Dashboard Confidential – June 2021
Pre-trip, mid-trip (is that a thing?) and post-trip. Some of my favorite activities to keep my truck, and myself, out of trouble. Usually.
Going back to when Uncle Sam trained me, and trained me right, it has stuck with me all these years. Remember the old tale of because of a horseshoe nail a war was lost? Because of the lost nail, the rider was unable to fill his duties of carrying the message, and the general did not get the rider’s dispatch, and the battle was lost. And thus, losing that pivotal battle, the war was lost. The logic implied is that had the rider’s horse been properly “pre-tripped,” the outcome would have been different.
At this point, you, the readers are wondering, “What is that boy yammering about?” Simple enough, friends. Get off your duff and inspect your equipment, before, during and after your driving shift. It could well save your bacon and at the very least some inconvenience and certainly some money.
One of my usual and most easily done tasks is a quick walk-around before I head out.
I know that it is required, but honestly ask yourself how thorough are you? Or… do you even do it at all? I have a small advantage, in that my Kenworth has a “self-check” switch that when activated works headlights, high and low, signals on all corners, brake lights as well as markers for truck and trailer. Even without that feature, I have done the same check, without fail. We have heard the driver say to the inspecting officer, “It was working this morning.” Telling that little fib gets expensive, so I have heard.
One of my other common traits is looking at my tires for rocks wedged in the tread where they should not be. With pocketknife in hand, I pop the rocks out and figure that those would have been the ones to pepper your windshield. I also have mastered that art at each fuel stop. It also is surprising how many times I have caught a nail or screw that, should it have been ignored, would have cost me a tire repair or replacement. I consider it cheap insurance.
Not only is the eyeball looking for trouble, but the nose is also a great weapon in sniffing out (pun intended) potential problems.
The easiest smells to identify on a walk-around are coolant and diesel fuel. Both have a different smell when aerated. The other day, I walked past a driver getting fuel at the island, and I could smell coolant. I pointed it out to him, and he said that he had some work done at a shop and that it was a routine smell. I persuaded him to tilt the hood, as I smelled aerated coolant. He did just that and found a puddle of coolant on the top of the engine block. It seemed his mechanic had not properly tightened a fitting and he was getting a spritz of lost antifreeze. Not easy to see but easy to smell. I rest my case.
I have also sniffed out a poor-fitting fuel filter O-ring that allowed a little juice to escape. And air to get in. That could have been ugly on down the road. While most mechanics are good at what they do, it only takes one “Oops, I forgot” to kill your day. I trust no one.
And just this morning, I had a pre-pre-trip adventure.
Parked and doing my 10-hour rest break, as usual, I never really sleep that well. Waking up at 2 am, I had a noisy auxiliary power unit on one side of me and a high idling truck engine on the other. I listened and looked out the curtain and down the side of my truck and trailer. I usually keep my marker lights on, as well as the extras on the sleeper. What was odd was my tractor lights were burning but not the trailer lights. I got dressed and investigated and found that some $#!%@ had stolen my light cord. No easy task, as it was secured by a spring hanger. They stole that too.
All was not lost, as I carry a brand-new cord as a spare, as well as a pair of air hoses. It is not my first rodeo, and I stay prepared. I was still very annoyed that some lowlife had stolen from me. Had he asked, I would have given him the light cord, but this is what the industry has turned into.
Am I preaching to the choir? Probably, but like myself, sometimes you may need a small reminder to just do it.
Happy trails. LL