Newb's please read.

thats unreal but a clamp and adding coolant makes you wonder why dealers charge 100 and hr I hope its isolated incident be more than a wheel holder ya have to do some on your own and that is how you learn

 

They were talking about what a wrecker charges to come out. It's not cheap to call a wrecker.

 

Pickin' on a poor ol' big yeller school bus driver while he's takin' young'ns home, eh?

 

Hey, I'm just an old retarded er retired truck driver. I ain't no fancy-pants retailer!

Hey we ALL know that those old time truckers never exagerated or spun stories! Don't we?

Ah yes, the "good old days." I just can't imagine being out on the road in anything, POV to commercial rig, without having tools and a basic knowledge of how to get in from beside the road.

Yes, I've had to "call a hook." Both for a big truck, and for my own POV. But the idea is to know what you can deal with, and what really needs a real mechanic.

 

I see things like this happen allot, and just have to laugh.
I fixed several trucks and trailers for fellow drivers at a company I worked at when I got back on the road. Most got totally lost when the hood was open.
All were small fixes, priming a reefer that had run out of fuel, fixing lights bulbs, loose under trailer pig tails, adjusting brakes on trailers etc. All were small things, but many time they were things that could have gotten drivers out of service or that they would have waited hours and hours to get a wrecker for.
It is just sad.

Maybe all drivers need to start at small company's where you are expected to help if your truck is down. I did this for years at several company's. Or if there are no loads you help out in the shop (this was at hourly jobs).
On the road you are on your own. Sure, there are some drivers out here that will be more than willing to lend a hand if you ask, but would you rather sit for several hours or be several hours down the road?

No, we are not mechanics. And many company's do not want there drivers to act as mechanics. But they do expect you to be somewhat self reliant. Not to need your hand held all the time.
I would never let any child of mine drive a car until they knew how to change a tire, check the fluids (and top off if needed), change lights, wiper blades etc.
But many "drivers" out here cannot do any of these things even if they had the tools to do them. Sure, I do not expect you to be changing a tire on the side of the road ( I have in the past but not in an OTR operation) but all the other things there everyone on the road should be able to do.

I have gotten calls from my brother in-law 2 times in the last 6 months to help him change a flat tire. I finally forced my wife recently to learn how to change wiper blades. This is easy common sense stuff. These are smart people. But they never felt the need to learn these things. And I strongly think they should not be driving.

 

In all seriousness though, the truckers that I spent time with during my youth could repair a heck of a lot more than a blown bulb- it's part of the job. Way back when, the driver often had to change his own tires and grease the chassis- on his own time.[/QUOTE]

When I first started,I changed many tires,for some reason they always had to be an inside tire.Use to service the truck too.Filters,oil,grease.
We finally got a mobile service to do it instead.
At least I did it on company time.

 

Wouldn't management be even more stupid for okaying all that?

 

Aw heck, and I spent time changing my own headlights, too. And grabbing bulbs, fluid, wiperblades, etc, etc, from the mechanics and doing my own simple repairs just to get back out on the road rather than wait, too. Obviously, I was working wwaaayyyy too hard. Maybe if I called a wrecker in when I was sitting in the company yard, then I could qualify as a steering wheel holder instead of a trucker driverer man.

 

I have done quite a few of my own repairs. One of the larger companies that I worked for would not reimburse me for parts. If the down time would involved me losing time and money I would take care of it myself. ie simple lites or what not. A $2 lite and dirty hands vs 2 hours down time, do the math. I think the company did. What can you do?

 

Pathetic..