Walk the line

[treemuncher]

Another story to re-enforce my desire to work alone as I have for the past 25+ years. It's not about the money, for me. It is about the quality of my work, my reputation and taking good care of my equipment. I never have as many repairs as I once did many years ago. I have so much more freedom and my stress level is more managed.

Kudos to Truck Shop for doing the right thing. Your word and your ethics - neither can be purchased but only earned.

 

[Truck Shop]

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

You couldn't be more correct.

One thing, a comment that has been repeated over and over again {Drivers are dime a dozen}. Absolutely false.
Real drivers are professionals, drivers can make you or break you. Same for heavy equipment operator's.
There is a learning curve with trucks that have automated manual transmissions. That even the driving schools
don't teach well. Air disc brakes cause drivers to over use them because those react quicker.

My end of repair is so much different than {everyone else on here}. I have to listen to and recognize each
drivers weak points, 65 different drivers 65 different driving habits. We run all the same brand of steer tires
mostly, I can tell by looking at the steer tires which drivers keep there truck dead center of their lane and
which ones don't. I know who the brake burners are. I can tell which drivers follow other trucks too close.

The aspects of my job have a wide range and knowing a drivers personality, what to look for health wise and mental capabilities have a lot to do with my job. I have had to call the office twice in my time with this
company and notify them the driver that just came off the road for a routine service needs a immediate
drug test. I wish I was wrong on those but tested positive.

I can't and won't cover for my boss {or anyone else for that matter} but I can alter the coarse.

 

[emmett518]

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.

You are a rarity. Democrats scream about equity, and the only way you get equity is by dropping standards to the lowest common denominator.

 

[emmett518]

You couldn't be more correct.

One thing, a comment that has been repeated over and over again {Drivers are dime a dozen}. Absolutely false.
Real drivers are professionals, drivers can make you or break you. Same for heavy equipment operator's.
There is a learning curve with trucks that have automated manual transmissions. That even the driving schools
don't teach well. Air disc brakes cause drivers to over use them because those react quicker.

My end of repair is so much different than {everyone else on here}. I have to listen to and recognize each
drivers weak points, 65 different drivers 65 different driving habits. We run all the same brand of steer tires
mostly, I can tell by looking at the steer tires which drivers keep there truck dead center of their lane and
which ones don't. I know who the brake burners are. I can tell which drivers follow other trucks too close.

The aspects of my job have a wide range and knowing a drivers personality, what to look for health wise and mental capabilities have a lot to do with my job. I have had to call the office twice in my time with this
company and notify them the driver that just came off the road for a routine service needs a immediate
drug test. I wish I was wrong on those but tested positive.

I can't and won't cover for my boss {or anyone else for that matter} but I can alter the coarse.

The dealer told my mechanic that he was a dime a dozen, and he could be replaced in five minutes. That kind of attitude is absurd and deadly to the health of a business.

 

[Truck Shop]

You are a rarity. Democrats scream about equity, and the only way you get equity is by dropping standards to the lowest common denominator.

This thread has nothing to do with politics.

 

[Tinkerer]

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.

emmett; Perhaps you don't realize that your comment insulted a lot of good people on HEF.
Maybe you eliminated standards, tests, and excellence, I haven't, and from years of participating on HEF I have never read a post by a member that indicated that.
Actually quite the opposite. Whether it is repairing or operating trucks and equipment, you will never find a group of people that more dedicated to excellence.

 

[8922659]

Truck shop
I tell you what I was told in same situation when worrying about causing some one to loose job over equipment/safety/ driving .

Think of the school bus that he could of hit

 

[crane operator]

This thread has nothing to do with politics.

Exactly. I don't care which side of the political spectrum you lean to, and to say someone's politics signals their ability to determine quality work or safety issues, does a disservice to either side.

I've worked with guys from the furthest ends of the political spectrum, and top quality work and excellence doesn't have a political slant. The iron and dirt simply don't care.

 

[skyking1]

^agreed.

 

[hosspuller]

Truck Shop ... As another Heavy truck ignorant...

Is this the cause of the poor condition of the rotors ?

"...Air disc brakes cause drivers to over use them because those react quicker..."

I've noticed many drivers applying their brakes constantly because they follow too closely. While I with enough distance, just let off the gas and free wheel.

 

[Bumpsteer]

Our village dpw guy quit, thank god. Worthless doesn't describe him. ANY vehicle maintaince was foriegn to him.
Now he drives a tri-axle dump....scary, very scary. Just hope he kills himself and not an innocent driver when something on the truck fails.

Ed

 

[skyking1]

Truck Shop ... As another Heavy truck ignorant...

Is this the cause of the poor condition of the rotors ?

"...Air disc brakes cause drivers to over use them because those react quicker..."

I've noticed many drivers applying their brakes constantly because they follow too closely. While I with enough distance, just let off the gas and free wheel.

it is like this:
After years of people filling in in front of you in traffic, you start to drive like a car and not a heavy truck. you lose respect for what you are controlling, and those disc brakes just help you do that.
You ride people's arse just like you see them do. Now you lost all that time you used to have for just raw deceleration or jake application. You've become just another brake pedal/throttle pedal jackwagon.
The good drivers just keep that 75 yards in the bank in the slow and go, and know deep down inside that 10 or 20 cars filling in in front of you over the course of 10 miles of the bad stuff will mean 90 SECONDS!!!
There's no reason to drive like them. There is every reason to keep it in the bank, and when really unexpected bad stuff happens not only do you have the room, you have the good cool brakes to use when you really really need them.
Good drivers behind you are counting you to look ahead and anticipate what is going down. They cannot see past you, and you can see over all the roller skates.
Driving like an idiot down a grade is how those discs were killed. Now you are up on somebody's arse, in the brakes heating them up, and some things happen. You are now forced into the corner of slowing down 80K plus of truck with nothing but more brake.

 

[Truck Shop]

Truck Shop ... As another Heavy truck ignorant...

Is this the cause of the poor condition of the rotors ?

"...Air disc brakes cause drivers to over use them because those react quicker..."

I've noticed many drivers applying their brakes constantly because they follow too closely. While I with enough distance, just let off the gas and free wheel.

When the automated manual transmissions became the choice. Along with it came a learning curve, coupled
with air disc the curve grew.
And this info is for anyone on here who uses trucks in their business or is looking to buy a truck with
AMT & Air Disc. Air Disc can be used but mainly on the steer axle not the drive axles, It works well on
steers because of reduced air pressure. The AMT gear boxes in auto mode must be operated with jakes
on all the time weather operated by foot throttle or in cruise control mode.
When on a highway with slight rollers/hills the AMT will go into coast mode, if the jake is not on to
constantly take control of braking to keep correct road speed the driver will find himself constantly
riding the brake. When descending a grade {especially} a long grade the proper way to keep control
of vehicle without riding the brake using the jakes is to,--{push the mode button to manual mode with
jakes on till rpm is low enough to manually down shift again without over revving/going past 2,200 rpm.
Same as any manual transmission. With 3.70 ratio rear drives at 105,000 lbs GVW you can descend a
10 mile long steady 6% grade at 38 to 40 mph with a Cummins X15 or a Detroit DD15-16 {And never
touch the brake} manually locked in 7th gear mode.
Part of the problem is air disc when cool tend to give the driver a feeling of super braking control.
It causes a driver to run with no safety zone in front of him because he figures his disc brakes are
going to give him better control running up close on traffic, a total false sense of security is developed.
I have had drivers tell me that very thing, they found themselves running harder in heavy traffic.
Now couple that with not having the jake constantly on, in auto mode constantly going into a coasting
situation===one foot on the throttle and one foot on the brake. The other problem no one seems to address
in the industry-The rear rotors are tucked inside the inside drive wheel, with all the fairings these trucks have
deflecting air to reduce drag the rotors get about zero air to cool them, Drums are open around the shoes so
those get some air inside as well as outside. Trucks can automatically lower themselves once at road
speed another 2 1/2" to reduce drag.
The real problem with all of this is it makes people lazy. It's the cost of these brakes/major components
that drive inflation because that's passed on to the consumer just like a lot of other innovations.
A lot of companies bought air disc/ amt----I have yet to find one that will admit it was a mistake.
As far as highway data on truck involved accidents in the U.S. {Not Canada}. Accidents have risen by
quite a bit since air disc arrived, although you won't find one agency source that will point to the latest
innovations as part of the culprit.
A recipe for disaster.

 

[JD955SC]

emmett; Perhaps you don't realize that your comment insulted a lot of good people on HEF.
Maybe you eliminated standards, tests, and excellence, I haven't, and from years of participating on HEF I have never read a post by a member that indicated that.
Actually quite the opposite. Whether it is repairing or operating trucks and equipment, you will never find a group of people that more dedicated to excellence.

he is clearly talking about society as a whole not the members of this forum and he is absolutely 100% correct.

competence is a dying trait.

 

[Tinkerer]

I'm sure that he was.
But, I think that if anyone that is participating in a group discussion (us) the word we includes everyone in that thread.
I'm sorry for going off topic, Truck Shop.
I will stay out of your thread now.

 

[skyking1]

I think you were right to chime in tinkerer.
I know that in this line of business if you don't cut the mustard you're down the road.

 

[Truck Shop]

All I know is--{I've had a CDL since 1973, when I retire I will have 50 years as a Mechanic} and in those
years I have seen much come to past. I don't think of it as competence as much as I think of it being a
attitude issue. A person can be competent and still not give a damn, I've witnessed that my whole life.
Surgeries gone bad by a highly competent surgeon because he liked to pull a cork-he didn't give a damn.
Same with engine work-mechanics that could do fine work and some real sh!tty work also.

"What is necessary for a new disaster is only for memories of the last one to fade, and no one knows
how long that takes"

 

[westerner]

The real problem with all of this is it makes people lazy.

This is the issue I cannot ignore. Across all trades, all occupations, all walks of life.
The commercials for all sorts of goods tell you "you deserve this".
I don't understand how we all got so 'entitled'

 

[Shimmy1]

The real problem is it makes people lazy.

This is the issue I cannot ignore. Across all trades, all occupations, all walks of life.
The commercials for all sorts of goods tell you "you deserve this".
I don't understand how we all got so 'entitled'

Depending on how critical you want to be, we have either 2 or 3 generations of kids indoctrinated by the public school system, that were raised by kids who never had to struggle for anything because their Boomer parents stuck the silver spoon in their mouth. I dare anyone to claim it's something more or different than this. Now, before anyone here gets their panties in a wad, I'm not referring to those of us who know the difference between a wrist pin and a ballpoint pen. 75% of the population of this country under the age of 30 are pretty much useless, and I'd guess that number would be around 90% for those under the age of 20. And the worst part of it is, it's not their fault.

 

[KSSS]

Shimmy1, I would give it two thumbs up if I could. Things have changed when it comes to raising kids. The instilling of the positive traits that allow for success later in life, is gone. The "everyone gets a trophy" philosophy is a failure.....surprise! What we are seeing now is living proof. Who is responsible? The American family is not what it was 30 years ago (too deep to dwell into here), the schools certainly are not what they should be and society in general has shifted greatly from the things that it used to stand for like responsibility, accountability, I could go on... What is responsible? I would say no one thing is, but many things together. Technology is a big part of it, the smart phone/video games have dumbed people down, both young and old. A society that for some reason started advocating reward for poor behavior and poor personal performance. Treating everyone as a victim of something either real or imagined. The general disregard for separation of those who work hard and perform from those that that do not (read socialist mentality). I will say that one political party is an advocate of that more so than the other, and I don't care who is offended by that statement, its true. That said, Red or Blue States, these issues are everywhere, in every region of the US.

One upside: It is an opportunity for those younger people that, no doubt were raised by strong minded parents that refused to let their children be victims of society. The kids that can buck society norms and don't feed into the mind set of the majority of their peers, will over-perform in the years ahead . If they can harness the work ethic of generations past, those kids/young adults can be a lion among millions of sheep. They will succeed in their own business ambitions or be an employee that organizations will pay very good money, so they can keep their rare traits in their organization. This is simply because the vast majority of their peers don't possess those traits and don't seem to care to, but why should they, (to Shimmy's point) society will take care of them regardless. We (society) have fostered that mentality. We built this...