Things the last couple of days have gone reasonably well - hence the lack of anything to post about - but something happened shortly after my arrival here at the Indy OC that drove me up the wall. I was assigned another load (yes, more than a day before I'm delivering this one) that has a rather strict time window and required I call in to assure everyone involved I could deliver it on time. After a brief glance, it looks like I can just make the pick up tomorrow and head to the nearby Carlisle, PA operating center to take my break. The problem, however, is that I only have 12:15 left out of my 70 and will likely use all of that up tomorrow trying to get things moved around. I'm picking up 5:30 for Wednesday, of which I'll need about half of that just to get to where I'm delivering, 100 miles away to a small town south of Baltimore. That leaves me - in the absolute best case scenario - just three hours with which to get another load and/or find a legal place to park.
I tried to convey my concerns about this while on the conference call, but neither my DBL nor the person from customer service would even listen to that; they both refused to even consider anything other than the implications of my upcoming assignment. After we had things more or less sorted out on that run, the customer service person thanked me for my time and hung up. I tried then bringing up the concerns I had about the situation to my DBL, but she also hung up before I could even finish a sentence. And, of course, it was exactly 4 o'clock when she hung up; when I tried calling back my call was immediately routed to the night shift, who wouldn't know the situation or have the authority to do anything about it.
About the only thing that I can do at this point is to call in sometime tomorrow, likely before I head to pick the load up at all. I've no intention of even taking the load if they can't assure me that I won't be stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere and forced into taking a 34 hour break at a place without facilities. I've had it happen before; I'm not going to let it happen again. The only other thing I can take some solace in is the simple fact that, in six days, I'll be going on my vacation and transferring to another OC, ensuring I won't have to deal with any of these people in the future.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
West Memphis, AR - What the truck?
After the frustrations of dealing with Minnesota and the surrounding states recently, I'm glad I've finally gotten far enough south to see temperatures that are near freezing, as opposed to dealing with things well below zero. Just getting started this morning was a pain in the butt though, as my front-left trailer brakes were stuck. Thankfully the tires just slid on the ice harmlessly before I noticed it. It then took a good twenty minutes of hammering away at the thing to get them to free up before I went on my way. Today's drive was mercifully uneventful. The snow had stopped before I took off late this morning, so I just saw the aftermath, including two semis and lots of cars stuck in the median in Iowa. Road conditions were about what I expected; left lane mostly covered in snow, right lane partially cleared. Once I got out of Iowa things improved somewhat, and by St. Louis the roads were basically dry.
Upon arriving in West Memphis I tried to get those DOT things taken care of. The estimator, though, wanted none of it. He started shouting at me, explaining why he wouldn't write up a repair on the inspection report (the steer horn) and that he refused to even sign my logbook stating that it was not something that needed repair under any circumstances. I called road repair to try get a second opinion, for lack of anyone else to talk to, only to watch the estimator walk out about two minutes later, apologize, and say he'd already written everything up for repair. I'm in the shop now waiting for someone to get started; soon as they get done I'm going to bed and hoping I don't have to withstand someone's temper tomorrow. :p
Update (12:45 AM): Repairs are finally done. The headlight issue took only about five minutes. The horn, however, took three mechanics over an hour to fix. It was all I could do to not burst out laughing as they climbed around trying to figure out why the infernal thing wouldn't work. But they fixed it all, signed off on the repairs, and I'm legal to get moving in the morning.
Upon arriving in West Memphis I tried to get those DOT things taken care of. The estimator, though, wanted none of it. He started shouting at me, explaining why he wouldn't write up a repair on the inspection report (the steer horn) and that he refused to even sign my logbook stating that it was not something that needed repair under any circumstances. I called road repair to try get a second opinion, for lack of anyone else to talk to, only to watch the estimator walk out about two minutes later, apologize, and say he'd already written everything up for repair. I'm in the shop now waiting for someone to get started; soon as they get done I'm going to bed and hoping I don't have to withstand someone's temper tomorrow. :p
Update (12:45 AM): Repairs are finally done. The headlight issue took only about five minutes. The horn, however, took three mechanics over an hour to fix. It was all I could do to not burst out laughing as they climbed around trying to figure out why the infernal thing wouldn't work. But they fixed it all, signed off on the repairs, and I'm legal to get moving in the morning.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
South St. Paul, MN - Breakdowns
It has been one thing after another the last couple of days. After spending the entire weekend idling at the Iowa 80, I went to pick up a load and noticed that my truck was struggling up hill. That might be normal if I were hauling a heavy load, but I was bobtailing and still had very little power. I sent a message off to operations asking them when I'd be by an OC, hoping that I could get away with running it in that condition... no dice. My load turned out to be 45,000 pounds (not the 15,000 my work assignment listed), condemning me to limping along I-380 at dangerously low speeds. I took some water out of the fuel filter when I stopped to scale the load and the truck ran slightly better for a couple of miles, but it just wasn't enough. I averaged less than 35 mph along the Interstate until I made my next stop.
I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the truck stop and found they had a shop on site. I called the breakdown line to explain the situation and that I was 99.9% sure I just needed a fuel filter. They said that the existing filter should be on just hand tight and that, even though I had no tools at all to remove it, I should be able to take care of it myself. So I struggled with it while the truck filled up...no dice. I tried buying a filter wrench from the fuel desk, but it was too small. So I called breakdown again... turns out they'd closed out the work order, for some obnoxious reason, so I had to explain everything in exacting detail once again to a female who was quite condescending about it. They refused to deal with the shop on site, for reasons that were never elaborated upon; I had to wait almost 45 minutes for a road service guy to come out. The only solace I had was that, even with a filter wrench, he struggled to get the old filter off. So who hand-tightened the filter, Donkey Kong? Once they put the new filter on, the rest of the evening passed without further incident. I dropped my load, found parking, and took my break.
My current load has not been any better though. It started off easily enough, but things started going downhill very quickly once I crossed into Minnesota on I-94. I was pulled into the scale and given a level two DOT Inspection, which consists of walking around the truck and checking for anything immediately obvious. The headlight short became an issue, as did my non-functioning city horn (which I'd been told the shop doesn't fix, ever). The biggest pain in the butt, though, was that one of my trailer tires had gone flat. The officer "did me a favor" by only marking it down as underinflated, which isn't an out of service violation and doesn't immediately result in a fine, but he also insisted that I put air in that or get it replaced before I made this delivery.
I needed to make a fuel stop here in South St. Paul. While the truck stop didn't have an air hose, the Peterbilt dealership just across the street did and they directed me to pull up to a door so they could air up the tire. While trying to turn around, though, I heard a pop and a loud hissing noise, followed quickly by my trailer brakes locking up and groaning in protest as I tried to move the thing. At this point I knew I was pretty much fucked, so I called the breakdown line once again. I pointed out that I was already at a place that does repairs, but once again they wouldn't let me get it fixed at the obvious place. At least they provided a reason this time: the shop was swamped and they wouldn't get to me for at least three to four hours. However, since I could unhook from the trailer, I could take it to another shop where they could get it fixed. I bobtailed eight miles down the road, got both air lines replaced, and returned to grab my trailer.
Since it was pretty obvious I couldn't get the trailer around to where I had to get air - and with that violation looming over all this - I called breakdown once more to ask about getting the offending tire replaced. I could see the big, blue Goodyear sign glowing off in the distance and was "lucky" enough that they do commercial tire replacements. They're only open during bankers' hours, though, so I'm still waiting for a technician to get here for an after-hours call. I was told that it'd be only an hour - as opposed to two to three for a road call - but that still leaves me way behind on this run.
While originally I was going to just barely make on time delivery for this run, I'll now be fortunate if I'm only four hours late. Customer service is freaking out, even though none of this is my fault; the load's a service critical, just-in-time delivery that could leave the consignee unable to do business if I can't get it there on time. They've advised me to call in once I park for the night to see about setting up a relay. It's not a good situation for anyone, since it'd leave the driver picking up the load very few miles (I'll be within 50 of the consignee) and there's probably little freight around here to get me moving again tomorrow. But there's absolutely nothing anybody can do with this load until the trailer gets fixed.
I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the truck stop and found they had a shop on site. I called the breakdown line to explain the situation and that I was 99.9% sure I just needed a fuel filter. They said that the existing filter should be on just hand tight and that, even though I had no tools at all to remove it, I should be able to take care of it myself. So I struggled with it while the truck filled up...no dice. I tried buying a filter wrench from the fuel desk, but it was too small. So I called breakdown again... turns out they'd closed out the work order, for some obnoxious reason, so I had to explain everything in exacting detail once again to a female who was quite condescending about it. They refused to deal with the shop on site, for reasons that were never elaborated upon; I had to wait almost 45 minutes for a road service guy to come out. The only solace I had was that, even with a filter wrench, he struggled to get the old filter off. So who hand-tightened the filter, Donkey Kong? Once they put the new filter on, the rest of the evening passed without further incident. I dropped my load, found parking, and took my break.
My current load has not been any better though. It started off easily enough, but things started going downhill very quickly once I crossed into Minnesota on I-94. I was pulled into the scale and given a level two DOT Inspection, which consists of walking around the truck and checking for anything immediately obvious. The headlight short became an issue, as did my non-functioning city horn (which I'd been told the shop doesn't fix, ever). The biggest pain in the butt, though, was that one of my trailer tires had gone flat. The officer "did me a favor" by only marking it down as underinflated, which isn't an out of service violation and doesn't immediately result in a fine, but he also insisted that I put air in that or get it replaced before I made this delivery.
I needed to make a fuel stop here in South St. Paul. While the truck stop didn't have an air hose, the Peterbilt dealership just across the street did and they directed me to pull up to a door so they could air up the tire. While trying to turn around, though, I heard a pop and a loud hissing noise, followed quickly by my trailer brakes locking up and groaning in protest as I tried to move the thing. At this point I knew I was pretty much fucked, so I called the breakdown line once again. I pointed out that I was already at a place that does repairs, but once again they wouldn't let me get it fixed at the obvious place. At least they provided a reason this time: the shop was swamped and they wouldn't get to me for at least three to four hours. However, since I could unhook from the trailer, I could take it to another shop where they could get it fixed. I bobtailed eight miles down the road, got both air lines replaced, and returned to grab my trailer.
Since it was pretty obvious I couldn't get the trailer around to where I had to get air - and with that violation looming over all this - I called breakdown once more to ask about getting the offending tire replaced. I could see the big, blue Goodyear sign glowing off in the distance and was "lucky" enough that they do commercial tire replacements. They're only open during bankers' hours, though, so I'm still waiting for a technician to get here for an after-hours call. I was told that it'd be only an hour - as opposed to two to three for a road call - but that still leaves me way behind on this run.
While originally I was going to just barely make on time delivery for this run, I'll now be fortunate if I'm only four hours late. Customer service is freaking out, even though none of this is my fault; the load's a service critical, just-in-time delivery that could leave the consignee unable to do business if I can't get it there on time. They've advised me to call in once I park for the night to see about setting up a relay. It's not a good situation for anyone, since it'd leave the driver picking up the load very few miles (I'll be within 50 of the consignee) and there's probably little freight around here to get me moving again tomorrow. But there's absolutely nothing anybody can do with this load until the trailer gets fixed.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Walcott, IA - Six below
It seems like this is becoming a trend: I end up stuck in Iowa during a period where the temperature drops to -5°F or colder. This time, though, I'm parked at the Iowa 80 truck stop for the weekend. Apparently every shipper we work with between Des Moines and Chicago has closed for the weekend, as there are a grand total of four loads in the entire region until Monday. I was "lucky" enough to get one of those: a load picking up anytime after 9 PM Sunday and going 250 miles due north into western Wisconsin. I just have to get it there sometime on the fourth, so I may just wait until the following morning to fetch it. Beyond that, there's really no telling what I'll be doing next, but I definitely need to get the truck by a shop to get it looked at.
The hardest part about getting here to Iowa was simply leaving Indianapolis. I'd taken a 34 hour break there for New Year's, then tried starting the truck after having it parked for a day and a half. It was very slow to crank, though it caught after turning over twice. That's about when things started to go badly. A large plume of white smoke came up the stack. The cab started shaking, which got even worse as time progressed. Ultimately I turned the engine off for fear that something was going to shake itself loose and I'd be stuck. I waited about half an hour before trying again, during which time I looked under the hood for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing: all the fluids were normal and there was no visible damage to components.
I tried starting the truck a second time, which worked... for about half a minute. It then died out completely. With the third attempt, I got nothing. It would almost start, but then fall back to just being turned over by the starter. At this point the battery was down to only 11.7 volts, well below the normal 12.2 volt cutoff, as something is slowly draining power from the batteries while my rig is parked. I walked to the shop, explained the situation; they sent someone over expecting to change the fuel filter and/or give the rig a jump start. Before anything, though, the guy sprayed ether into intake, which was enough to help the engine start up. The first time it died out after about twenty seconds, but the second attempt was successful, as long as I kept my foot to the floor. Another problem then arose though: the check engine light suddenly came on and the engine refused to rev past 1400, far below the normal limit of 1800. Due to a problem with the replaced brake switch, we had no way of reading the long diagnostic code, but shutting the engine off let us read a blinking light code: vehicle speed sensor fault. Neither I nor the mechanic could figure out why the vehicle speed sensor would have anything to do with the engine speed though; he suggested I go through express bay and hope that a fuel filter fixed the problem.
During all this, I called operations several times to explain what was going on and look for a solution. They had lined up a loaner truck for me, as there was no time to find someone to relay the load I had (it was due for delivery 375 miles away in nine hours). I'd left the truck idling during all this; the temperature was finally up to around 140 and the voltmeter had reached the usual 14 volts. So I shut the truck off to tell the shop estimator what we'd decided to do and make sure the loaner truck I'd been assigned was ready to go. Everything checked out, so I went back to my cab, started it up.. and everything worked. The check engine light went out. I could rev the thing to 1800. The speedometer - which previously failed to work due to that sensor fault - was reading corectly. I once again went inside and told the mechanic what happened; he hypothesized that the sensor was acting up because there wasn't enough voltage going to it when the truck started up.
Net result of all this? I delivered that load before I came here to the Iowa 80. I'm supposed to go through an OC - most likely Gary - to get this looked at as soon as practical, but the load I'm hauling next doesn't take me anywhere near a shop. The mechanics advised me to keep the engine running if I'm parked for anything more than a ten hour break, just to ensure the voltage doesn't drop off again, but in this cold I have to keep the engine on just to keep fluids from freezing up. If I weren't worried about having the thing break down on the road due to the combination of faults, I'd just leave everything until I go for vacation in two weeks. Having a break down before that trip, though, would be a disaster.
The hardest part about getting here to Iowa was simply leaving Indianapolis. I'd taken a 34 hour break there for New Year's, then tried starting the truck after having it parked for a day and a half. It was very slow to crank, though it caught after turning over twice. That's about when things started to go badly. A large plume of white smoke came up the stack. The cab started shaking, which got even worse as time progressed. Ultimately I turned the engine off for fear that something was going to shake itself loose and I'd be stuck. I waited about half an hour before trying again, during which time I looked under the hood for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing: all the fluids were normal and there was no visible damage to components.
I tried starting the truck a second time, which worked... for about half a minute. It then died out completely. With the third attempt, I got nothing. It would almost start, but then fall back to just being turned over by the starter. At this point the battery was down to only 11.7 volts, well below the normal 12.2 volt cutoff, as something is slowly draining power from the batteries while my rig is parked. I walked to the shop, explained the situation; they sent someone over expecting to change the fuel filter and/or give the rig a jump start. Before anything, though, the guy sprayed ether into intake, which was enough to help the engine start up. The first time it died out after about twenty seconds, but the second attempt was successful, as long as I kept my foot to the floor. Another problem then arose though: the check engine light suddenly came on and the engine refused to rev past 1400, far below the normal limit of 1800. Due to a problem with the replaced brake switch, we had no way of reading the long diagnostic code, but shutting the engine off let us read a blinking light code: vehicle speed sensor fault. Neither I nor the mechanic could figure out why the vehicle speed sensor would have anything to do with the engine speed though; he suggested I go through express bay and hope that a fuel filter fixed the problem.
During all this, I called operations several times to explain what was going on and look for a solution. They had lined up a loaner truck for me, as there was no time to find someone to relay the load I had (it was due for delivery 375 miles away in nine hours). I'd left the truck idling during all this; the temperature was finally up to around 140 and the voltmeter had reached the usual 14 volts. So I shut the truck off to tell the shop estimator what we'd decided to do and make sure the loaner truck I'd been assigned was ready to go. Everything checked out, so I went back to my cab, started it up.. and everything worked. The check engine light went out. I could rev the thing to 1800. The speedometer - which previously failed to work due to that sensor fault - was reading corectly. I once again went inside and told the mechanic what happened; he hypothesized that the sensor was acting up because there wasn't enough voltage going to it when the truck started up.
Net result of all this? I delivered that load before I came here to the Iowa 80. I'm supposed to go through an OC - most likely Gary - to get this looked at as soon as practical, but the load I'm hauling next doesn't take me anywhere near a shop. The mechanics advised me to keep the engine running if I'm parked for anything more than a ten hour break, just to ensure the voltage doesn't drop off again, but in this cold I have to keep the engine on just to keep fluids from freezing up. If I weren't worried about having the thing break down on the road due to the combination of faults, I'd just leave everything until I go for vacation in two weeks. Having a break down before that trip, though, would be a disaster.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Indianapolis, IN - Four long days
The days since I returned to work after Christmas have been so busy that I've not had the chance to do any blogging. In short, I had 45 hours logged in four days, going all over the darn place, and culminating in my arrival in Indianapolis at 1 AM on New Year's Eve. Among other misadventures I had to deliberately break something on a trailer to get it legal, made deliveries on such short notice that even ops was surprised I saved the load, relayed things with absurd time requirements, had various minor repairs done, and did almost nothing but work, eat, and sleep.
As for it being 2010, all I'll say is that I'm not going to miss 2009.
As for it being 2010, all I'll say is that I'm not going to miss 2009.
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