems every time I walk by truck I start tinkering on it again.
When weekend is done, it seems I spent about half of my waking hours frigging with that #### truck. I cant seem to have it or want it any other way? I hope this time helps prevent problems on the road, in my mind.
Best wishes

 

I would take a close look at all the financial aspects of your operation. Those types of failures are the result of lack of PM, which frequently is "deferred maintenance" , happy talk for "I am not putting enough money back into this truck".
Whether the funds are going to a slot machine at a casino, or a new pickup truck in your driveway, or most likely, you really aren't generating enough income for this operation to be sustainable is the question.
The gross numbers you mention indicate you have your own DOT number. I have several friends in the same boat.
Just driving more and more miles is not the answer. Honestly, in this world, with new entrants( new DOT numbers) entering the business at the rate of about 75 per day, I don't know what is.