Breakdown In Dallas

So, my truck broke down yesterday morning. I picked up a beer load (about 39k) Friday night and shut down for the night. When I tried to back into a spot, my truck started acting up. A yellow icon came on on the dash (looks like a flatbed pulling a hill with a slash through it) and I couldn't change from drive to reverse or vice versa without turning off the engine. I probably should've called OnRoad at that point but I didn't really know what to tell them since that was all the info I had, so I went to bed. Sometimes my tractor has minor issues with shifting when I first pick up a load or drop one off, but they always go away.

Got up around midnight, scaled, and left. Same issues as the previous night, but once I got on the highway it was perfectly normal, at first. It started having some trouble shifting, but nothing major. Made it about 40-50 miles to my fuel stop at the TA in Rockwall. Now that I had more info, I sent a Mac 55 and shut down. At this point my truck was having major issues--took me about 15 minutes to get into a parking spot cause I kept having to turn the engine on and off, and it still wouldn't go into gear.

It was still drivable for the most part as long as I was going forward, so OnRoad had me take it to the Lancaster terminal. Along the way, it started having trouble shifting so I put it in manual mode and kept it at 55. As soon as I got off the highway though, it kept going out of gear. I barely made it there without having to call a tow.

The mechanic thought it was the hill assist sensor so he reset the computer, but that didn't do any good. Apparently it's the transmission, so they have to send it to Freightliner. They said they have other trucks here but the truck assignment person isn't here until Monday. So they're gonna wait til Monday to send it to Freightliner so I can get a different truck and move my stuff over then. I guess I could wait for it, but I'd rather just keep moving.

Honestly, this couldn't have happened at a better time. I was getting so behind on sleep I was about to ask dispatch for a repower on this load so I could take a couple days off and get some sleep. Now I get a full two days off at a terminal in a major city, and I should even get breakdown pay for it since I can't leave even if I wanted to.

I'm excited to see the truck they assign me tomorrow, although I'm guessing it will be another automatic Freightliner.

Sounds like fun. lol

"Breakdown in Dallas" Sounds like a country song. I wasn't sure what this post was going to be about!

"Breakdown in Dallas" Sounds like a country song. I wasn't sure what this post was going to be about!

Hahahaha

So apparently the mechanic was wrong about having trucks here. There's a long list of people who need trucks. I asked about driving a daycab until my truck is out of the shop, but they don't have any of those right now either. I just asked about recovering trucks and it looks like that might get me somewhere--waiting to hear back about that. I told him I don't care what truck as long as it rolls haha.

"Breakdown in Dallas" Sounds like a country song. I wasn't sure what this post was going to be about!

Junior Brown, "Broke Down South of Dallas". Yep, it's a trucking song.

"Breakdown in Dallas" Sounds like a country song. I wasn't sure what this post was going to be about!

That's funny, the title made me think of Tom Petty, even though he doesn't mention Dallas.