Pay Attention At Truck Lube...

[2xR]

I have the responsibility of obtaining the required truck services needed to insure a long, trouble free, life of my assigned truck and trailer(s). I use Petro Lube every 15k miles and buy the "works". Once a year I go to Freightliner for a full PM.

Every grease fitting on the truck is suppose to be greased. I asked, they said yes. Well, at 315k there was a rattle, in the drive line, at idle. I asked the tech to make sure the clutch throw-out bearing was greased.

Two minutes later the tech is explaining to me how "somebody" had not been greasing this bearing and it was about to fail. I was calmer than usual, and, asked him to squirt a little grease into it, maybe it would last for a while. That may have been a mistake because within the hour, I had no clutch.

What a waste. The clutch was still plenty good in this truck. "Somebody" cutting corners just cost the owner of our little company over a grand because a $15 bearing wasn't greased like it should of been. I think I'm gonna' keep a lawn chair in the truck, and, when it's time for a service I'm gonna' flop my arse down in front of the lube bay with a check list and be a nuisance...

 

[Mike]

I would love to own a fleet of trucks and clone you to be the driver for all of them.

I will try to keep this short, but it may turn into a long rant because I have many years experience as a tech and service manager at a Ford Dealership, and know how this works.

Quick lube locations are not filled with properly trained technicians. ( I know, this isn't a shocking statement) However, we tend to still assume they did their job correctly, when they most likely didn't even know what they were doing. The same thing happens at the dealership level because they don't want the experienced technicians doing this "peon" work, so they hire anybody to do this, and give them absolutely no training.

This happens with both big trucks four wheelers, so pay attention to what I said, I have first hand knowledge of this.

It has come to the point now to where they want an actual trained technician to diagnose problems, and then they leave it to a lesser paid "helper" to put the part on during a repair. This is bullshit, and it is why I refuse to go back into the technician field.

Getting off the rant....

If it is your truck, or if you take pride in the truck you are driving, pay attention to what happens to it in a shop. You have great guys in these shops, but at the same time you have guys that don't give a shit, or that simply don't know what they are doing.

Don't play Russian Roulette with your truck's maintenance and repairs.

 

[2xR]

I would love to own a fleet of trucks and clone you to be the driver for all of them.

What a nice compliment... Thank you...

I ain't cheap, but, I can be had...

 

[Mike]

I just see so many company drivers that could care less about there truck, just so long as the A/C and radio works. They drive it, and beyond that, don't care about it.

 

[FlatBroke]

A/C and radio works.

There's more too one?

 

[Mike]

LMAO

 

[FlatBroke]

LMAO

I was not going to add this here, but I feel it needs to be added...

Pay attention while having a service done at your company terminals as well.

We had, HAD, had I did say had a mechanic at my shop in KY when I started here back in April last year. BTW he no longer is employed here..

He did a full B service on one of our trucks, and a day or two later the truck broke down and needed new fuel filters. When the (New) filter was removed to replace it was determined that the filter had ONLY been wiped off and not replaced.

This same mechanic told me once that I was not to buy any oil while on the road, if my truck was a gallon low I was to run it. I asked him why they put on the dipstick a low mark for...his response was I don't know...

Anyway I thought I would add this here. Some companies try to cut back cost, and also hire just anybody who shows up the day they decide to hire a "mechanic".

 

[2xR]

I just see so many company drivers that could care less about there truck, just so long as the A/C and radio works. They drive it, and beyond that, don't care about it.

I had to endure a couple of years in a Ryder truck. When I started their service interval was 25k. Unbelievable, I thought. At about 150k they announced the trucks would be serviced at 35k (whether they needed it or not). I sat on the side of I-10 in FL LMAO because the transmission had ran dry, and, failed in a big and dramatic way. That cost them dearly, and, the idiots tried to blame (who else) the driver. I had fun with that one.

 

[Mike]

Good addition to this. I have had my share of bad experiences with company shops as well.

I always feel I am at a particularly worse position because I have years experience turning wrenches, so I feel at times I tend to be too nosy during mechanical work.

 

[FlatBroke]

Good addition to this. I have had my share of bad experiences with company shops as well.

I always feel I am at a particularly worse position because I have years experience turning wrenches, so I feel at times I tend to be too nosy during mechanical work.

I try to stay out of the shop...I too have some wrench experience and when our (Idiot) Mechanics try to work on something, I get redfaced pretty quickly because they don't do it right. Plus I try to keep it under my hat....because I am afraid they will want me to help them in the shop. NO way I can help anybody who does not want to be helped.

 

[patriciajnsn]

Hey I would too 2Xr lol

 

[patriciajnsn]

Those terminal shop mechanics not only don't know what they're doing but they take forever to fix something.It could be something as easy as getting a p.m done they'll still take hrs to get it done.I think there should be more women in the shop. LOL

 

[lunachic]

I pay very close attention when my hubby is working on his truck, be it p.m. or something else. Tools go to flying I'm outta there..............
The only time a shop touch's the truck is if it's to the point of Big Problem. out on the road. And he do'nt have the parts or right tools to fix it.

 

[ironmanwife]

Ironman makes it a habbit to walk under the truck when they done and check..he had a few shops say he can't do that for insurance reason..so he found him a shop who lets him do it and goes ONLY there..

 

[trashauler]

drop in my two cents here. I agree that all shops be it company, dealer, or chain has their least qualified guy do PM's. Most of the guys are fresh out of high school and have no mechanical backround. A pm is the most critical part of owning a truck. As for companies that do extended drain intervals that works fine for the oil itself, but the truck still needs to be seen on a regular basis to be greased and prevent costly transmission failures like 2XR had. Being a mechanic is more than just changing parts. It is to bad that it is a dying trade. The newer generations do not want to get their hands dirty anymore. If you are lucky to have a good mechanic hang on to him because his pretty tool box has wheels on it and can roll out of your shop and in to another quickly.