Seems to me the main problem may not be with the Petes but with the moron mechanics working on them. All trucks have their problems. The job of fixing the ONCE the right way falls to the mechanic.
Personally, I LOVED both my 379's and aside from a blown turbo which was fixed immediately at a Cat dealer, I had no problems to speak of.

but you could agree, that since they mass produce them for TMC, that the quality and the options ordered (like the little nifty device that burns out your inverter (i went thru 3 of them before realizing it, and wiring it straight to the battery...) and other crap that TMC doesn't want...

also i bet they don't pay maybe 60k for each brand new unit b/c of mass ordering them, from the same dealer all the time...

and thinking they told us the units cost 120k. lol

Well its dead again and sitting waiting on a hook to take it an hour away to a pete dealer in the morn.This time it cranks fine at least.The guy that came from a TA in NJ said that the primer pump needs rebuilt and there is a fuel leak some place.The guy from TA was cool and got here in record time but did not strike me as a seasoned tech.I ran the truck sat for 2 hours at 1000 rpm and it started and ran fine so I had no fear that it would not start today as it was not as cold today and the wind was not blowing like it was.I go to take off and its a crank no start.It had no fuel in the clear filter so I took fuel from the tank and put into it.Tried to start it and no luck but the fuel was gone from the filter.I called up breakdown and they told me to try and use the primer to pump it up.As soon as I unscrew the the pump it starts leaking fuel all over the place and it wont move in or out but will spin.The TA guy could get it to run when he shot some type of spray into the air cleaner but it would die soon after and the clear filter would not fill with fuel at all and he said it was pulling air some place and pointed to the rainbow streak running across the lot he said was fuel leaking some place and I gotta say it looked like a big leak.


So how should I feel about this?2 weeks in a row and it was in the lexington yard last week for repairs.At what point can I get a little pissed
and raise some hell?

mrgrim, I PMed ya.

PM back at ya

How involved and difficult is TMC's orientaton/training program :?:

Do they appear to select teachers that have good communication

skills :?:

Some of these stories like the CFI/Swift/etc ones are kinda

discouraging.

Imagine you are a skilled and safe company driver and show up to

orientation for another company,

only to realize you and your livelyhood are

at the mercy of some flake that has no bizz training drivers
and or judging their competency.(vis. Swift)

TMC called me back after recieving my app some time ago and I was

just wondering.

Those Black Petes are nice looking machines

I chat with alot of Flatbed drivers...they sure seem to like that facet
of trucking.

The O/O's claim to do well also. (and they drive all 48 it appears)

There are PLENTY of threads on here answering your question. To see what I went through during orientation, see my website which is back up TEMPORARILY FOR REFERENCE ONLY. www.flatbedfred.com click on DAILY DIARY

This is ridiculous. Despite the fact that you are new, there is no reason to drive this hunk of crap. Ask your FM for his/her team leader's phone number. Discuss the problems with the team leader rationally and succinctly. Back up this conversation with provable data; hopefully you have put in many macro 19's and 31's on these problems. As Fred said, you will be out of this unit fairly quickly.

Oooh a new TMC conspiracy theory...an inverter death ray. If I recall, Oh Hungarian One, your cheesy inverter blew all of my fuses. Perhaps your microwave, satellite dish, big screen TV, egg poacher, George Forman Grill, and 2200 watt blow-up doll are overloading the circuits in your inverter.

Well I gotta say getting a tow with TMC is a huge pain in the ass.They sent out a second road service truck and when he said the same thing as first road service guy TMC told me they wanted to tow it into pete.When the truck they sent got to my truck they told me that the tow truck could not take the weight of my 387 and a loaded trailer.To be fair it looked like an early 80s ford that had the old school cables and boom on the back.I was sure it would not lift the heavy pete but with some groaning it did lift it.Well TMC said that the tow guy could not disconnect the truck and trailer.So that was a bit of a problem.After 2 hours and 25 phone calls they did let them take the tractor.
They sent another driver out to repower my load on up to NH.He was told by his FM to drop his empty at the tow companys impound yard and bobtail to me.Well my 387 has no box on the back of the tractor so all my stuff is in the trailer.This was yet another problem,with him bobtail what do we do with all the extra equipment?He had his lumbers straped to his catwalk as they were in his trailer.Well I took all the extra equipment and threw it in the bed of my pickup.Well I got yelled at for that and have to take all the equipment to the trailer he left at the impound yard in the morn.

So as of 8:49pm east coast time TMCs website shows my truck sitting at the the tow companys impound when it was to be taken to the pete dealer at 3:30 this after noon.I dont have a truck or a trailer and in the morn I wont have any equipment either.I dont know if and when my truck will be fixed and I dont know what is going to happen.