Walk the line

[Truck Shop]

Today was probably the most stressful in a long time, by the end I was shot. I pulled a tractor in the shop for
a coolant leak, compressor coolant hose {push lock ends} went bad. While I was waiting for system to drain I
did my usual inspection like I always do, and came to the conclusion it was going to be a long day. I had Jeff
remove left side drive wheels then the right side, a sudden discomfort came over me as I felt my blood pressure
rise.
10-21-21 I replaced all four rotors, pads and wheel seals on both drive axles, $1,500 in parts 8 hrs labor.
I looked at Jeff I guess with a look of pain. All he said was WTF. All four rotors were toast one completely cracked
through, those are 44mm thick new. Ground down to 37mm. Those were installed at 221,000 miles it now had
262,000. If the driver had been standing there I would be in jail right now.
I went to work changing out one side told dispatch to send the boss over when he arrives. The next half hour
was pretty ugly. After he looked at the damage all he said was {I'll talk to him-driver}. My response was { either
you fire him or I'm done because I'm not here at my age to wipe the a$$ of your lackys}. His track record as a
driver is horrible, you can't afford him, he is a huge liability. He has tore up destroyed more equipment than I have
fingers to count.
Boss-So your threating me-No I'm telling you I'm done if you don't remove him today. When your setting in
the superior court explaining why you kept him, do me a favor remember our conversation such as was today.

He came back an hour later, admitted I was right. It's not about being right it's about doing the right thing.
I'm here to take care of your equipment and your best interest. You want me to look the other way-well it's
time I go home permanently. You never understand Chris {I walk the Line}.

Some may think it was a waste to type this-but it is about safety on our highways and what goes in now days
with driver shortage and desperation in hiring anyone to fill the seat.

 

[farmerlund]

Holy cow those are shot. what should be the average miles they should last. I assume a lot more than 40,000. Keep up the good work.

 

[Truck Shop]

500,000.

 

[skyking1]

wow. Does the truck have any sort of retarder?

 

[Truck Shop]

Jakes. good ones too.

 

[skyking1]

yeah that guy is an arse whole.
Even with restrictions in some areas, I get good use of my jakes and can't see abusing brakes like that.

 

[Coaldust]

Holy cow. He trashed those brakes. What a mess.

 

[Tones]

It's situated behind and attached to the steering wheel.

 

[Nige]

It's situated behind and attached to the steering wheel.

aka "The Nut that holds the wheel".

Could you possibly fit one (or more) of those rotors sideways up his a$$.?

 

[crane operator]

Good for you Truck shop in looking out for your employer, and everyone else on the road. And the saddest thing is that he will be in a different seat on Monday morning.

But at least you can sleep good, knowing you did what you could.

 

[emmett518]

You guys need to wake up. No longer are professionals who care about their jobs and company being employed. We’ve eliminated standards, tests, and excellence. We’ve purged ideas about opportunity, and replaced them with equity. Business, government and the educational system now say that incompetence is the new acceptable average.
That driver is now the new normal, and all of us have to work to make the system function under that reality.

 

[emmett518]

You should have thanked the trucker for not driving the tractor off a bridge, or into the lake. He deserves a bonus and a raise.
And don’t forget the trophy.

 

[BigWrench55]

Where's Truck Shop's trophy for not bitch slapping that driver?

 

[Crummy]

Got a ways to go to be unemployable unless, maybe, the driver has also ripped the front end off another rig in a truck stop, crashed driving too fast for conditions, burned a wagon to the ground riding the trolley bar down a pass, elephant races for 8-10 miles, 62mph through a construction zone, killed somebody with an hatchet (not accidentally).....

 

[Acoals]

I have seen a lot of driver induced carnage, but that is pretty spectacular. When I used to work on school buses for awhile we saw some pretty gnarly brakes, but those rotors are classic . . .

 

[DirtyHoe]

Truck Shop- I'm not in the trucking industry and don't know much about it. What were the bad habits of this driver compared to good drivers that caused this? Can defective parts play into the failure?
Thanks for answering the ignorant.

 

[Truck Shop]

Don't anyone think that I like seeing someone get canned, I don't. But this situation
warranted someone loosing their job. The real sad part is this driver is 73 years old,
not a good way to end 45 plus years at the job. He is a detriment to himself as well
as others behind the wheel. A case of I have to take dads keys away. I'm sure at one time
he was good at what he did. But I would be kidding myself to think it would turn around.
The industry is a mess in the work force, nothing that is new to any member on here.
The highways are full of people like this weather it be a truck or car young or old.
But because of shortages I'm hearing all sorts of short cuts going on. A common one now
is reusing the inboard brake pads from the front axle mated on one corner and new on the
other. Cracked material being reused. How anybody could lend themselves to dip that
low is beyond me.

 

[crane operator]

You guys need to wake up. No longer are professionals who care about their jobs and company being employed. We’ve eliminated standards, tests, and excellence. We’ve purged ideas about opportunity, and replaced them with equity. Business, government and the educational system now say that incompetence is the new acceptable average.
That driver is now the new normal, and all of us have to work to make the system function under that reality.

It may be like that in whatever you do for a living, but its not like that in my world. Just because most of the office worker/ keyboard drones, can mess up all week long, and its just another week and someone else will straighten it out, doesn't mean that my world is like that. If things go sideways on my jobsite, someone doesn't get to go home. And that's unacceptable to me.

Truck shop found unacceptable wear on equipment, and has dealt with it.

My guys are trained and certified, random drug and alcohol screened, and if they can't do their job correctly because of their own issues (they aren't capable of doing the work)- they are going to be looking for a different job, there's no hard feelings about it- they just need to find a different place to work that suits their skill set.

If they mess up because of poor training on my part, then I'm going to address that on my end. If its a lack of the right tools or equipment- then we're going to get the right equipment or we aren't doing the job.

I need to wake up? The guys that work for me are professionals, and we strive our best, to do it the right way each and every time.

You may be incompetent, and put up with the same at your place of employment, but I won't have you paint my employee's and the work we do with that same brush.

 

[AzIron]

It may be like that in whatever you do for a living, but its not like that in my world. Just because most of the office worker/ keyboard drones, can mess up all week long, and its just another week and someone else will straighten it out, doesn't mean that my world is like that. If things go sideways on my jobsite, someone doesn't get to go home. And that's unacceptable to me.

Truck shop found unacceptable wear on equipment, and has dealt with it.

My guys are trained and certified, random drug and alcohol screened, and if they can't do their job correctly because of their own issues (they aren't capable of doing the work)- they are going to be looking for a different job, there's no hard feelings about it- they just need to find a different place to work that suits their skill set.

If they mess up because of poor training on my part, then I'm going to address that on my end. If its a lack of the right tools or equipment- then we're going to get the right equipment or we aren't doing the job.

I need to wake up? The guys that work for me are professionals, and we strive our best, to do it the right way each and every time.

You may be incompetent, and put up with the same at your place of employment, but I won't have you paint my employee's and the work we do with that same brush.

I so very much ditto this I have guys with half the age and less experience than most of the industry and they turn out clean consistent and safe work because my standards were set in stone the day they walked in the door and if they were not up to meeting them then we trained them up to those standards

My men have adopted those standards as there own and have been the key to helping instill that in eachother there have been guys that didn't live up and couldn't be trained the crew sorted them out more than I had to witch sent them down the road pretty quick

Companies end up in these situations because they put the need for growth and profit and shiny new equipment above the well being and integrity of the establishment and the people who are the backbone of it

 

[4x4ford]

Holy crap my new to me truck has 220,000 with the original pads and rotors grant d they just had to put a clutch in it because the team that drove it before me burnt it completely out mechanics said there was absolutely nothing left but parts of the steel