Tools

Most guys don't even bother with a pre-trip. You're talking to dead air.


As for fixing lights, adjusting brakes, etc... some companies actually expect you to do this stuff.

At System, they take you into the shop during orientation and give you a quick lesson on how to adjust brakes. Then they give you a card that says you're perfectly qualified to adjust brakes. You get put OOS for something as simple as your brakes being out of adjustment, and you just might be looking for a new job.

 

I do my own pre-trips, thank you very much.

but on the other hand if it is a company truck, it is the company that has to fix it. Right now I am a fill in driver and may drive four different trucks in a day. I am not being paid to be a mechanic, I don't have the insurance if I mess something up nor want the responsibility if something goes wrong. Not even a light bulb.

It may sound stupid but I've dealt with this issue when one of my former drivers screwed up trying to put in a bulb and screwed up the lights on his trailer, it cost me $650 to fix, I wasn't happy and now I just say bring it in and if someone else screws it up, they are on the hook. He went onto another fleet owned by a friend who has the same rule as I put in place but the guy "adjusted" the brakes on the trailer which ended up binding the brake and burning the drum, shoes and even messed up the bearings.

 

Not always, the brake was in contact with the drum, dragging on it. It wasn't until a trip through a town that everything tightened up enough where it was just dragging hard. He said he thought because of the hills, the truck being loaded that it was normal. The brake never froze, it was binding. It is like when you adjust a drum brake on a Ford, if you do it without backing it off, it can bind up and get really hot.

 

here is a great need/ use for tools. ever had to move winches around??? yah you need a 9/16 deep socket and a pair of vice grips.

 

yep, i would sugguest a set of open ended/box wrnches, (10 pc) deep socket 3/8th drive (10 PC) and a 30 PC set of sockets (1/4 drive) with 3/8ths.
pliers vice grips shld set ya up pretty dmn good

 

Another good thing to have on the road is a roll of teflon tape (plumbers tape), have used it in the Army to fix glad hands on the fly. Just like the OP, I would rather fix what I know how to fix than wait on road service for hours to come and do the same thing.