Truck Pile-Up on Coquihalla (again):

The Canyon is my road. It's easy to drive and it's definitely a drivers road. I hate when something happens on the Coq and you get every idiot that shouldn't be behind the wheel of a semi flooding onto the Canyon route and it takes at least twice as long to do it. If you're scared of or inexperienced with mountain roads like almost all of Hwy 1 from the Alberta to the coast, stay the hell on the flatland or better, do local gigs.

 

All of this you have to admit is due to the dispatchers remote controlling the drivers via timed runs, and all the while using slow governed trucks that can barely get to 62MPH. Most dispatchers who have never driven a truck, just look at Google Maps and think the truck can get to Calgary from Surrey within 10 hours, same as a car, and whip those drivers to get there in 10 or 11 hours or else. Those same dispatchers keep a spreadsheet of every run and how long it took, and try to aim to shave off seconds from each run, or whip the driver black and blue for being "too slow."

The delivery "deadlines" and "late fees" for so-called "late deliveries" needs to end if we're going to get back to safe trucking once more. CPX, Walmart, Bison, Core-Mark, and Lightspeed are the worst offenders for this type of scheduling.

 

Without a union the employer will laugh at every one of your concerns. It's not worth it to lone-wolf it, regardless of the dead weight that gets hired there. Canadian drivers really are at a disadvantage due to the current labour enforcement environment (lack of enforcement). There is zero consequence and all the incentive in Canada for employers to violate you.

 

As a company driver, In good weather I used to be able to do either 10 to 10.5 hours from Surrey to Calgary. But that's because back then trucks weren't governed, had decent HP and of course, lots more companies than now used to have trucks with Cummins motors.

But with most companies trying to be cheap have bought fleets with almost nothing but Freightshakers and Volvos. Wimpy Detroits and D13s. I spent a a while inbetween being an owner, and one time I had to drive what the boss said was a powerful truck. A mighty Detroit 560 in a typical crappo Cascadia. Took me 12.5 hours to get to Calgary. Thing was weak as hell, and pf course, using my shoes to hold me back going down grades were better than the Detroits pretend jakes. last time I had driven a Detroit years before was a Series 60, and they have always lied about their ratings. Back then it was 525 in cruise, but 475 if using the pedal. The new vaunted DD15s are a joke and many in the industry fall for the lie of the big number. The only way that engine would put of 560 Hp was at 1800+ RPMs. Otherwise it was 460 HP. Why so many people fall for the lies is beyond me. But chasing the mirage of fuel mileage makes many people fools. Especially the makers of Paccar and Maxxforce lemons, and of course the ones who buy them.

Fleets don't give a crap about drivers. They'll buy the cheapest crap around. They always have. Given that most drivers comping online now have come from driving junk 5 tons on foreign roads, they think what the fleets have now is wonderful.

We don't get paid by the hour, so yeah the boss wants to make money, so you'll get put into a truck that will take two more hours out of your life. Of course those same company owners will scam owner/ops on fuel surcharges.

My last truck sadly wasn't a Cummins, but it did have 700 HP, 2250 torque, 3.21 rear end and an 18 stick. Wasn't governed either. Running between BC and Alberta every day, and always with maxed out tridems, I got 6.2 mpg. I could do the speed limit and my rpms were low. If I was governed I'd never see top gear. because I'd be heavy, even with the extra power, I'd still take between 10 and 10.5 hours to go each way. 11 during winter because I put some auto chains on lol.

There's no way to save fuel in the mountains they way people can do on the flat. But keep your revs and turbo boost down and you'll be ok. I had the truck that could do that.

But funny as this will sound, the last company buggy I drove had a 500 ISX with 3.90 gears. Boss said one time he liked my fuel mileage, said it was 7.2. I told him I don't drive for economy, I drive for me. But I was amazed because I'd drive 110 kph the whole way on 97 up to Willies Puddle and back (was 90 speed limit at the time), and I was always up around 1600 rpms. Weird that I got good fuel mileage. But if you know what you're doing, it can help. One time in that truc I blew the turbo hose just before Alexandria bridge in the canyon. mickey moused it but totally blew off at the top of OJ. .But did my run up to the puddle and back anyways. I just kept my boost under 6 the entire time. It can be done in the mountains lol.

I'd tell you about the time in that same old Cornbinder where I had no brakes going up and back (two blown brake pots), but I don't want to scare y'all....

 

I always got the best mileage when I was calm, relaxed, not in a hurry, and this usually entailed some audio book playing in the background, or CBC Radio, or Art Bell.

Having a truck that runs on fuel efficient tires (michelin mainly), friction-reduced oil (royal purple or similar), with no governor, and enough horsepower to keep that truck in the big gear as long as possible, and an Aerodynamic body styling, really helps make it easier for the driver to hit the 6.5-7MPG numbers in the mountains.

The trick is to know the road well, and use your momentum to carry you forward as much as possible. Keep your speeds down as you crest each hill which you know you will over-speed at the bottom of the next one if you come in too hot at the top, and generally drive to the speeds that the weight of your loads dictates.Stay off the brakes and the jakes as much as you safely can. Any scrubbing of energy will hurt your fuel mileage.

If you have good sight lines where you can see far down the road, and have good dry road conditions with no situational complexity like sudden wildlife or pedestrians or sharp turns, and you're coming down a hill that follows upward again, carry enough speed to get you over the top. It's much easier with an ungoverned truck. For that one or two seconds you might hit 120KM/hr you'll have enough time to spool up the turbo before the uphill starts.

Contrary to popular belief a reciprocating internal combustion engine runs the most efficient when it's under 90% of full load; maybe even full load. What I mean by that is the pistons need something to push against with the highest cylinder pressure possible, for as long as possible. The further a piston travels away from top dead center the less torque the piston is producing from the combustion impulse. As a driver you will get the most efficiency when the cylinder pressure is very high after the combustion impulse, the rotation speed is very slow, and the load the piston is pushing against is very high. This explains why more powerful engines with taller gears do better in the mountains. This is also why manufacturers are constantly pushing for designs that will down-speed their engines peak power closer to 1000RPM instead of those older screaming Detroit 60's which only really worked at 1800RPM's. To get high cylinder pressures manufacturers invented turbo compounding, which means that the turbo will contribute extra cylinder pressure the more you load the engine. So don't be afraid of high turbo boost pressures, because that's where the engine is its happiest.

Keep grabbing gears, for many years. All the best!

 

Well, my 3.21s did fine. Of course I could pull down to 1050 rpm. With a maxed tridem the smasher only took me down to 7 direct. Of course I didn't get over 7 per mile, because I always drove the speed limit, and at 120 I was 1375 rpm (my truck's sweet spot).

I could teach people many tricks for mountains. Some save fuel, some are well, a bit more adventurous.

But one time years ago I lived in Kelowna and had a gig doing midnight switches up at Rogers Pass. Best time there and back, yeah and around the lake, going through towns, was 3.75 hours. I kid you not.

 

LOL sounds like you definitely worked at Bison also!

Don't forget TransX/CanXpress/QuickX, CNTL, Day and Ross, Arnold Brothers. Them ELDS and kids on computers, just squeeze them drivers till they pop. Also for all their talk of safety and ####, most of them big company trucks are hitting the mountains on bald ### tires, #### brakes, and de-rated to the point the jakes won't hold anything back. (or the jake's are disabled all together, Celadon, NorthX, Red Maple).

I'm never leaving where i'm at, and if for some reason I have too (god I hope not), it's going to be an Owner Operator ONLY company. You can take your ####ing total quality management #### and shove it! Continious improvement, spend millions (billions) on software and management "talent" so they can do it cheaper, and pay the drivers as little as possible.

 

Nope Hoss I've never even pulled any of those wagons. I've had the misfortune of driving a few company trucks that have the electronic logs. Hated them. Too many menus and screens. Could get out and thump the tires and take a whiz faster than scrolling through the #### machine to mark a brake check. And when I got back in, it was faster to use the pedal to set all the auto slacks then even getting halfway through to the bloody brake check. I've pulled a few CPX loads after they went to in cab qualcom. What a pain it the behind. Moronic lazy dispatchers that couldn't figure out how to access the GPS that was in the trailer, and they would demand that I give them regular location and eta reports. Since I'm blind as a bat without reading glasses and hate to pull over, I would only stop in Hinton on my way to Edmonton to play with the machine. So they got their location, and for ETA I always put when I get there, which has always been my standard since starting to drive. Luckily I'm usually early in all my runs. But I have always notified dispatch if there's any delays. As I always have to train the dispatchers in every company, I tell them no news is good news, and leave me the hell alone. Seems to work with the wife too lol. But, I curse the day when cell phones were invented, now dispatch can hassle you any time they want. I specifically tell companies that years ago I blew out my left ear drum, and even though it was reattached, I don't hear much out of it. So I don't wear a headset, so don't bother calling me. That worked for a while, but if it's an immigrant company you're working for, or some clod dispatcher that can't speak legible English, sure as #### they'll be calling you ever few minutes. It now usually takes me a few months to get everybody trained on how I roll. I have always been, give me the load and I'll get it there. Period.

 

As for trucks that aren't up to safety standards. One time years ago I warned the company that one of the steers was almost gone. Next run I look at the new one they put on. A newly capped wagon wheel!!!! Needless to say I declared it out of service then and there. But they treated me like a senior member of the family, which in their culture is a high honor. So I could tell them what's what and they'd listen. But it got so bad that one time they asked me if I wanted to take another of their trucks this time (was doing rounders to Kitimat and back to the lower mainland). I asked them why. They wanted me to tell them what's wrong with it. I said no. Sometimes when I'd get back, the dispatcher had screwed up and he didn't have a truck to cover a local delivery. Last thing I wanted to do. So I said $50 each time. Fine with them. But only took me two times to tell them never again. I always scheduled so I'd get back before rush hour. So ugh, local driving in rush hour. But each time their trailers had safety violations. Once I'll fudge it, twice forget it. But good company, they really left me alone. And even the guys at Red Rock knew what I was up to, and they said I was the most rested guy on the road. I would go up with an empty 40 foot rag top can. Would drive to Kitimat dirwect. yeah yeah, a wee bit over HOS lol. But I'd get there and swap the empty for a full one and then go -park. Great sleep, could wake up when I wanted. The can didn't have to be at the docks until 8pm the following day. So I would cruise as far as I wanted to and shut down whenever I wanted. Sometimes that would be to PG, or sometimes in the Fraser Canyon. Easy peasy run, and would always clear my butt out of heavy rush hour traffic before it started (I live out in the valley). Anyhow, I did 1 run every 4 days. That means 2.5 days driving, and legally reset again before another run. And of course, 2 nights in 4 at home in my bed and home cooking. But of course I have big brass ones, otherwise I wouldn't have told the guys at Red Rock the truth lol.

 

I've never pulled for TransX/CanXpress/QuickX, CNTL, Day and Ross, or Arnold Brothers. I have however witnessed the Carnage of an Arnold Bro. shiny classic Peterbuilt lodged into the roadside ditch on the side of a mountain between Hope and Princeton in the middle of a snowstorm after a sharp curve the guy obviously came in to hot for and had to choose between the ditch or flipping the whole thing over. The mountainside caught his fall.

As far as having lots of time on the clock I'll give H&R Transport a passing grade, but I was never the rescue driver for them. They will readily put a team under a load that needs rescuing, and have never refused a repair of leaking hubs or other defects.

Sadly most drivers walk around the trailer, never check the hub seals, never get underneath the trailer, and never tug test the brakes while checking that the wheels are not rolling under brake pressure. Alot of the safety issues and runaways are from brakes that are seem to be in adjustment but are still not making good contact between pad and drum. The drum may have hairline cracks and this is not easy to spot. So, regardless of the company you go to, every carrier is going to have issues with trailers out of pure time pressure of the drivers not having enough time to give it a good once-over, or just plain laziness.