Comments By Dan F.

I drove for national carriers for five years before becoming an O/O. At the time I left there was also a large change in management.

Oregon New Mexico Kentucky and New York require permits for all commercial vehicles regardless of weight. In the case of New Mexico aside from the approximately $10 yearly filing each quarter you are supposed to file the total average weight with the number of miles traveled through the state in total So you should do this every quarter right after you file your IFTA.

Arizona I would have to check on but I believe that is only if you are picking up or delivering in Arizona (port of entry thing)

Unfortunately before the article was written in the data it cites came from questions in polling data where the majority of the answers were from the large carriers, or so i heard (supposedly you can pull up the data from the Institute for who they actually talk to if it’s still available).

Why on earth would a driver be worried about a shortage? More freight to go around. Doesn’t make sense.

Hahaha didnt read last post till after i replied.

It’s not a $10,000 job it’s warranty and even if it wasn’t it’s about 3 1/2 thousand dollars.

Your company will definitely put you in a hotel while warranty work is done if it can get into the shop quickly but if it can’t the waiting line for first come first served at international and freight liner dealerships can be several weeks

Possibly fuel pump failing. It has to keep pressure at 16-30k psi (thats a lot)

As the others had said it’s easy to miss cookouts and dinners, in my first six years of trucking I never once made it into a terminal during any event.

I always took the extra money though anytime I had to drive during the holiday which was every single holiday birthday anniversary etc. etc. for my first six years.

Texas because of no state tax

The biggest thing will probably be watch your tail swing when you’ve got your tandems up until you’re used to it

I was going to say I bet he’s running a cat on heavy haul 😉

Well let’s put it this way. I own a truck and trailer Less than a week ago I replaced all 10 tires on my tractor I added centramatics to all axles. I had all of the trailer tires dismounted and re-mounted at the same time and had an 18 tire TPMS installed. With that I replaced all airbags and all shocks on the tractor and all brake chambers on both tractor and trailer All suspension parts like bushings torque rods king pins and everything else. I also have digital scales that depend on the air system to get their data And finally the alignment.

All of that is influenced by heat and cold, vibration and impact, weight and age.

Trucks take abuse no matter how nicely you treat them.

Six months ago I also put another $5000 in brand new tires on the trailer

So if you want a grand total for what keeping properly inflated tires will help you save money on it is roughly in my case $18,000. Now when I figure how much in cents per mile of rubber I burn off that means roughly$.04 cents a mile in maintenance if nothing happens and no tires blow Every time a tire blows you have to make a decision on whether it’s safe enough to make it to a truckstop or does it need to be repaired on the side of the road.

At this time of year you will pay your premium to get a road call out ( much more of an issue for super singles that are not limp it in to a truckstop).

I had other work done on the truck to that I don’t count in those lists by the way.

Oh and i do have auto inflate/ air balance on the trailer too.