Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

Yoko16 ply steers. 22.5 standard width. Can't recall the numbers offhand. I bought them because I thought they would allow me to operate heavier on the steers in most states, but I was mistaken I thought my truck had 14k steer axles, but it doesn't, so the extra couple thousand in load potential is meaningless.

Not saying that the Yoko's aren't a bit better than the Bridgestones I am running now, but they cost more and don't give me any more options.

Thanks for the info about how the boards work at Landstar.

 

Check the Firestone steers against Bridgestones pricewise. Firestone is basically Bridgestones last model. I’ve always considered Bridgestone steers being the best. Still do. Now it’s Firestone, for the price difference. I’ve had 2 sets of Yoko steers, the expensive good ones, and the cheap ones. Never cared for either. Drives are a different story. I loved them. They had the deepest tread Luggers 20+ yrs ago. I’m pretty sure Bridgestone Luggers are just as deep now. I’ll run anything on my drives. I try to avoid Goodyear’s and Goodrich altogether. Though I’ve had a few Goodyear’s wear well on my Trailer. I’ve been putting old steers on my drives for a long time. I’ve also bought a couple used like new drives along the way. But believe it or not, I’ve only bought 1 set of drives in 12 yrs, 1.5 mil miles. Will be buying a set before winter. It will definitely be a special event!!! I’ll run them to 50% on rear axle, then swap axles. Right rear on mine usually wears the most, LF rear the least. Probably swap them accordingly. The goal is to wear all out at the same time. The other tactic is to not rotate them, replacing the rear 4 only when needed. Running the front another year or two. Then buying 4 putting them on the rear, moving the rears to the front axle. Never rotate, and they usually wear out at the same time. Considering the cost to rotate, you can spend more that it’s worth sometimes. The other thing is, if I need to buy 1 new tire, I usually get 2, putting them side by side, and the other as a spare, or where it’s needed. This works especially well on my trailer, as far as longevity is concerned. The fact that my Drive tires have blown sidewalls before treads completely worn. Even one of my Bridgestone Drives blew a sidewall. Making them last longer is questionable. Sometimes it’s better to get a whole new set, trading the old ones in for credit. Or selling them outright. PITA, though. All depends on what pricing you can get. Right now, I need one used drive to make it to winter. Trailers good for a while. Only new tires I’ve been buying are Firestone steers, every 100-135k depending. If I need a drive, I’ll buy steers sooner. Been doing it that way for years now. But now it’s time for new Drives. I’m looking forward to buying them, but not till it’s time. I wouldn’t worry about bearings till you’re next brake job. You can check them for looseness, when doing tire work. Have them check with the tire/wheel on. Preferably before they take the old one off. Easily checked yourself, while it’s on the jack. Something I always do. If there’s a problem, they can fix it while the tires already off. Saving Labor fees. Check front oil often, look for leaking seals from behind. Try to catch them when seeping, before they blow, and saturate the shoes. Otherwise wait till brakes are due. Then have new seals done, bearings inspected, and make sure they torque the hubs correctly. Not too tight. Tiny amount of play should be felt, with wheel and tire installed. Just a tiny amount. Too many places get them too tight. Causing them to burn up, or spin the race on the spindle. Too loose is obvious, when checking them. They won’t burn up, but will ride on the sides of bearings. Wearing out prematurely, also causing a wheel seal to fail early. Shocks on steers every 100k, or at least once a year. Rears can go a little longer, if needed. Watch for oil leaking, and do the heat test. Cold shock is shot. I know you didn’t ask, but I’m trying to help you save money on repairs.

 

In California they don't look at your Axel only your tire I believe most states do the same

 

I think that CA has a hard limit of 12k for non permit trucks, even if the axle and steer are rated for far more. Oregon has some funky rule about tire width that basically makes standard steers 12k max weight, but allows wide steers to go much higher. Washington state has a 12500 max, I think? Rhode Island might also have an odd steer weight rule. Can't remember offhand.

Most other states only care about the ratings of your axles and steers. Whichever is rated lower is your limit. So, with my axles rated for 12350 lbs, tires of a higher rating are pretty meaningless.

 

Your first 3 assumptions are incorrect. I ran 12500 on the steer of my FLD in all three of those states for years and never once got hassled about it. And when I drove for the flatbed company we had to carry almost 13k on the steers to max out our bridge. The way OR figured theirs we had to be 12.8 in order to go 102k and we had to have a minimum of 12.6 everywhere else to be able to hit 105k. I’ll be in WA on Monday and I’ll be 12.4 on my steer, the wiggle room is nice when you’re loading right to 80k.

 

As long as you are on the interstate, it’s federal limits. The individual state rules come into play once you leave the interstate. So, if your just passing through on interstate, never an issue. Your wheel and axle rating set your limit.

 

Landstar is your best bet if they will take ya. Better apply now. It takes a long time to get set up IF they take ya. No reason not to apply to all three and see which ones will even take ya. Then choose from there.

 

Gotta love it when you get parked at 10 PM in paid parking, and find a trailer tire with a chunk missing from it.

Then the early morning service appointments are taken, but they can fit you in at 0230.

When I pulled out of my reserved spot at 0230, a lot vulture grabbed the spot in 10 seconds.

I hope this tire change is quick, but if it's too quick, I am going to have to get the TA to chase someone out of a paid parking spot so I can get some sleep tonight without waiting for the 0400 crowd to roll out.

I am very glad I only need 4 hours sleep.

 

Well, Dropped off my truck on Friday at the local shop I decided to try. They said they would start work on it on Monday. Late Tuesday afternoon they sent me an estimate for work to be done which did not include all the work I asked to be done.

I told them to do the work, but that before they tried to do any troubleshooting on computers/wiring, they must replace a wire I know is either bad, or will be bad soon. My Right steer ABS wire has two bulges in it, and I'll be ###### if I'm going to pay them to troubleshoot before replacing it, because that wire absolutely will be replaced before I get back on the road, and all the errors I have been getting are either DPF or related to tire rotation. Traction control, ABS, OnGuard, L2 engine light, and intermittent warnings from my Peoplegarbage machine, etc, could all be caused by the truck not properly detecting tire speed.

Beginning to look like I'm going to need to find another shop near Columbia, SC.

 

From one repair to another repair...
I hope you are still able to make some money in between the repair episodes.
The equipment safety is a must. There are, however, non safety related issues that perhaps don't require immediate action. For instance, if I see the 'check engine' light I don't rush to any nearest shop...if I did, I'd be much poorer than I am. I just look up the code and try to make an assessment if that's a real or false alarm. Most of the time, it does not require immediate action or it simply becomes an inactive fault. Also, I have ABC/TCS light on every now and then (common Volvo problem)and every time it ends up being some wire or sensor. I fix it, then it is good for a few months and it still pops up sooner or later, especially when it is wet. When it dries out it disappears. Sometimes when I look for a bad wire, I can't find any. Sometimes, even if there is a heavy rain, I don't have those lights on at all....Some of these things are hard to fix or explain.
Another example, I had an error of crankcase pressure too high. I replaced the filter and the sensor and it was good for a few weeks only but then the same engine light and the same code came back. I decided to ignore it and run like that. After a few days running like that I discovered that the hose from the engine block to the crankcase filter separator was raptured. I only replaced the hose and the problem disappeared. It's been 3 months since then without that code. Why the heck did it disappear, I only replaced the hose...the old hose did not look like it was jammed or anything like that?
I am not implying that is all right to run a sloppy truck or neglect the maintenance.
I guess what I am trying to say is that at some point when a truck has its age and mileage, it is hard not to compromise with running it while there are some trivial ' to fix' things. Of course, it is everyone's call to decide if they can run it like that and tolerate/recognize seriousness level of engine warnings or decide how long they can wait. At least for the time before you find someone who actually does know how to fix it.