went for a road test today.

If he doesn't know what kind of equipment he drove or he doesn't know how to check if 5th wheel jaws are locked - send him down the road, he will be nothing but disaster waiting to happen!!!! That should be basic knowledge every driver should know.

Call me old school if you want, but these new breed drivers will not darken the doors of my trucks!!

 

HaHa! Yeah, for $1000 per day for the truck rental, with me in it; plus a $10000 deposit to cover potential damages to tranny, clutch, driveline.

 

I can't tell you what engine is in my truck because I don't care, means nothing to me and plays no role in my job. All I care about is is it leaking, can i identify parts, is it running well or having broke parts on it, the rest is for a mechanic. I have no plans or desire to work on it so knowing is meaningless.

 

What?
You should at least know the year, brand, and model of the motor you have. You should know what the torque range is for shifting points. You may need to order parts. Guess what? The first thing they ask is what type motor you have. Do you really like looking dumb when you have to admit, "Duh, well, I don't know what kind of motor I have."

I would want to know just for that reason alone! Not looking dumb!

 

I see people make the same mistake all the time when hiring. They start listening to their head and forget to listen to their gut. Most of the time your gut will be right. If you have any doubts about this guy, go with your gut feeling.

 

Gotcha. I thought the $700 was per month. $700/yr wouldn't be too bad. Thanks for the info.

 

Had a company truck, brand spankin new 386 Pete. Trying to run out of Long Beach before traffic got heavy. All of a sudden, KABOOM! Truck lost power, and I was barely able to limp off the road to the shoulder. Set the brakes, and the truck was idling perfectly. Pil pressure was good. "Hmmm, had to be a boost coupling or the air to air."

I opened the the hood and looked at the air to air and the boost couplings. They were fine. Went to the drivers side and I noticed the long intake hose had split in two. I called the company and explained what happened and what was needed. They called a service truck who showed up 30 minutes later with a boost coupling. He had to go back and get the intake hose. Needless to say, I didn't beat the rush. Got stuck in a massive traffic jam.

my time is important. Even when I was a company driver, my time was important. The more you know about a truck, the more time you save. If you don't know what's going on under the hood, how in the hell can you explain to the desk jockey on the other end of the phone what needs to be done to get the show back on the road?

Time>Money