Wheel fell off a truck beside me in the parking lot this evening.


At the Hopi Travel Plaza in Holbrook, AZ.

Wife is cooking supper, I’m just trying to stay out of the way while she cooks and “Boom”. I look over and one of the white Volvo mafia trucks dropped to the ground as the smoking wheel rolled away into the trailer beside me.

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Steer tire to boot. That's scary. I would have to think you might feel something as the bearings started to go bad.
 
Steer tire to boot. That's scary. I would have to think you might feel something as the bearings started to go bad.

it was smoking going down the interstate. He kept pushing it to the truck stop, and drove it into the back area with large holes. The first hole he hit sent the wheel flying.

He was clueless about what happened, as was his partner, as well as the other white Volvo team that was with them pulling another Amazon trailer.

He tried pointing out to me that the lug nuts were all on and the wheel just fell off for no reason. I flipped it and tried to point out what happened and he didn’t get it. They ended up rolling the tire back to the truck and looking as if they thought they could put it back on.

All four are now piled into one truck. I guess they finally realize me they can’t put the wheel back on and leave.
 
Steer tire to boot. That's scary. I would have to think you might feel something as the bearings started to go bad.
In 2016 I was driving an old shaker. Empty from home to Chicago Heights, I thought I heard a little squeak from the left steer. Then loaded, headed to Kansas City, I kept hearing it.

Boss was a few minutes behind me in his old spreader so I waited for him to catch up and we switched trucks for about 100 miles and he didn't hear anything.

On right-hand curves there was a scraping noise.

Every hundred miles or so, we stopped and checked the hubs and the left one was only slightly warmer than the right.

We got to KCMO, dropped the trailers at the Ford plant and bobtailed to a shop.

As soon as the mechanic lifted the wheel off the ground, Boss grabbed the top of the tire and the whole wheel was loose. The top of the tire had about a half inch of side to side play in it.

We were surprised it didn't come off.
 
Yeah I don't know anything about him to pass judgment on anything other than the fairing he broke hitting a chassis and actually using the company issued, Home Depot sourced mailbox numbers.
There was this company out of (I think) Orland Park, IL called Kozy's.

All east European immigrants, all 90's era Volvos. White of course. Pulled reefers.

One time at a shipper, one of their trucks wouldn't start. Driver knocked on my truck and held up his phone and said "YOU TALK. DISPATCH. TRUCK NO START"

I was able to get out, verify that his truck would crank but not start, and the dispatcher who sounded like a white American, was rude to me and kept having me check fuses. Eventually I got pissed and said just send a wrecker or something. I'm not a mechanic"


Then about a year later I was at the TA in Ohio, I-70 exit 10.

I'd just woken up and a Kozy's team knocked on my door and showed me a cat scale ticket. They were 34 even on the trailer, 300 or so over on the drives but light on the steer, and their 5th wheel was all the way back. So I told them what to do and went inside to take a dump and get coffee.

I came out & they were still there messing with the 5th wheel.

The air cylinder that unlocks the 5th wheel wasn't building pressure because that stupid coily plastic hose had a hole in it from chafing on the edge of a hole it passed through without any sort of grommet.

I wrapped electrical tape over it and got their 5th wheel to slide.

After they'd re-weighed, one of them ran up to the truck and showed me the reweigh ticket and all the weights were legal now and he was all excited like he'd just won the lottery. 🙄
 
There was this company out of (I think) Orland Park, IL called Kozy's.

All east European immigrants, all 90's era Volvos. White of course. Pulled reefers.

One time at a shipper, one of their trucks wouldn't start. Driver knocked on my truck and held up his phone and said "YOU TALK. DISPATCH. TRUCK NO START"

I was able to get out, verify that his truck would crank but not start, and the dispatcher who sounded like a white American, was rude to me and kept having me check fuses. Eventually I got pissed and said just send a wrecker or something. I'm not a mechanic"


Then about a year later I was at the TA in Ohio, I-70 exit 10.

I'd just woken up and a Kozy's team knocked on my door and showed me a cat scale ticket. They were 34 even on the trailer, 300 or so over on the drives but light on the steer, and their 5th wheel was all the way back. So I told them what to do and went inside to take a dump and get coffee.

I came out & they were still there messing with the 5th wheel.

The air cylinder that unlocks the 5th wheel wasn't building pressure because that stupid coily plastic hose had a hole in it from chafing on the edge of a hole it passed through without any sort of grommet.

I wrapped electrical tape over it and got their 5th wheel to slide.

After they'd re-weighed, one of them ran up to the truck and showed me the reweigh ticket and all the weights were legal now and he was all excited like he'd just won the lottery. 🙄
One of the most lucrative container contracts I ever saw was hauling for the Russians. 23 containers of ammo, paid over $1.00 a mile plus a surcharge for every attempted hijacking.

 
There was this company out of (I think) Orland Park, IL called Kozy's.

All east European immigrants, all 90's era Volvos. White of course. Pulled reefers.

One time at a shipper, one of their trucks wouldn't start. Driver knocked on my truck and held up his phone and said "YOU TALK. DISPATCH. TRUCK NO START"

I was able to get out, verify that his truck would crank but not start, and the dispatcher who sounded like a white American, was rude to me and kept having me check fuses. Eventually I got pissed and said just send a wrecker or something. I'm not a mechanic"


Then about a year later I was at the TA in Ohio, I-70 exit 10.

I'd just woken up and a Kozy's team knocked on my door and showed me a cat scale ticket. They were 34 even on the trailer, 300 or so over on the drives but light on the steer, and their 5th wheel was all the way back. So I told them what to do and went inside to take a dump and get coffee.

I came out & they were still there messing with the 5th wheel.

The air cylinder that unlocks the 5th wheel wasn't building pressure because that stupid coily plastic hose had a hole in it from chafing on the edge of a hole it passed through without any sort of grommet.

I wrapped electrical tape over it and got their 5th wheel to slide.

After they'd re-weighed, one of them ran up to the truck and showed me the reweigh ticket and all the weights were legal now and he was all excited like he'd just won the lottery. 🙄
I think this guy is from Africa or something. He's not white and neither is his Volvo.

He was excited that I showed up within 10 minutes of him posting the call out though. Happened to be coming up to the exit he was stuck at, and knew exactly where he was.

Disconnecting and reconnecting is fast when someone else cranks your landing gear with appreciative aplomb.

Landing gear valet needs to become a thing. But they better not work on tips.
 
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I delivered a fellow XPO driver's load last night because he broke down.

He kept telling me what a great deal he got on the truck as it sat there pissing coolant all over the place, hooked to a wrecker.

It was a Volvo too.
tomorrow he'll be pissin and moaning how it's nickel and diming him to death:D
 

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