Fellow esteemed drivers--- up for your consideration this morning:

I pose the following question.

Do you believe this tire would pass a DOT inspection??:





Shop foreman at Heartland--- swears it will!

so, after 7 hours in the shop--- still rolling down the highways with that tire.

7 hours in shop-- and they didn't fix the batteries-- nor did they even clean the terminals.




they did however-- replace the brake pads on the steer axle- and even Impressed me alittle--- first time I seen a mechanic actually use a torque wrench to torque the lug nuts down to spec.

They say they "tested" the batteries were fine-- however.....

4 hours after they finished with my truck-- after not completeing anything on my write up-- I bobtailed down to Wal-Mart ( Coralville, Ia) to grab a bite to eat and do a little shopping.

Turned into 3 hours waiting for International Road Service to come--- replace those batteries-- all dead cells! Yesterday-- the first service guy thought 2 of the 4 were bad.

Boy am I a happy camper! 7 hours being jerked off--- then another road service call-- all because, they don't do their job.
International service tech-- tested the cells with a working meter-- showed me the readings--- could only get 100 amps out of any of them-- instead of 750 amps.

 

And you still have to worry about getting pulled in for an inspection and the first tire they see........

 

i don't think it will

i looked up the dot requirements

and isn't that spot all the way to the right (in the top photo) down to the cord?

you've certainly had your share of bad luck lately. and since they come in 3's i believe you're about due for a change.

:wink:

 

Until there is cord showing..or unless that is just a flap of rubber, with exposed cord under it..the tire will pass DOT inspection.

The batteries however....did you qualcomm them?

 

no...actually Vavega nailed it with the actual regulation that would put that out of service--- body ply is that layer exposed and now just a few more miles and now-- there's actual cord showing now-- will pop at any moment or
may last several more miles-- just a question of time, luck--- may pop!

Only way that tire would pass-- is if I were lucky enough to be setting on that spot or distract the inspector with chit chat and he didn't notice it.

But until then-- I'll just keep writing it up with each daily inspection form and referring back to Friday's mechanic signature and initial beside-- need not be corrected for safe operation of vehicle-- my note that repairs were not preformed.

Maybe, I'll get lucky and not be inspected or get by a terminal that has tires on hand.

As for the batteries---, and qualcoming-- heck this time there was no juice at all-- no dome light, no qualcom(no power)-- one crank that was it- all went black.

Now I have 4 brand new 1100 cca cells-- and I've even noticed the qualcom works better- faster. Amazing what a difference good batteries make.

 

hey Bumper-- where's your new thread? you know the one? are you waiting
to make sure you successfully complete orientation? before you start it?

 

Wife always says I need to be more POSITIVE rather than negative all the time-- so I've been trying. Here's a few positive thought and discoveries I've made over the last week.


(1) When I "recovered" this truck from the International Dealer in Charlotte, NC-- it was missing the ash tray. Well, no big deal as I'm a non-smoker.

Positive #1: I've found that hole will fit a Planter's Peanut Can quite nicely!

A driver should always have his nuts within hands reach!



SO COME ON OVER TO HEARTLAND-- WHERE WE'VE GOT THE RIGHT RIG FOR YOU....AND A GREAT PLACE TO KEEP YOUR NUTS!

I'm still working on different recruiting slogans along these lines---- any suggestions?

Your nuts will always be in a tight spot-- here at Heartland? :roll:

 

Im sitting in my new truck right now...I head for springfield and orientation in the morning. will post up on Tuesday night.

 

POSITIVE#2:

Got a great look inside a new International ProStar-- Premium. That's right-

not the Eagle, not the basic, This should do nicely as a upgrade from these 9400's- except some of the drivers are already complaining because of less space from back of bunk to seat. And the spot for the cooler-- won't fit a 40qt Coleman.

Personally, I was impressed with the trim, the storage space-- lots of "bins" to keep things from sliding out and falling and flying around.
They have the smart steering wheel- with all your bells & whistles within fingers reach. Another smart thing I noticed is--- Locking fuel caps.
True-- locks only keep honest people ...honest. But with the rising price of
fuel, it's still a good idea.

1600 coming in over the next 12 months-- so, giving that's just under half the total fleet. And what they didn't say--- that with turnover what it is here. Six months, and a driver could be in one of those. They are also looking to expand the fleet( obviously with 1600 trucks coming in the next year-- and holding on to the others until they reach 480,000 there's going to be plenty of seats to fill.

Opening a new terminal in the Dallas area-- should be re-modeled in 6 months according to qualcom. Also, expanding their southwest regional.
Lots more freight coming our way-- from Unilever.

And they need TEAMS BADLY.

Myself and another driver were doing some "snooping" around at O'Fallon to see what was there dropped-- just in case we could find loads --dispatch
hadn't told us about- that would get us Home for more home time this weekend-- I live in Ar - he lives in south central Missouri. All we found was 18 west coast loads-- going to all points west from La to Kent, Wa.

He kept complaining-- there weren't enough teams to be running all those-- so, some "brown-nosing" sob will probably be getting some great miles-- while he only gets by the house for a day-- on a short run to Ft. Smith. Seems he'd already tried to trade his "suddenly" reduced home time for a west coast run--- but, was turned down. Needed him to make that p/u instead.


Last positive-- that mechanic using a torque wrench on my lug nuts!

 

How are you feeling about your decision to leave Shaffer for Heartland these days HB? I noticed your comment about the turnover at Heartland. Does there seem to be more turnover at Heartland vs. Shaffer?

I'm certainly no regs/law expert by any means, but the tire in that picture would have placed our company equipment immediately out-of-service. BOL out there.

I've checked a few times, and haven't seen your pic over at war-line. 8) :lol:

Better the lug nuts, than the ones within reach............. 8) Maybe next time.