Truck Driving Jobs

marcel27208 · #21 04-22-2007, 03:25 PM

from what i understand even if you bring your truck to swift they will govern your truck, thats probably why you dont see alot of swift o/o, except for lease purchase drivers! :shock:

sidman82 · #22 04-22-2007, 03:46 PM

The company I run for has a 65 mph rule. But my truck is mine and they have never enforced or even checked or asked about it. In some corporate atmospheres you can get away with a lot, because there are a lot of boneheads running things. Only thing they make sure I do is get my truck serviced every 6 months. They are also pretty strict on DVR's.

LOAD IT · #23 04-22-2007, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidman82

The company I run for has a 65 mph rule. But my truck is mine and they have never enforced or even checked or asked about it. In some corporate atmospheres you can get away with a lot, because there are a lot of boneheads running things. Only thing they make sure I do is get my truck serviced every 6 months. They are also pretty strict on DVR's.

amen on corporate boneheads. There are some companies out here with no people with driving experience in any leadership capacities. Sad situation for our industry.

rainman · #24 05-01-2007, 03:15 PM

Do not sign up with Swift. Unless you want to lose money and slave a corporate monster. Yes they will govern your truck at 68. They will also wrench Qualcomm in to your truck. They will dispatch their company trucks before they dispatch you and they pay very little. $0.84 is nothing. I do not pull loads unless they pay at least $1.25. Do not do it. You will regret it.

As far as blowing fuel going faster then 65. Well that depends on your truck. My truck does not like 60MPH At 75MPH I turn 1,400 RPM Swift truck does that at 63. So my engine turns burns the same fuel amount at 75 as Swift at 60. All that fuel saving on speed is corporate nonsense, a brain wash to appease Swift drives. What is the point of saving $40 on fuel if it takes you a week to cross the nation. The load pay and the money you did not make on the load you can not run that week because you are slow does not cover or justify that small saving.

Remember that the corporation can afford to run slow and can afford to have their trucks sitting on the side of the road waiting for tires because they can re-power the trailer. Swift makes money, you do not. As an owner operator you have to look after yourself first of all.

I worked for Swift (Dark and savage times) so I know how they treat drives. I do not care how you cut it as an O/O you will be making less then minimum wage. That is madness. You are better then that.

My $0.02

heavyhaulerss · #25 05-01-2007, 03:42 PM

1400 rpms @ 75 m.p.h ? if i am at 72 mph(top end) i'm at 1850 rpm's. so for me it does pay to slow down. but i'll tell you in a minute, i have kept it wide open to get a load off & another one on in time. i'm not going to lose a $500.00 load to save $35.00 in fuel. agree totally with rainman there. when i load on a fri & have to be in mi 650 mi by sun night.. then i'll do the 60-62 m.p.h . deal. but like for example when i had 3 loads to get on & off & started at 3 .a.m on mon. i got all 3 on & off by 10 p.m. mon night for 1,000 to the truck for that day. could not of done that if i was driving to save fuel. one paid 400 one 300 the other 300.i had 30 min to spare. if anything went wrong i would of lost 300. i mean i still would of made it but it would of been unloaded the next day. putting me back a load... but whatever works.. experiment with your own truck to determine.

rainman · #26 05-01-2007, 04:19 PM

If you can, put different rears on it, say something like 3.36 or a little higher then you will be able to run 60-62 in a gear lower and 70 75 in top gear without crossing the 1,500 rpm mark. 3.36 is not the best gear for off road or climbing hills on gravel but it is good for strolling the highway.

allan5oh · #27 05-01-2007, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rainman

As far as blowing fuel going faster then 65. Well that depends on your truck. My truck does not like 60MPH At 75MPH I turn 1,400 RPM Swift truck does that at 63. So my engine turns burns the same fuel amount at 75 as Swift at 60. All that fuel saving on speed is corporate nonsense, a brain wash to appease Swift drives.

Absolute hogwash, the gains are from running slower, not running slower engine speeds. Engine speeds make very little difference compared to truck speeds.

rainman · #28 05-01-2007, 05:03 PM

So my CAT computer is wrong then. OK. Whatever. Do not even go there.

7 days 75 MPH two trips = about $6,000
7 day 60 MPH one trip = about $2,700 + wait for another trip
and it takes a week and a half to turn this around. The pay is weekly and the end of the round trip falls on the next week. So this week I am loosing about $3300 to save a little fuel.

Run at whatever speed you want, run 25 MPH then (according to you) the fuel in your tank will last you your lifetime, just get out of the left lane. I’ve got a hot load to run, money to make and my customer is waiting.

allan5oh · #29 05-01-2007, 05:07 PM

Sure, whatever works for you. If you can't squeeze in another trip doing 60 mph, maybe you should run faster.

I've done several tests running 60 mph in 13th, running 60 mph in 12th, running 65 mph in both gears as well.

There was very very little difference, if any at all, between running 12th and 13th gear. There was a big difference running 5 mph faster.

Don't believe what the salesmen tell you "spec it right and you can run fast".

Bullshit.

rainman · #30 05-01-2007, 05:30 PM

Take under account that I pull reefer. Pulling berries, running the unit on continues burns a lot of fuel and I run MN to CA and back. So taking extra 10 hours and then being told by the customer that I have to wait to next morning because I missed my appointment (therefore taking another 18 hours) cost me money and messes up my log. I have to turn one round in a week to make good profit. Sitting around or running short loads with 4 hours unload at each end does not pay my bills.

Yes I wish I had a deal to make $5,000 a week going only 600 miles. But I do not have that deal. If you do I am sure you will not share, so I have to play the cards I have, which is midwest to the coast. I turn St Paul MN to LA and back in one week and I have time to relax during the trip.

Besides. Nothing to do with salesman. The difference in fuel consumption is less then 0.05 a mile 65 vs 75 on this truck. Computer data, not a pen and paper calculation. With the rears I have now I get 1.5 mile more to the gallon then with regular Penske Freightliner. Hogwash sure whatever your religion is.

Also take under consideration factors such as the weight of the load, the wind speed and direction and the terrain you are crossing. Going against the wind with a heavy load and up hill will burn you more fuel.