I got VERY, VERY LUCKY this week...

[Windwalker]

Yes, I do my pretrip every time before I start out

I always thought I did a pretty thorough one...

But, when I went over a speed bump, I heard a "CLANK" that I shouldn't have. I put the brakes on and stopped short, got out and looked.

You know the pads that bolt onto the bottom of the landing gear? It might be square or round, but only has one bolt holding it on??? Part of the bolt was laying on the pavement right next to the pad that should have been at the bottom of my landing gear.

Yes, I've always looked at the bolt that holds it on, but I have only looked at the outside, what I saw when I walked around the truck. Considering the amount of rust on the broken end, I'm not the only one that didn't check to make sure the bolt had two ends.

As of now, since I can see the ends of both bolts from either side of the trailer, I won't have to get down and look at both sides. I WILL be looking at the inside end of the bolt on the opposite side of the trailer when I look at the outside end on my side.

It's not very comforting to realize that it could have come off while I was doing 70 mph, bounced up and gone through the windshield of a 4-wheeler. In cases like that, it isn't just the company that gets to see the judge, the driver gets into the act too. I sure don't need that.

[dobry4u]

That is the preferred ending to your story, WW. And I have to let you in on something,,,, ready.... you are only human. I am sure you have found a 1,000 other times things that weren't right in your pretrip. So, thank the angel watching over you and be proud of the professional driver that you are

[matcat]

I would like to meet someone who does a true pretrip as required by FMCSA EVERY DAY! It would take 45 min to an hour, EVERY DAY.

[dollarshort]

I always like to put it this way....When was the last time you did a pretrip you would bet your life on?

[matcat]

Quite honestly, I have come to know my truck in a way that if something isn't right I will know it. I know how it sounds, I know how it feels, and I know how it looks. If any of those things change, I know something needs to be paid attention to. Now that is not to say I never look at things either though! Whenever I am doing something with/to/on the truck I take the time out to do a quick check of whatever is around what I am doing.

Because I haul a dry van with a crane, whenever I use the crane I must hook up a jumper cable between the cranes power connection on the trailer and the batteries, on a volvo to get to the batteries you have to open the driver side faring, when I do this I take a good look at my driver side steer, the brakes, air lines, bolts, suspension, etc etc. Whenever I drop the trailer I take the time out to go over all the components involving the drives, etc, I also take that time out to check out the trailer aswell.

Whenever I wash the windows at the truck stop I open the hood, check things out there.

And if I happen to hear/feel/see anything out of the ordinary I check that out too.

I am not saying you shouldn't pretrip by any means, you should, but I think you get to a point where you know your truck well enough to be able to split a real inspection into pieces.

[Jumbo]

There are way too many hop-in-and-go drivers. I bet some drivers have never pulled the dipstick out on their truck, Or even know where it is. Or even drain the water out of their airtanks.

[Jumbo]

Lets ask Dobry. How did your company show you how to do a pretrip? I ask because you are a newer driver, Not because you are a girl or who you work for.

[Musicman]

You know the pads that bolt onto the bottom of the landing gear? It might be square or round, but only has one bolt holding it on???

More often than not, it's not a bolt at all... it's just a hollow pin.

[Mackman]

There are way too many hop-in-and-go drivers. I bet some drivers have never pulled the dipstick out on their truck, Or even know where it is. Or even drain the water out of their airtanks.

I think with my dipstick


YouTube - Castrol EDGE - Think With Your Dipstick

[matcat]

More often than not, it's not a bolt at all... it's just a hollow pin.

I looked at mine today, all it is is a pin.

[Musicman]

I looked at mine today, all it is is a pin.

Pretty much every trailer I've ever pulled, which must be in the many thousands by now, has the feet secured to the landing gear with a pin, not a bolt. I would assume that if they are secured with a bolt, it is because repair work was done and whoever did the work didn't have a pin available.

There's really nothing wrong or dangerous with a bolt being used, because there no pressure exerted on the joint. When the landing gear is lowered to the ground, the feet are designed so that they slide up and rest against the tubing of the landing gear. The pin, or bolt in some cases I guess, is only there to hold the feet onto the landing gear when they are raised.

[Jumbo]

I think with my dipstick


YouTube - Castrol EDGE - Think With Your Dipstick

Now thats thinking with your dipstick jimmy.

[Jumbo]

That MFer ever hit me with a dipstick I would whip his redheaded ass.

[matcat]

I watched that video, sat there for about 10 seconds bewildered... then started laughing my ass off

[Jackrabbit379]

That MFer ever hit me with a dipstick I would whip his redheaded ass.

I tell ya what, that ol boy ever did that to me, he would be out before he hit the ground.

[Phreddo]

Ya know, I just today had one of those "i got lucky" moments.
Only it was a driveshaft instead of a sand shoe.
The real luck comes from the fact that I had not yet put any gas on my trailer, as this happened at the terminal.
So I managed to get out from under the rack and limp back to our yard, 1/2 mile away, via the power divider. Then I dropped my trailer, parked it, called my dispatcher, and told him I was done for the day.
I'm glad this problem didn't manifest in Chicago on the 294.
I also can't help noticing that this was my last day (planned) with the company, and I was to turn in my truck after going to Chicago.
I wonder if they're going to try and bill me for this? The owner seemed interested in grilling me about it.

Me"Dale, I broke your truck"
Owner"What happened?"
M"I dropped a half-shaft."
O"And how did you do that?"
M"Um, I put the truck in gear and I released the clutch."

In retrospect, I think it was getting ready to go for a few days. I didn't really identify the noise because the truck is an old rattletrap that makes all sorts of noise.

I'm just proud of myself for getting it to the yard and unhooked without having to have roadside rescue or get a tow truck under the terminal loading rack.

And I thank my lucky stars I didn't get loaded.

Now I have 1 week of vacation before I start with Klemm.

[Windwalker]

Or, you could have had something like I had a number of years ago... Except, it was the driver right in front of me. Eastbound scale, Cambridge, OH. As he was going to pull off the scale, he lost the U-joint going into the first drive axle. Never moved an inch off the scale. DOT came out of the little building with a great big smile on his face. The rest of us didn't have to go over the scale, but of course, he had to check our log books before he would let us go.

I don't think the Badger is quite as bad as OH, but they would still enjoy catching a driver with that.

[heavyhaulerss]

I would like to meet someone who does a true pretrip as required by FMCSA EVERY DAY! It would take 45 min to an hour, EVERY DAY.
__________________
my log book say's I do mine.

[ironeagle_2006]

Could have been me in 1996 wrote the Sucker up every week for 4 weeks saying something was wrong in the rear end. Shop foreman said nothing wrong dumb *****ED driver. Well just passed the I-80 I-35 Spilt in Desmonies IA the demon in the rear end LET LOOSE. Inner Bearing Breaks Drops the Pionion shaft into the ring gear. Ring Gear comes apart and locked up the rollers were found in the spiders locking them up. Axles snapped. Ring gear came thru the HOUSING. The Drive Shaft connecting the 2 rear ends gives out finally after taking out the Thru shaft. those internal Chunks tokk out the PD and front rear end. Now I had done a Proper PTI and also noted a problem with the truck for 4 weeks. However the Shop refused to fix it. Foreman was one that unless he could see it did not believe there was a problem. Only cost the reman company 10K since we had just replaced that pumpkin 4 weeks earlier and it was Still under warrenty. Man they were mad when they figured out that they had messed up.