starting roehl on Feb 25th

Yea, I'm sure it is. Looks like a flatbed tractor tho, low sleeper, big chain boxes on the side...... I go by there every day when I take my kiddo's to the sitter...... looks like a nice truck too.

 

Well I went 29 days out, non stop. Boy was I ready to take a few days off. I dropped my last load down in Hopkinsville, KY and got my Home dispatch. CMoore was right, we ran into eachother in Morten's Gap, KY. I knew the place cause my wife's grandmother lives in Central City, KY. I've stopped in there for a pitstop and meal prior to heading home.

Yep Foomangoo...that's my truck over at TLT Fuel. Roehl sent me home Thursday and told me to stay home until Tuesday. I also had a drill weekend in the middle. Heh...forgot to turn off the 12V cooler, so I need to visit with the shop tomorrow and see if they can give me jumpstart. Wasn't sure if I should try to start the tractor using my Pickup truck. Guess it is good I found out tonight, rather than finding out Tuesday morning. Roehl would have probably been disappointed in me.

I don't think I did too bad on my own so far. All I need to do is clean up my backing skills, so it doesn't take me forever to park the truck at a dock. (It will be nice when I get my Load Securement done, so I can lose the Van trailer) I'm not doing too bad about getting to the customer on time. I was only late once by about 15 minutes. That was because the route to Logan, OH took me on OH 93, that road is way too curvy and graded to travel quickly. I averaged between 35 - 45mph, there wasn't anything I could have done differently.

Roehl pretty well ran me to the edge of my drive time. In order to make the delivery times, I wasn't allowed to sit at a R/A or T/S for more than 15-30 mins. I will admit, that I did utilize the earned showers when time permitted. So remember (driver-to-be's) the 12V cooler is a must. Get it and a cheap CB radio. Pack your cooler with enough food for at least a week on the road. That way you can prevent spending mad cash at the T/S. The CB is required for communication with some customers, as well as good info regarding road closures, accidents, or other hazards.

The truck is a 2005 International. No APU (alternate power unit), so I must idle the truck for air. And believe me, in south GA it was needed. I called my wife one afternoon, it was 113 degrees. I was getting mad cause the truck kept shutting off, it would idle for a couple minutes and shut off. This went on for over an hour. I was done driving for the day and it was way too hot to stay in the truck without AC. I finally called dispatch about it. Found out that they hadn't reset the computer for summer idle. (I don't know if they really did anything, I just know it will idle continuous after you start it a second time) After a few minutes I got a QualComm message that it should be fixed. Now the truck will idle for as long as I let it. I learned that if I close the sleeper curtains (not the cab window curtains), run the bunk AC for about 3 hrs, the temp in the sleeper will stay cool and tolerable most of the night.

Well we'll see what excitement tomorrow brings regarding the jumpstart. I think the wife wants to take the girls to the zoo in Evansville. Hopefully I can get the minor maintenance issue taken care of early in the morning.

 

I've seen 4-wheelers jump-start a big truck before, but prepare to wait a while for it to charge the batteries enough and be VERY sure you hook the cables up to the battery right. It'll put quite a load on the 4-wheeler's alternator, and can heat the jumper cables up quite a bit.

 

Well it turns out that perhaps there was more to this problem than a 12V cooler. I found it a little hard to believe that the little fan would have been enough to discharge four heavy duty batteries. My wife said that Vincennes, IN was hit with a pretty bad lightning storm on Friday and Saturday.

When I went to check it out this morning, I had the mechanic from the Mack/Volvo dealer come over to give me a jump. He hooked up his jumpstart kit and when I turned the key, it fried all the cables on his kit. He then took out the batteries and tested each one while I stood there. All four batteries showed a dead cell. So I thought it was time to call Roehl maintenance. R&H Truck Sales (mack / volvo) suggested I replace all the batteries. Roehl wanted me to attempt to use my pickup to trickle charge the batteries.

So that is what I did for about 45mins. I took care to make sure I hooked the right cables to the right places. I idled up the pickup (fast but not floored). I then waited. I managed to get just enough juice to get the International going. I then paid close attention to the volt gauge. I noticed that it only read around 11v. That sent up the red flag. So I called Roehl again. I let them know what the current status was. They said to idle the tractor for 15mins and see if the volts would climb. So again I waited. After 15 mins the volts dropped to 10.5v. At this point I ruled in favor of R&H Truck Sales, there was definately a problem.

Roehl had me bang (lightly) on the alternator and trace the small wire (voltage sensor). When I informed them of the status, after yet another 15mins; only then were they satisfied enough to seek repair. You'll never guess where they asked me to take the truck. Yep, take it to the shop (that would have fixed the problem to begin with). So I limped the last bit of juice out of the batteries and took the tractor across the street to R&H. By this time they were well into their usual business day, so they weren't able to get to me until late afternoon. I should find out tomorrow what the verdict was.

Heh... I called up Roehl and asked them if I could expect the same pattern of test procedures for all issues. It just seems to me that, had Roehl just listened to and believed R&H, when I told them that the batteries were properly tested and found faulty, we could have fixed the problem early this morning. Oh well...I'm a salary guy, what do I care how long I sit around. I'll give my DSR a call tomorrow and see if I need to move my start time out beyond 0700 (Marshfield,WI). My guess is that my truck won't be done till around 0900 (Vincennes, IN), could be later. We'll see.

I sure love the school of hard knocks. Boy the things a guy can learn.

 

I had a similar experience a few years ago. I was sleeping at a customer and was awakened to back into a dock about 0400. No problem. I try to start the truck and its dead. This is one of the trucks that had the ICON. There was no way to keep it running constantly. You set the thermostat and the truck started up and shut off to keep it at the set temp. Anyway I call maintenance and they arrange a jump start from a TA down the road. The mechanic tells me the batteries are junk. I get it jumped and backed into the dock. I keep messing with the ICON to keep it from shutting off. I get unloaded and pull back to where I was to go back to bed until I get dispatched again. I unplug my cooler and inverter, and set the ICON as cold as it goes to keep it running longer. The truck runs for a while then shuts off. I get my next dispatch that is routed through Gary for fuel. Cool, I can it looked at there. The only problem is my truck is dead again. I call up maintenance again and speak to a woman.(Usually its one of two guys) I tell her I need a jump start again. In a real witchy tone she asks, "Why do need another jump start when you just had one?" The batteries are junk. "The batteries are not junk, they would have been replaced." That is what the mechanic who jumped me said. "Well, you need to be routed through a terminal to get this fixed. Did you contact your DSR?" He isn't there at 0400 and I will as soon as I am done with you. So I get jumped again by the same guy who thinks it is quite humorous. These batteries are no good are reiterated to me. So I pick up my next load, good thing it was preloaded trailer. On my way to Gary I have to stop and get fuel. It is a FJ so no need to sign anything , just fuel and go. Or so I thought. The batteries are so bad that the truck was dead in the fuel island after about ten minutes of fueling. Good thing this was one of the hooks that actually have a shop. I walk over there and get them to jump me one more time. I call maintenance again. This time it is normal guy who you talk to during the day. "Why did you shut your truck off?" Because I was in the fuel island. I really wanted to add and "safety is my cornerstone value" but I didn't. He says "Well its just diesel its not gasoline, its not going to blow up". OK I will remember that for next time I have to nurse a truck 600 miles to a yard instead of just replacing the bad batteries. So off I go after making all kinds of friends in the fuel island. I finally make it to Gary and get it into the shop. "Yep the batteries are bad, I can smell it", says one of the wrenches in Gary as I walk out of the shop. So after three jump starts I finally get some better batteries.

 

I rolled down ole' 41 S taking my kids to a birthday party this evening and saw ya with truck idling, so guess its a goin' now. I would have stopped to chat, but I was already late and you had company anyway. My father-in-law works over at R&H, he's a painter, been doin it for 40 years. I know a couple of the guys work out there too.

Once you get rollin' keep us informed, really interested in the day-to-day of flatbeddin'.

 

Wake Up
Drive
Arrive at Shipper
Wait
Load
Strap/Tarp
Drive
Find a place to Park
Eat Dinner
Take Shower
Sleep
Wake up to hookers banging on truck
Yell at said hookers to get off your truck
Sleep
Wake up
Drive
Arrive at Consignee
Unstrap/Untarp
Unload
Wait for new load
Get new load
Drive
Arrive at shipper
Wait
Wait some more
Wait a little bit more
Load
Strap/Tarp
Ask to park over night
Told you can not park over night
Drive illegally
Find truck stop with one spot left
Spend five minutes jamming truck into spot
Skip dinner, go strait to shower
Sleep
Rinse
Repeat

 

I will stick with my reffer.
I have a 20' set of jumper cables that have kept me out of trouble with both my last trucks. Last one had ICON, this one has TAS. But if you turn the system on, and dont set the temp it will be on battery save mode. This is supposed to run the truck to keep the battery's charged and the engine temp above 70 degrees.

 

GIJEFF0, I truly enjoy reading your posts,documenting your journey into trucking. It has been great entertainment. And I always check this post for your latest updates.
I no longer work at Roehl,but it is a good place to start at. They will run your butt off on salary.It is alot better than sitting around. Just thought I would let you know. Good Luck!

 

Jeff, were you bumping up the cruise to keep your truck running? When I recovered your truck, I had no problem keeping it running. I also had my cooler and laptop running with no issues. Mind you, I wasn't in it very long, but I thought it was pretty nice and the other driver left it in real nice condition.