[cruzncoyote]

Wow, what an interesting week it was. The rain never stopped (and especially when it was time to tarp or untarp). I did not put on my sunglasses even once after leaving the house last Monday morning. At least I stayed down south all week and did not have to deal with all the ice up in the Midwest and up north.

On Thursday I did have a trailer tire blow out. Wow, was it loud when it blew. I thought somebody smashed into my trailer only to look back in the right mirror and see rubber pieces flying everywhere. I pulled off and went back to inspect and saw that when the largest piece of tread came off it grabbed hold of the mud flap and ripped the mud flap bracket off the trailer. Actually it was all twisted upwards under the trailer hanging there by a ¼ inch piece of aluminum. I reached up and wiggled it off without much effort and the flap and bracket came off in my hands.

It seems funny that the tire gave way. It had good tread and I never saw any visible cuts or damage. Our trailers have automatic airing systems to the trailer tires so the pressure should have been ok. I do thump the tires with a hammer when I pretrip also.

A tire service truck pulled up within 1 ½ hours after sending in a qualcomm breakdown message and I was off and rolling to my drop 20 minutes later.

[Jay B]

Coyote, I just finished my first solo week in a maroon freightliner too. I didn't get the miles last week that you got, but I do have a 1200 mile load in the driveway now to deliver Monday so next week is starting out good. I had a flat tire at the Ft Smith yard the other day and it only took the tire guy 15 minutes to get there. It turned out to be the automatic tire inflation tube came loose.
You got a 2007? Does it have a bunk heater in it? I have been freezing my butt off and am going to give up trying for fuel bonus until spring. The company should issue 12 volt blankets or ceramic heaters if they don't want the trucks idling all night. Oh well, my truck is a '06 with 300k miles on it so it only has another year to go.

[steelhauler2007]

You may have your '06 for awhile.Unless Steve comes up with another solution he isn't buying any '08.They have Mercedes engines in them and he isn't happy with the two he has purchased.The Mercedes doesn't pull worth a dang and they have had alot of issues with them.I had an '05 with 450,000 miles on it and no sign of getting rid of it.I had to leave Maverick but get used to your truck.

[cruzncoyote]

Jay B

Glad to here you made it through your first week. How did you like it? Did you get any weird loads? I have been getting freight that seems to always have to be pyramid loaded on multiple levels making tarping a beotch.

My truck is 27322. I am not sure what a “bunk heater” is but the bunk area in my truck has its own climate controls (temperature and fan speed) as long as the “bunk override” switch is turned on. It works great. I had Maverick put an 1500 watt inverter in my truck and I intended to use an electric blanket at night, but my batteries are so weak the truck shuts everything down after 2 hours if the only thing left on is the marker lights and dome light. I doubt it would last an hour with an electric blanket plugged into the inverter (or a small ceramic heater). So I to had to say to hell with the fuel bonus until probably the 2nd quarter of next year when I won’t have to idle the truck every night.

[cruzncoyote]

steelhauler2007

That is interesting about the Mercedes engines. Is Freightliner not offering Detroit engines anymore?

Oh, and sorry to here you left Maverick or/ trucking. Hope everything is all right.

[Jay B]

The bunk heater is a battery powered auxilliary heater. They work great. The trainer trucks have them and I think some of the other 07's. I am going to skip the inverter and go with a 12 volt blanket. When I got the truck issued I told them the batteries drain down overnight without anything turned on so I got new batteries.

I haven't gotten any really wierd loads. I did get six coils loaded at once eye to front butted up against each other.

Sorry to see you go too Steelhauler. There are a lot of people leaving now because things are so slow. It will also be interesting to see how many flatbed companies are still in business in 6 months if freight stays bad and fuel stays high.

[cruzncoyote]

Wow, freight is indeed very slow. Another Maverick driver and I unloaded early this morning in Fort Worth and we both went over and parked near by in Cabela’s parking lot. Both of us did not get a work assignment load until 4:00pm. They don’t even load until in the morning. I went back to the house for the night which was nice.

[Jay B]

second week is now over. Starting off the week with 1200 miles worked out great, I got over 2700 this week. Drove my ass off and felt like I was behind all the time. The flat that I had fixed in Ft Smith went bad again because the tire guy didnt hook up the inflater right.

I delivered some steel to a place in Hanover, PA. 90 degree back into a not so wide gate off a busy 2 way street during morning ruch hour.

2 days later I clipped a utility pole guy wire making a hard right turn. Got cited for "failing to look before driving forward" or something like that. What the hey, I hit a stationary I guess I deserve a ticket.

[steelhauler2007]

You will also get a preventable accident and safety points from Maverick.

[cruzncoyote]

Jay B you sure did good on miles. I started the week with a 305-mile run and ended the week with only 1958 miles. I did get to go to Colorado though and coming back to Texas I picked up my first load of slinky’s at that steel mill in Pueblo, CO. It sure took a while to secure them and then they had to be tarped also.



I currently have a load of steel pipe that will start me out on Wednesday with 423 miles. At least I am home for a nice Saturday-Tuesday Christmas break.

I had tire trouble also after getting the steel pipe. A machine screw made its home in one of my super single drive tires and it made its presents known once I was loaded with that pipe (46,000 lbs.). The tire tech decided a patch might not hold air since the screw was into the curved part of the tire on the inside. It can be fixed but will require something called “vulcanizing” or something like that. He put on a new tire. I asked him how much for one of these supper singles. He said $1200 a pop! Needless to say, the old tire is going back to Little Rock and is strapped to the back of my trailer right now.