You know for all the bad rap that the swift drivers get.....I have NEVER ran into a swift driver who was mean or nasty in any way. they are ready to help you if they can and I like parking next to swift trucks cause alot of them dont idle all night.

we met a really nice swift driver in MO the other week. We talked to him for a couple of hours so i would not say bad things about swifty.

Now clint.....how are ya doing. We try to call ya but your busy!! :wink: be careful out there and we will see you sometime.

tootie

Cool pics.

Here is one of mine that I got last Sat.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...tDuskNB395.jpg

You seem to have found a flatbed diamond in the van ruff of Swift. I've known some hard working guys who had bad experiences with Swift; but they were all on the van side.

Ian

Hi Ian!

Thanks. I shoot ‘em when I can, but it is getting more difficult to find the time to play with my camera. Too, it has been difficult to find the time to keep writing. So my posts may be a bit less frequent.

Suffice to say, I’ve been extremely busy. The mileage is staggering. (At least to me, anyway). I’ve been needing to get Miss Betty in to the shop, and can’t. I have been QuaalCom-less for a week, and it’s really a drag. But, the show must go on, as they say. And we’ve been killin’ it.

One very nice benefit of having to do things the “old fashioned way”, via telephone, is that I’ve had the privilege of getting to know my *peeps* mo’ bettah. The gang that makes flatbed tick at Swift is so cool. Everyone is so enthusiastic about moving freight. Everyone is so genuinely interested in being helpful. “Diamond in the ruff” you say? A well-polished jewel would be a more fitting descriptive.

My trips over the past week have faded into a blur, so I won’t carry on too much about them. But on to more juicy news.

I’m in Fontana at the moment and awaiting routing back into PHX. I picked out my truck yesterday. I have yet to decide if the W9 is a female or not, but I don’t think so. It’s a 2005 with 189,000 miles. It’s the youngest one on the available list, in terms of mileage. In looking it over, it was readily apparent that the previous tenant took very good care of it. And judging from the odometer, it doesn’t appear that he/she did too much driving.

The engine and frame look brand new. The steers are new, but the drives need fresh hoops. The interior is immaculate and so is the body. Everything that I could see shows a very clean tractor. I have been assured that it will be all freshly serviced before delivery.

I missed the boat on the red ones. Wahhhhh……

This one is that rather dull Swift metallic blue with gray interior. ISX under the bonnet and coupled to a 1600 series E/F 9 speed. I don’t know the axle ratio, but I suspect 3:55’s.

If the stars align correctly, I should be in my ride by the weekend. Much of it rests in the hands of the service department. A bunch of phoning today made it look like a good possibility though. Just gotta get a headache rack bolted up and we are off to the races.

My accountant did a budget projection based on the information furnished by the leasing office and things look much better than I had anticipated. Angie figures that by the time the lease comes to term, I should have a substantial chunk of the buy-out stashed in savings. It would seem that this is something lacking in most of the fleece-purchase scenarios. A good accountant with a vision of prosperity....

I suck at money management. And I know it. That’s why I have an accountant managing my bills and my check register. She kicked me back an Excel spreadsheet today that really made it all clear. I know everything about my money and estimated taxes. Everything. And I would not have understood it without her good work.

I made it perfectly clear to her from the onset, that I knew how to make the money; I just don’t know what to do with it other than piss it on sushi. I told her to give me enough for food and pleasures and bury the rest of it. And she knows that I am looking to retire to a yacht by the time I hit the double-nickel. It is a do……

I went on blind trust in coming aboard with Swift. Everything has been under-promised and over-delivered regarding work. I have to pat myself on the back as well, because they, I am sure, got way more than they might have anticipated when they hired me. I’m very old school when it comes to principals and ethics regarding work. I never let my mouth write a check my a*s can’t cash. And in this business, nothing could be more telling about a driver than his hit ratio with ETA/PTA. My Word is my seal, and through my actions, I am Known.

So, Fu*ckin’ A, kids! I worked my way out of the company-driver pool and into a Big-Boy ride! How ‘bout them apples at 3 months of Swift-ing? Jeepers.

Would I recommend the flatbed division as a viable $$$ generator? Most affirmatively… 10 4 Roger, roger bsht, echo… bleep (country music/static) belch.

BTW: I’m not going to re-locate the further adventures of Clint to the O/O board as to do so would be disruptive to the continuity of things already established here. So there. Nyahh.

Congratulations Clint! Best of luck with your new endeavor!

Goin Fer It's Wife

Congrats Clint!!! Now you know we are all chomping at the bit to see pics of her/him.....so as soon as you can, get um posted. :D Oh and btw, by not moving your post, you're already showing signs that you have not or will not forget "where you came from" :lol:

Laaaddeeees and Gentlemennn,

Let the games begin!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Clint! Of course you know that pics of the new ride will be mandatory.

...and I think she needs to be a she no mattah what. "She" is ship that just happens to transit terra firma vs oceanus...

I dunno, Geo.... It looks like a Butch to me. Perhaps it will reveal its more she-like qualities to me once I've been in it for a while. We shall see.

Yes: My roots. You are correct and by maintaining this thread, new readers will see the progession of things. This is certainly a different ride than with the two previous companies.

This is the first time in three months of running sitting without a load plan. I just got off the phone with a load planner in PHX, gently nudging her to get me back to PHX. She threatened to deadhead me back, if all the powers that be will agree to it. I offered to just rent a car so I could get the mandatory class taken care of, then let frieght move me back to swap tractors. And in their kindness, they are seeing if that expense can be avoided.

This is all so very exciting 8)

Be assured, dear readers, that I will clean all my lenses before taking truck shots. My 1D Mark II needs a little TLC anyway, and this is a great excuse to go through it. Photos will be forthcoming.

Oh, vanity. While twiddling away the time here in Fontana, I stopped in at the local <hehe> KW dealer and bought a hat. They were out of signature key chains <damn>. Oh well. I am sure I will find my way to the K-Dub shop in PHX anyway. K3501 is the part number for the top splitter kit and they have two in stock.... (oh, boy.... here we go).

The Swift body shop tells me that they have a few used headache racks as well, so I will take a look and see what is available when I hit the yard.

Now, to just get out of this place...

'Til next

Oooch the waiting is the hardest part. Good luck..

OK, she's a she
 

http://www.pbase.com/ckapp/image/78227865.jpg

More coming........

Sha....... :twisted:

I for one am personally shocked at how well Swifts flatbed fleet worked for you...I always just assumed that there would be no reason whatsoever to ever look at running flats for Swift with some of the very good flatbed companies that are out there...I am just plain surprised at how good it seemed to work, Swift flatbed just always seemed to be an after thought for some reason

Good morning, Jagerbomber.

Yes. Very surprising indeed. I am in the middle of composing a short novel regarding both our our reactions to this situation. I'll post it when it is finished.

This venue is rather un-informed. So if one invests heavily in what is written in regards to the various "major players", then all the trucking companies suck. But more on that later.

Swift began as a two truck flatbed company. If one is privileged enough to meet some of the old-timers, as I have, then one begins to get a picture of where Swift came from. Mr. Moyes comes back to work on Monday. And with him will come a sweeping change for the better.

Specifically, the owner/operator division is going to get a lot of his attention. Swift will move to a more heavily biased O/O fleet and the shift is already under way. As I continue to study and digest what I was exposed to in my O/O class yesterday, I will post what I am learning on this thread. While the lease issue is such a "sore thumb" around here, Swift's program, while not easy, is designed for a level of success which cannot be realized as a company driver.

Had I elected to remain status quo, I would make a nice $50,000+/year income. Make no mistake, the flatbed division is very busy. And if a person displays appropriate measures of motivation and pride, they will be immediately recognized as a valuable asset and treated accordingly.

At present, we lack the prettiness of companies like TMC, Melton, Maverick, etc. Beyond that, we have frieght channels which no one else can have access to. We also haul freight which is mutual to all the aforementioned. If one looks carefully, Swift's payscale for flat is ballpark-middle for company driver and sorta low on tarp pay. But, if proven, you will have miles like you never thought possible. If one is foolish enough to get sucked in to the "pie-in-the-sky" CPM game without clear understanding of attainable mileage, pity for them. It is an industry fact that a driver will change companies for the promise of a 2¢ increase. Sh*t goes sour when the jumper finds out that the mileage isn't there. Which explains why I never looked back at Melton after having come aboard with Swift. Betty's odometer shows 31,000 miles since I went solo on Feb. 15th. And I will be sure to post my YTD earnings and paid mileage totals before I turn her in for re-assignment.

Swift suffered in Mr. Moyes' absence. The accounting department took over while the company was publicly traded and ran it off the bottom line. As we all know, when the bean counters and desk-pilots get into a situation in where they have no functional appreciation of how things work, things get ugly.

Swift is a trucking company created by a steel-hauling flatbedder. And to all of us in the flatbed division, those big white dry boxes are just slalom gates which we weave though to get to the tie-down shack.

And the Magus is about to re-occupy his castle.

This is a very exciting time to be a Swifty. Whether door slammer or flat rat. And, as I will show, an even more exciting time to become a lease op.

Food for thought:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arthling+vegan

I'm not an activist, nor am I a vegan/vegetarian. However, I stumbled across this video and it did its job; it made me think.

Bertha
 

And now for the fun part:

http://www.pbase.com/ckapp/bertha

There's a slideshow button in the upper right corner. Also, you can click on any image in the gallery to view in full size.

The paperwork isn't done yet, but that will happen tomorrow.

nice looking truck. Looking forward to hearing about your success with it.

And here is how I am going to succeed where others who have come before me have failed.

The best way to buy a tractor is to walk into a dealer of your choosing and pay in cash. The next best way to buy a tractor is to pull a home equity loan and pay cash for the tractor. Reason being that home equity loans have better interest rates due to less perceived and/or actual risk to the lender. You get to write off the interest and depreciate the tractor. Then comes either bank or captive (from the manufacturer) financing.

Leasing has the benefit of being able to write off the entire amount of the lease payment, but you have no equity in the vehicle at the term of the lease. And, depending upon how the lease is written, you may or may not have the benefit of depreciating the vehicle during the lease period.

Typically, a lease carries a lower payment because you are only financing the depreciable amount of the vehicle, given the length of the lease, plus the interest on the note. A purchase, on the other hand, is for the entire amount of the purchase price, plus interest. A purchase usually requires a sizable down payment, while a lease (with a lesser amount financed) typically requires a small lease inception payment.

My leasing of the 2006 KW W900L from Interstate Equipment Leasing (Swift) will carry a fixed daily cost of about $100.00, plus variable costs which includes fuel. Bertha has a hefty entertainment bill, but I know I can keep her amused. While I didn’t know it at the time, I ran like an O/O minus a few skills which I will elaborate on in short order.

While in Arrow’s orientation class, I used the lease/purchase segment to catch up on a nap. Reason being, they spoke only about the lease itself, not the mechanics behind the successful operation of the business. It was a sales call and little else. And without, at the very least, a brief introduction into the management aspect of running O/O, the scenario is suicide, on all levels. Trial by fire? Sure; it might work. But it depends on the individual. Still, it is not the way to go for the new O/O. Too much to loose, and failure comes quick and hard.

Swift’s O/O class is one day and it could easily be three. But the quality of information coupled to the O/O services furnished by Swift and this outfit:
http://attrucktax.com/
gives the prospective O/O a better than fighting chance of success. Remember; I am looking at a 20%-30% increase in overall income and a huge combined write-off.

The first major challenge in making the transition from company driver to owner/operator is the paradigm shift from being cared for by the company to caring for your business. The boards run rife with people who are looking to be taken care of. This isn’t a bad thing, in and of itself. Quite the contrary. It is a naturally occurring behavior and it comes from our infancy. We come into the world fully dependent on our mothers for food and love. An infant will do anything it can to appeal to its mother in the interest of self-survival. It is hard-wired into our genetics and cannot be changed until later on in one’s life, if ever. The pitfalls of dependency on outside entities of any kind are that there are bound to be significant disappointments. (If you use your imagination, it will spare me the task of further elucidation).

Of itself, trucking is an unusual job. A driver must use his or her own sense of cunning in order to be efficient and successful. We are out there, virtually unsupervised and left to our own devices to get each trip done.We are entrusted with several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment and freight and then expected to do the “right things” with all of it. Rarely is there anyone present to hold our hands as we learn to manage it all. Reality smacks hard to the less-than-prepared. I felt it on many occasions while at Watkins Shepard, and felt a different kind of smack with Arrow.

I took all of what I learned with my two past employers and synthesized a picture of efficiency for my position with Swift. My initiation, if you will, was immensely challenging to my intellect, my emotions and my inherent good sense of diplomacy. By the time I hit orientation at Swift, I had committed my self to learning how to become the best company driver I possibly could, which I did. And little did I know, my determination raised a promising candidate for the position of O/O.

I am a sincere Individualist. I have owned and operated several small businesses spanning through my time as an automotive technician, furniture designer/builder, massage therapist, car salesperson, photographer and now, trucker (both van and flat).

What was lacking in all of my past business lives was a game plan. I just figured I could do it all on my own and experience has taught me otherwise. I cannot do it all on my own, and I know this now. And in seeing all that is necessary regarding record keeping and financial planning, I don’t think that anyone else can handle it all on their own, either. In the interest of seeing others succeed, I write all this junk to help, not hinder. My greatest joys will come from enlightening others to the possibilities of O/O as I create my own success story.

The bookkeeping is best left to someone who knows the trucking business. A budget based on fixed and variable costs is required in order to know how to run your truck. You can’t just wing it; you can’t! The reason for my smiles and sighs during my class was simple. Most everything thing they spoke of regarding all the various tax considerations (fuel, road, mileage, income, etc.) had already been projected by my accountant. And while the accounting/consulting firm mentioned above is a wise way to go, my Angie is a rock star, and I will stick with her for now.

When a new O/O begins to appreciate the applicable strategies of time management, fuel purchasing management, fuel consumption management and all the other efficiency considerations, there is nothing left for spreadsheets, estimated quarterlies and sifting through wadded up little receipts stashed in a Wal Mart bag. To do so would be inefficacious. And to not do it, or to not have it done, again, is suicide.

The first place to begin is to look at your cost of living away from the truck. With your accountant, you need to get a picture of what, exactly, is required to run your household bills, car payments, insurance, food, etc. With that understood, you then know what you need to make to cover your and your family’s living expenses.

Next: In order to decide what truck financing option is best for your particular needs, your accountant can look at your current state of financial well or not-so-well being and make suggestions based on pragmatic thinking. Like most of us, the lease will work where other means won’t based on limited assets. So? Look at what aspect of the industry you are drawn towards, then look at the leases that these companies offer. THEN, have your accountant run income projections based on the hard facts of each lease. Included in these projections will be your earnest assessment of how you run. I have recorded all of my trips and mileage, so I was able to furnish real-world performance figures to Angie for her projections.

This second step in the determination of your anticipated success or in making the decision to hold off is critical. In my other businesses, it wasn’t so necessary for the reason of the simplicity of my businesses. Not so with trucking. The Feds are up your ass, as are the state and local governments. And not only are they on you for income taxes, they are on you for road use, mileage in their respective states, and not only the fuel you buy, but the fuel you burn. Are you getting the picture? Who needs and accountant? I’ll give you two guesses…. And who fails at becoming an O/O? Hmmm…..

This is a very complicated way to earn a living. Being a company driver will earn you a nice paycheck without the mind-f#ck. Turn the key and go. Simple, right? Yup. Like I said before, with the way I run freight for Swift and, given the work load my DM’s hand me, I’m in line for fifty grand per year and no hassles. It’s too easy for my ADHD noodle.

I need more challenge and it needs to be an ongoing event. Flatbed securement feeds a good part of the monkey, but it isn’t enough. I need more, and I will get my fix as I learn fuel purchasing strategies, running strategies, load selection strategies and road/fuel taxation minimization.

And, sad as it may seem, I will learn and employ fuel conservation techniques, despite my Bertha’s 68 mph top end speed.

One myth I will bust right here before I head outside to enjoy the day: Fuel price is irrelevant to margin of profit. As fuel prices continue to rise, so will my margins. Anyone who cries at the pump does not have a grip on fuel consumption and fuel surcharges paid to the driver. While many of the drivers I have met who are not O/O claim that this is the worst time to go O/O, I have factual information which speaks to the contrary.

It’s absolutely beautiful this afternoon in Scottsdale, AZ. I bought a used bicycle off of Craig’s List yesterday for $50.00. Someone is getting busted on the second floor of my hotel for a felony warrant by the local police, the front desk girl wants to go for a spin in my tractor, and I want to go for a spin on my new (used) Schwinn CrissCross.

This post is one of several intended to inform my audience of the why’s and why not’s of becoming an owner/op. And also, to furnish a means to establish the facts as to whether or not one is ready to rise to the task. If nothing else, this rant is inended to stimulate thought based on facts, not fiction. Hope it helps.......

Yeah DD!

Thanks! She's a hottie alright. Getting out of Betty might help with what I call the "Swift Factor" while out on the road. As you might imagine, Swifty's get the "treatment" from other truckers on the highways.

There's quite a learning curve coming, but I think I am up to it. Thanks for your best wishes.

Clint,

Good read!! Funny thing...you mention the fuel prices and surcharges. A friend of mine has been an O/O for the past 15+ years and he was explaining to me one day the exact same thing you did in your post. He actually LOVES the high fuel prices because his margin increases as well. So much so, that last year when the prices were climbing, and when all was said and done, he actually got paid almost 3 cents for every gallon he burned!!

Oh, and like you mentioned, he also has repeatedly said that IF I should ever decide to go the O/O route, I had better have a good CPA that understands the industry set up before hand

You do not know how true that really is. For someone who has been an O/O still remembers the lower Price of Fuel and worries about it raising more and more, where some one who is Just getting into it with an Open mind, open eyes and smarts in business will remain flexible and work with the increases as they come..

Everytime I started a new phase in Life, the Fuel price always just went up. I start to drive, Gas prices went from 25 Cents per gallon to 50 -75 cent per gallon. Then later went on to 1.00 a gallon. It was said then what being said now, and we still living. Driving even more and more cars on the road.

Good Luck and stay Safe. Be looking forward to more of your tails of the Road.

Yep...I knew "she" was a she.

Great pics Clint...I especially liked the first one you posted....good job of portraying the image the long hoods portray. Could have been right out of a KW brochure.

And your missive....a good read with some well thought out points. Thanks for sharing and good luck.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on how the ride, turning, comfort, etc is on the K-dub compared to the 'Vo.

I'm a short person, Geo. At a whopping 5'6", many have commented that I am too small to be a flatbedder. My typical response is "It's the little ones you have to watch out for". :twisted:

One thing is for certain. The nose obscures vision to the front and sides of the tractor. I moved it around in the parking lot during her fashion shoot, and I'll tell ya..... it's gonna take some getting used to. I guess I'll get a pair of those illuminated "sissy sticks" for the front bumper if it gets to be too hard to manage. If I raise the seat though, it does become less of an issue.

While at the KW dealer on Saturday, I asked the parts man if he knew of anyone who swapped out the W9 hood for a T-800 hood. Vision issue aside, the enhanced aerodynamics of the T-8 nose would make a nice contribution to the bottom line of my business over time. It's nothing that I am in a mad hurry to do, but it did occur to me to look in to it.

Thanks for your compliments on the photos! If you couldn't tell from the images, I was having a lot of fun shooting them.

Skin and stacks aside, there isn't a whole lot of difference between the W9, T-6 and T-8. So I'm thinking that the Dub9 will be a bit louder than the BoBo and a bit lighter. The sleeper in Bertha is a 72" as opposed to the 60" sleeper on Betty. And the additional roominess is most welcomed.

You'll like this one, Geo. As you know, we both have a passion for cycling and higher-end rides. My last quiver of bikes included a full XTR Stumpjumper M-2 with a Sid and Spinergy's, a full XTR Bad Boy modded out to the hilt and an Eddie Merckx Corsa bedeckled with Dura Ace and Speedplay's.

Me and my cheap used Schwinn (with presta valves!) hit the road yesterday for a nice, gentle 30 mile spin. And ya know what? It's just as fun as it was back then. It was so much fun to go out and sweat. And I am sure this thing weighs in around 25 lb or so. Didn't matter. And it fits up on the headache rack, like, no pro-blemo.....

So yes.... All I have in my mind is a progression in levels of profitability. I don't imagine it will all come at once. But these days, more so than ever, being an O/O is a thinking man's (person's) game.

There is a lot more to say, but that too will come in time. Right now, I just need to concentrate on getting the tractor set up and habitable. If I can strike a good deal on a used headache rack at the bodyshop, then that will be the way I will go to start out with. If not, then Inland Kenworth has shiny new Merrits with chain racks for about a grand. I already bought the top splitter kit (hehehe) :P And they give us O/O's a nice discount on parts!

More coming.....

It's been a hectic couple of days, but my move into Bertha is almost complete. I should be ready for dispatch tomorrow at 10:00 hours.

I have a lot to say, but the first thing has to do with my feelings about driving this W9. OooooWeeee.......

What a machine she is! I will go in to much more detail over the next few days. But man..... what a friggin' ride this thing is..... 8)

I am seriously swooning.....

Ah, the joys a KW brings forth! Here's my personal favorite, though I haven't been in it for over nine months now :cry: :lol:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...886andTank.jpg

Now I'm in a 13-letter s*** spreader! Wish I could bring ol' 886 over here to Superior with me, though she'd need a PTO air compressor, PTO pump, and in-transient heat connections. I better stop while I'm ahead...lol :roll:.

Good luck on your venture Samael9. :wink: You have a very interesting and informative post here, and I hope you keep it going for a long time with much success :)...

Well, as you all must know, switching tractors is a major ordeal. Switching flatbed tractors is a bigger ordeal yet. Had I gotten dispatched yesterday, I would have left the yard with everything in boxes and done the organization thing while out on the road. Having an extra day really gave me some extra time to get it all “dialed”.

My headache rack is a sight to behold. Everything has its place. The rack I purchased used for $350.00 is a Merrit. It came with two locking chain racks and sway guards. The person who had it before me mounted two mud flaps on it to keep the noise from clanging chains to a minimum. And I must say, it was a cool bit of rigging. I removed the airline slider from the back of the cab in the interest of keeping the headache rack as far forward to the cab as possible. And now I have lots of room for toys without the fear of having the nose of the trailer clean everything off the catwalk when the trailer is jacked.

I modified and mounted an old tarp shelf out in the Home Depot parking lot under the warm PHX sun this afternoon. Instead of the typical Swift mounting plan (which is to have the shelf protruding forward}, I mounted it so the overhang is toward the rear. Much, much more efficient usage of space. All in all, the headache rack is about 3” off the back of the cab, which is ideal. I’ll have pictures up tomorrow.

I traded back the roof cap. For a flatbed truck, it isn’t really necessary, and having done so will cut down on drag through the air. Plus, it makes the tractor look more flatbed-like. To tie it all in, I am going to have the turn-outs of the stacks cut off and the ends mitered at just above the new roof-line. Bertha will look pretty cool when it is done.

Driving this thing feels like driving an old pick up truck in some ways. The hood jiggles a bit over bumps, but the visual from the driver’s seat is very noble. Yeah, the turning radius is a bit wide, but she maneuvers well enough. The gears float unlike any other box that I have shifted. It’s almost like she sucks in the next gear as if to say, “let’s go”. She sounds like a freight train under throttle, yet mellows to a hearty rumble out on the highway. Given the wheelbase, it’s no great surprise that she goes down the highway in a straight line. The Volvo, by contrast, always needed steering input to coax a straight line. The W9 is bay far the most steady and linear truck I’ve had the pleasure of running.

I got all my antenna wires fed into the cab today and much of the electronica connected. The Bose Companion 3’s are the last item on the to-do list, but I will have my XM up and running tomorrow. Once all my gizmos settle into their new homes, I will then get my inverter hooked up to the batteries and continue to wire and dial.

I took Bertha to get a bath today as well. The good folks at Danny’s Truck Spa did a marvelous job of cleaning her up. She absolutely sparkles now. Soon, I’ll get her waxed and have the tanks and wheels polished too. The last little issue with the body is the brackets on the roof for the roof cap. I’ve been engineering an ideal for a polished 3”-4” band to cover up the brackets and compliment the roofline. Meanwhile, she looks very official.

I got my first dispatch today. An 1800 mile run up to someplace in Ohio. What a nice way to get started!

I’ll keep everyone posted as to how things go. I’m looking forward to embarking on tomorrow’s run, just so I can relax again.

And yes, Cyanide. While I am new to KW, the love for this machine, and the engineers and people who made it, is blooming exponentially. And tomorrow, I get to pull my first load with it. BTW: That’s a nice T-800 you have there!
Thanks for uploading the photo! And thanks for your comments as well. They are greatly appreciated.

Well, this is getting interesting.

I bobtailed around while in PHX, just to get a feel for the truck, get used to the transmission, and do some running around in the interest of getting set up to go.

At one point while heading back to the yard, the truck quit running. I thought it might be low on fuel as the gage read close to empty. And being unfamiliar with how the gage reads, I was afraid I had run out of fuel. But after sitting for about 5 minutes, she started back up. So I made a bee
line for the yard and filled it as soon as I got in. Wheew.

Next morning, I got up and called my pickup. Two coils with a combined weight of 45,600 lb. This is my heaviest load to date. Cool, thinks I. We’ll see what ol’ Bertha can do. The load is headed for Ohio, so I’ll get a really good trip in to see how she does. I just love this truck, BTW.

I get loaded and tarped and start heading up I-17 towards Flagstaff. When I started climbing the steeper grades, I noticed that the temperature gage was climbing up towards the 200-degree mark. Yeah, it was sure hot outside, but all the other trucks were climbing just fine. Something was wrong. As the ascents became steeper and the altitude grew higher, the overheat warning came on along with the check engine light. Yikes. I couldn’t hear the cooling fan cycling either, which concerned me too. I had to pull over and let her cool down.

I checked the belts, the fuses, everything I could imagine to try and diagnose the problem. I called in to the Kenworth dealer in Albuquerque to see if there was anything else that I could check. Nope, the ECM controls it all.
So I managed to move along a little farther and the same thing happened again. Rats. I looked back under the hood to see if I could find anything to cause the problem. Sure enough, the hood pad had become unglued and fell down in front of the radiator.

I pulled it out of the way and wrapped it up, figuring I would glue it back up when I hit Albuquerque. So back on the road and everything is delightful. The temp is holding steady, all systems go. Fine.

Bertha pulls the hills with much more authority than Betty. Even though the ISX mill is set to its lowest power output, it still has more torque than Betty’s 12-liter Volvo engine. The ride is so sweet. Bertha runs straight as an arrow with very little steering input. Nothing rattles or shakes in Bertha either. It just feels so good. As if you couldn’t tell, I am head over heals in love. This…. is a rig.

I made Albuquerque on Thursday night without any further problems. I spoke to the man in charge of the O/O fleet at Swift while I was parked on the side of I-17. He was very cool about the problem I was having. The truck is still covered under warrantee and they have an extended warrantee on it as well. He was very helpful and also extended an apology regarding my breakdown after just having taken delivery of the truck. I know from experience that these things can and do happen.

Today I caught up on some extra sleep. The trip out to NM was a bit stressful. Today was spent getting everything buffed out inside the cab. My drop isn’t until Monday morning, so I had time at the yard to put the final touches on the living space, which I will have for the next few years.

Everything is hooked up now. My XM, my iPod, etc. Getting the mirrors set correctly was quite a project as well. There is so much bracketry holding the west coasts and the convexes, and it all needs to be done with ratchets and wrenches. No biggie, I carry a good tool kit, so on we go with it. But, all the work is worth it, because by the end of the afternoon, I had everything the way I wanted it.

So, out the yard one more time. I needed to run north to Best Buy for one last widget. Then I planned to get some dinner, head back to the yard, grab my load and continue running towards Ohio.

Out of Best Buy and heading south on Coors Blvd, and pfft, Bertha quits running. I had just enough momentum to get her off to the side of the road, and now I am waiting for a wrecker. This has to be an easy one to diagnose. No sputtering, no nothing. Like a fuel supply issue of some kind. Fortunately, the KW shop is open until midnight, so the service manager said that they would plug it right in and see what’s up.

I guess that I should be upset, but I’m not. The problem will get fixed and I’ll be on my merry…. Yeah, being stuck is a drag, but there isn’t much I can do about it. It seems like I’m off to a rough start, but so what. They don’t actually start deducting payments until 16 days into the lease, just because of situations like this one. It will get resolved.

If it weren’t for the fact of my love for the truck, I might feel differently.

So I’ll let ya’ll know how the happy ending works out, and even if I have to run a little harder, I am still betting on my Monday drop. Finger crossed…….

It's great that you're maintaining a positive attitude after these little hiccups .....good for you!!!! I certainly hope KW gets everything worked out and she runs smooth for you.

Hey...at least you kept Swifty informed of your breakdowns!!

Chillin’ at Inland KW in Albuquerque and waiting to get busy.

The diagnosis is low fuel pressure. The fault codes indicated that the truck died from lack of juice. After looking around, the technician pointed out that the fuel tank on the left side rolled in its saddle and the both the return and supply lines were crimped. Apparently, this is a problem, which occurs with some regularity. And now that I know about it, I can keep an eye on it. If it happens again, I can fix it easily enough when I am close to empty.

So they will pump out the left tank, re-situate it and then throw some new filters on it just to be safe. The job shouldn’t take long; it’s just a matter of getting a free technician to start on it. I could do most of it myself, but I don’t want to piss off the service manager.

If I get out of here by noon, I will still be able to make my drop on time.

So I am using the time to copy my iTunes library of an external drive and onto my MacBook Pro. Much to my surprise, my old iPod, which I thought was dead, is working again. I didn’t necessarily want to fill my internal drive with 40 gigs of music, but with the iPod back in action, I can load it out of iTunes. Yippee! Jerry and the boys will be belting once again…

this almost sounds like a recruiter working for swift ?????? just wondering ??

Yo Clint...

Just checking out your latest adventures...nice to know the problems were minor and you'll be rolling shortly. The company I (still) work for is out of Albq so I'm there frequently....nice country and you can see for freakin ever out there.
So fire up Jerry 'n the boys, hit the road, and "Ramble On Rose"....

LOL. Yeah, I can see how you might think that :lol: Actually, I am Sheepdancer in disguise and I switched from JB Hunt to Swift <hehe>

Nope, HH. I am not a recruiter for Swift. I am just a very happy Swifty with a propensity for BS.......

Ramble on Rose? Which show, Geo? 8) Yes, it is gorgeous out here. Not a cloud to be seen, nice temps, beautiful. Can't wait to get jammin'..... Soon.

Heh heh...got several to choose from (Dick's Picks) but my fav for this song is still Euro 72. That's the album that introduced me to the boys several lifetimes ago in Boulder circa 1975....

Yup. It sure is hard to beat that album!

Turns out that the kinked fuel lines as a result of the tank rolling wasn't the key component of the engine quitting. Through logical process of elimination, it was determined that there was a crack on the fuel filter housing base, which allowed air to get in to the fuel systen just before the lift pump.

The guys at Inland Kenworth were great. They put up with a ton of questions from me, taught me a lot about how my truck works, got Bertha fixed and kicked us both out the door.

It must have had the problem to a lesser degree when I took delivery. BB (her new nick-name) was very sluggish on the hill climbs. But now, she's got lots of grunt. AND, from Albuquerque to Effingham, IL (1100-ish miles) she got (get this...) 6.66 miles per gallon. When I figured it up on the calculator, I got chills.... Me and my Satanic Kenworth <hehe>.

More coming, but gotta get some rest first
:shock:

Okay. Made my drop in the very quaint rural farming town of Minster, OH. The ride up 127 from I-70 was picturesque. All the neat little homes, and very beautiful farms, barns and animals. Time and Wal-Mart has yet to catch up with this place. The roads heading into Minster were all two lane and rather narrow. Pushing Ms. BB’s schnoz-ola around some of the curves was a new experience. By contrast, the view from Betty’s windscreen was unimpeded. I’m comfortable with BB’s beak, but still, decreasing radius on and off ramps can still be a bit nervy.

Within minutes of putting in my empty call, I got a pre-plan to load out of Leipsic, OH, just a mere 70 miles away. A quick blast up I-75 to Lima and then up US 65 into town. Easy, right? Nope. The entire entry to US 65 is under construction. To make matters worse, the detour signs are rather vague. After a few attempts to find my way to US 65, I miraculously ended up back on I-75 again. Wheew. I took another route in to Leipsic and found my way into the pick-up. Oh boy, thinks I. Another coil. 6 chains and one steel tarp later, and I’m heading for Laredo. Cool. I’m back in the system.

I didn’t really have time to focus on how BB ran during the trip up to Ohio. I was too consumed with the amount of time needed to keep my ETA intact. I had originally set it for 0600 yesterday, but due to the down time in Albuquerque, I was running a tad behind. But not by much. I ran like a bandit to my pick up and then headed for the nearest truck stop to catch up on some missing Z’s.

The ride down through Slow-Hio was great, but once I hit KY and TN, that’s where I began to have some fun with BB. First off, this queen has power. I could ride the rolling hills, for the most part, in 9th and not have to kick it down into 8th. She’s got a bunch more torque than lamented Betty. The ride is wayyyyy better too. Oh…. 68 mph never felt so good either. I was passing JB’s, Schneider’s and all kinds of other <ahem> comp’ny drivers. (How soon we forget, eh?) Man, I was having fun! Even with 43,000 lb on the deck, she just barreled right along. And smooth?!?!?!?! Smooth.

Oh. I spoke with the person in charge of O/O maintenance today regarding my breakdown in NM. I was told that all my billable expenses, including the towing would be covered for me by IEL. How about that? Huh? I was handed an invoice for the towing and the fuel filters, including labor for just under $500.00. Warrantee covered the rest. So the only thing dead BB cost me, in the end, was time. Great news!

This will be a great week for miles too. PHX to Minster: 1800 and change. Leipsic to Laredo 1400 ‘n somethin’. I’ll have 3200 done by Thursday bright and early. And hopefully, I’ll get a good one to ride me through the weekend.

The most wonderful thing about BB is her ability to maintain consistent road speed. This quality alone takes so much stress off of me. It also makes clicking down miles happen much quicker too. Yeah, a little more top-end speed helps, but not slowing down as much really hits home with me.

Do I sound happy?

Sounding great Clint!!!!!.......I do like me a good success story :)

Wishing you all the best!! I'll be following your real world experience with much interest..... Very Good Read by the way....

Hey samael,im in Larado right now,when is your ETA to terminal?

Well here's the update on me,since last time i posted,i did get a call back from CFI,they wanted me to go to orientation. After weighing my options,i decided to stick it out,at least until i pay my loan off,i really think that once i get a year under my belt,i'll be able to go anywhere.


I got offered a brand new T2000, no downpayment,take over payments, i have until July to weigh the pro's and con's on that option.Im still not seeing how they make money,unless they are a trainer.
trk pymnt=500-550
[email protected] =448gx2.66avg=1191
crap swift charges=350
monthly maint acct=250
taxes=300

total=2641

pay
empty miles@84c+26c fuel surcharge avg off 600miles a week=660
loaded miles @91c+26c 2400miles =2808
total=3468-2641=827 take home

now i havent been to the sucess 101 class yet,but if those calc are the avg,i'm just gonna stay company untill i have money saved up for my own truck.

Well im gonna go and see some mexican titties,talk to you all later.

OMG.

The only reason I am writing this evening is just to get unwound from the trip down here. My evil (great, actually) DM put me in the Laredo yard @ 23:59. I beat the M/F by 20 minutes. I was the last rig through the safety lane also. The boys were busy locking all the doors and managed to wave me in. Really cool, because I got to run in and drop my papers for the T-Call. This means that I am officially unhooked from my load and available for dispatch. Groovalicious……..

The ride down was totally bomber. I shut down a little earlier than I wanted to last night. The squalls through West Memphis were a bit too much to push through. Guys were passing me doing 70+ and the visibility just wasn’t making it for me. No great surprise to see truck tire marks through the median this morning, as I am sure that one or two of the “fat stack” gang made a navigational error or two. More power to ‘em…..

My ride through OH, KY (love that) and TN yielded 6.15 mpg. I think that the fuel surcharge is right around 28 centavos. So multiply the current fuel price of $2.69-ish and the numbers look pretty good! So on the Albuquerque run, averaging 6.66 mpg, my surcharge was $1.86/gallon and @ 6.1 mpg it’s $1.70. So, effectually, I am paying less than a buck per gallon for juice. Yeah, baby……. And figure these two trips @ 3200 miles x .94¢ per mile, it comes to $3008 for miles and $896 in surcharge. Total: $3904 gross, and the friggin’ week ain’t over yet. Oh boy, oh boy. Factor out the fuel costs and the $700.00 per week payment, including insurance, etc., and I’m stylin…. As I get a better grip on tracking all the numbers, I will have more complete figures for everyone, but this is the ticket for a high miler. Yup.

Thanks everyone for your encouragement and best wishes. This program never smelled like a to-good-to-be true scenario, but it sure does look like we are off to a very good start. I have the mustard to run the freight, and my DM succeeds enormously on keeping me busy.

Too bad I missed Zexersix on the Mexican titties this evening. The image conjures pleasant thoughts.

Sleep now……

I met samael today,or as he likes to be called Clint in the Laredo yard.
I was wandering why people where saying Clint on msg board, did not even consider,that could be his name. Sometimes im the dumbest smart guy i know,no wonder i have a cocker spaniel as a co-driver,shes the same way.

After our talk,usually it takes me a couple of hours,for the whole conversation to process to the part of my brain that works. I have this new outlook on the whole situation, your dead right about the freight and takeover situation. when i put in my arrived at final,3min later,i had a P/P,that has never happened to me before,i think i pissed myself on that 1. :D (those cigs you gave me, those are an aquired taste,i could not get past 2 puffs after i left larado)

I should get some sleep,but i'm all jacked up on moutain dew.

<hehe> Ahhh, yup. Bright and early, I hear someone saying “Samael?” outside of my tractor. It is indeed a rare occaision in where someone actually calls me by that name, but I rather enjoy it. Zex found his way over to my tractor, which was nosed in to a space, way ‘round back in flat-ville at the Laredo yard this morning. I was about 1/10th conscious at the time of his arrival.

As he mentioned, we had a good talk about what he was doing and wished to accomplish regarding his career. Having spoken from wisdom gleaned from past exerience, it was my opinion that he stay focused on developing a higher place for himself with Swift instead of going elsewhere. The cost associated with switching companies is no less than $2000.00 in lost income and costs associated with getting to the next outfit.

I did what I could to help him understand my satisfaction with what has transpired, for me, to date. There is so much information that it is difficult to take it all in in one brief sitting. Zex is a cool person and his dog is priceless. It was a treat to hang with both of them as I shaggily went about the business of stripping my T-Called load and prepared to tarp and strap the next one.

I got a pre-plan for a quick trip up to Fort Worth to deliver 43,000 lb of pre-cast concrete for a hotel. I never gripe about short trips, because they usually lead to longer ones. And, as usual, today’s plan was no exception. By the time I had my concrete all neatly wrapped and strapped, bingo. A healthy 2000 mile run up to WA. Gotta love it. The FW run moved me up to 3600 miles since I left PHX with BB. And while I can’t cram in all the miles to WA over the weekend, I am yet again off to a killer start. It’s just like how it went when I began in Gary back in February. Off to the races, and no time to look back. Dang.

I-35 north up out of Laredo is a festering hole of DOT, Border patrol and state police. I’ve never seen so many red and blue flashing lights in one stretch of highway. Anyone passing through that way had better have everything totally in order, from pre-trip items to logs and bills. They are seriously busting everyone for anything that they can find.

I managed to earn myself a quick look-see at the little weigh station just north of the inspection post. The officer was very, umm, slick in his questioning. What’s this you got here? Where did you get it? Did you oversee the loading? No? Why not? What do you mean by drop and hook? Where did the load originate? Where’s it going? And so on. Better have a look at your logbook….. He was cool about it all. And while he was giving me the third degree, he kept peering around inside my tractor with his Mini-Mag. So much so, that at one point, I offered to get out, just so he could poke around on his own. He said that that would not be necessary, but he did appreciate the fact that I had volunteered his access. All BS aside, he passed me through and sent me on to greener pastures. A hidden one-fingered buhbye, and I was out of there.

My, my. What a nice weekend cruise to look forward to. Lucky me…..

Coming to my side of the state?

Eastern side, if you don't feel like looking... 8)