What The Heck More Questions

So here I go again with more questions. First does it depend on the company how many times you get paid a month I'm sure it probably varies just like anywhere else? .second lets say its Friday morning I am headed towards home with a load that I should be able to drop in time to actually get home Friday night well on my way I smell something getting hot pull over find out its a belt my question is this IF I have the ability to do so can I replace it myself to get the load delivered and home or do I gotta wait the hours for their mechanic to come fix the issue. I'm not saying big jobs I understand that but with my background is it allowed that I keep my truck running?

So here I go again with more questions. First does it depend on the company how many times you get paid a month I'm sure it probably varies just like anywhere else? .second lets say its Friday morning I am headed towards home with a load that I should be able to drop in time to actually get home Friday night well on my way I smell something getting hot pull over find out its a belt my question is this IF I have the ability to do so can I replace it myself to get the load delivered and home or do I gotta wait the hours for their mechanic to come fix the issue. I'm not saying big jobs I understand that but with my background is it allowed that I keep my truck running?

First does it depend on the company how many times you get paid a month I'm sure it probably varies just like anywhere else?

Answered your own question you did. Typically - every other week, from what I've seen in here.

second lets say its Friday morning I am headed towards home with a load that I should be able to drop in time to actually get home Friday night well on my way I smell something getting hot pull over find out its a belt my question is this IF I have the ability to do so can I replace it myself to get the load delivered and home or do I gotta wait the hours for their mechanic to come fix the issue. I'm not saying big jobs I understand that but with my background is it allowed that I keep my truck running?

Well that was a mouthful. Typically - the company doesn't want drivers to do any more than bulb replacements, top off fluids, etc. Minor stuff.

It's a liability issue, as much as anything else. You're a driver - you get injured "playing mechanic" (even if you were one in a previous life) and they could have problems with WC, disability, etc.

I smelt a belt. So you're going to find the correct sized belt and replace it? You're going to find (or be carrying) the tools to replace it? Or maybe we'll do the "old-fashioned" screwdriver as a lever over the pulley while someone bumps the starter until it pops on (all good, as long as YOU are the one holding the screwdriver, and I am the one bumping the starter). Why didn't you catch a belt on your PRE TRIP if it was getting that bad? Is it a bad belt, or is the alternator starting to lock up and burning the belt - or maybe the water pump? Can you get into a TRUCK STOP that usually HAS A SHOP to take a look at it - or is the smell so bad that you don't want to move the truck? So you don't want to move the truck, how are you going to get the belt.

See where this is going?

OR - you call road service and have them advise you how to proceed. Contact your DM and let him know you're having mechanical issues and ask if he can arrange a re-power of the load if your difficulties are going to cause you to miss your appointment window (reminding him you are scheduled for home time).

Lot's of variables...

Rick

Hi matt.

I can only answer your questions as to my situation with my company.

In order to get paid i have to scan in all my documents to the company. Bills, receipts etc. (this usually takes a few minutes) once they get it and process it i get paid. I get paid every week.

As far as your mechanical question I'm not sure what your background is but let me tell you this. I am ASE certified in many fields in automotive and i wouldn't do anything besides filling up the coolant on these things. Sometimes i have a light out on the top of my trailer and i have to bring it in to a shop because i can't reach it.

If you go with a big starter company chances are you will be driving a very new truck. I think the average age of our fleet is like 1.7 years old so breakdowns are usually few and far. I go in for truck preventative maintenance every 60 days and also full service ever few months. These trucks are very well taken care of.

In your home time situation i may ask my FM for an extra day off as i would spend my first day of home time with the truck but that's just me.

I get paid every week.

I'm told not to do any repairs. Our trucks are well.maintained and I get into the terminal every six weeks or so. They check everything and if I need anything in the mean time I can run into any TA or petro.

I'd get the truck fixed, drop the load and get home.

All of it depends on who you work for.

At Stevens Transport, I get paid three business days after I submit trip paperwork. If I do a trip a day, and report every trip as I complete them, I get paid every day. Once a week, on the first pay date after Tuesday, they take weekly deductions, which can roll over if I didn't make enough money to cover them.

Stevens, and most other larger companies from what I've heard, do not want drivers doing major repair work. Like Rick said above, topping off fluids, etc., is normally the limit of driver self-service expectations. Replacing mud flaps might be expected, or some other minor, simple jobs. I am an experienced steel mill mechanic and am comfortable doing more significant quick fixes, but I draw the line at touching complex parts. A belt is in my comfort zone (depending on how it is tensioned) if I had the tools for it (which I don't currently) but I'd probably get told NO by Stevens if I offered to try to replace one.

A mom and pop truck operation might expect a driver to change their own oil, replace belts, filters, etc. Mid-sized companies could go either way. I'm sure more experienced driers could give examples of companies that expected or had no problem with drivers doing service work more complex than topping off fluids.

Others have alluded to this in their replies, but most large carriers are going to have you bringing that truck in very often so that they can take a look at it and catch anything before it really becomes a problem. When I started at Knight we were required to stop in at a terminal every 7,500 miles. That was easily once every three weeks for me. Now they have changed that requirement to every ten thousand miles, which still comes out to once a month for me. There is barely enough time for anything to go wrong in between those mandatory service visits. On top of all that you are going to be needing to do thorough pre-trip inspections each time you start a drive shift. Also most large carriers have new and very nicely maintained equipment. I have had one minor break down in the last three years, it is something you will not have to deal with very often.

As far as pay goes I think most companies pay every week. At Knight you get a choice of weekly or daily pay. I don't know why they offer both, but they do.

Once again I appreciate the replies. And honestly if I dont make the change I really dont want to do any of the repairs. I guess my question should have been how do they handle that. I have a box ( a small one) I built myself specifically for a truck however I would rather not tote it around. I wasn't sure if that was something they expected of you if you wanted to meet your appointments. I do understand the liability issues I am pretty familiar with them actually just didn't think about applying it to this case. As far as pay I have never heard of everyday but that might be a nice way to get paid.

When I worked for CRST I got paid twice weekly and they didn't really mind if I held onto some of my loads to build up a couple for the next week so that was nice. (I never held onto them for to long but just to get into the next pay period)

The company I work for now is much smaller and want all load information within 24hrs of delivery.

When I worked for CRST the only time the truck went into the shop was when something broke.

New company replaced tires with light visible uneven treadwear on nearly tires before I left the shop and have a 20k and 40k mile service.

So as you can tell from mine and others your company will dictate your service and pay...

I got the ok from CRST to make repairs on a few out of the norm issues I had but if it were anything that big I wouldn't want to touch anyway.

Aside from liability and the fact that these are multimillion dollar companies that have contracts to cover just this sort of thing. I don't get paid to fix it just to drive it. Most times getting something fixed doesn't take to awful long.

And getting dirty when you can just go into your house and take a shower is a little different than being on the road.

Cause chances are if you can just run in and shower while OTR your probably not to far away from a mechanic.

What the others said. Now, if you really want to fix a truck on the side of the road, you should lease or buy one. I knew a trucker when I was much younger who did an overhaul on his motor on the side of the road, but that was back before deregulation took all the profit out of being an O/O and other drivers would stop to help.

I knew a trucker when I was much younger who did an overhaul on his motor on the side of the road

That sounds like one of those "Restauraunt Counter" stories. The only thing missing is that there was 3 feet of snow on the ground, and the only tools he had were a Crescent Wrench and a Phillips Screwdriver.