A Pre-Trip Tip From Old School

I generally am dispatched on two long loads each week. This week I had two short loads of 630 miles each (there and back) and then I got dispatched on a 2,230 mile load. I was all excited and rearing to go when I discovered a little problem while pre-tripping my truck. I thought I'd share it with you, because it is one of those subtle things that some newbies might not happen to pick up on, but it could have some serious ramifications if not rectified in a timely manner. As I was doing a walk around of my truck, I noticed some small droplets of oil that had been splattered on the back of the cab. They weren't real obvious but, here is what it looked like...

Those had not been there the day before, so I knew I had something new that was developing. I began to look further and found some more oil that had been slung up onto the frame, or the chassis of the truck. Take a look...

When you see this sort of thing it generally is indicating that you have a wheel seal that is leaking. So I unhooked from my trailer and took a good look down at my drive axles while standing up on the frame of the truck. I'm lazy, and this is a lot easier to do than getting on the ground and getting up under those huge differentials and trying to get a closer look. Now I can see the inside wall of the inside tire on my drive axles, and here is what I see...

You can tell that oil has been getting spun off of the wall of the tire by those radial streaks of oil on the tire. Yes, I have got a wheel seal that is leaking oil. It is hard to see in the photo, but the brake shoes have got a lot of oil on them, and that is where you are going to possibly get into a serious problem in this situation. This is Sunday, but I am now waiting to get my truck into one of our shops on Monday morning to get this problem straightened out. If you were to get your brakes real hot in a situation like this you could start a fire and be in a really bad predicament. I would much rather be clocking off those miles on this nice load, but I'm going to get it fixed first and then start making that money.

Good stuff, thank you. I have been thinking of things like this to ask about at school. Maybe get some looksee in the shop when things come in broken, bent or damaged.

OS, did you ever notice the smell inside the cab while driving? I've experienced the same thing before, and the smell got my attention while driving.

OS, did you ever notice the smell inside the cab while driving?

No odor this time PackRat, but that is an excellent tip to add into this discussion. Sometimes you will get an odor in your cab that indicates that something is out of order.