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.

 

That is the preferred ending to your story, WW. :thumbsup: 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 :clap:

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

I think with my dipstick


YouTube - Castrol EDGE - Think With Your Dipstick

 

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