Story Time Smh...

Fresh off my weekend hometime, I arrive at the terminal Sunday night ready and anxious to get an early start for Monday. Woke up Monday morning feeling positive, well rested and eager to start my 2 weeks out. Load assignment pops up at 7am then head off to the Hydro plant in Cressona Pa. The usual routine, pick up a loaded trailer headed to Lafayette Indiana. Securing and tarping the load went fairly smoothly and definitely happy with the progress.

Everything is going as planned and ended the day in Lebanon, Indiana. Tuesday I wake up and continue the drive to Lafayette. Arrived at the consignee and decided to un-tarp the load outside as it was a nice and sunny 80 degree day. It's not taking me as long as it did 3 months ago to fold the tarps but this will be the first summer I'm going through and when I was done untarping I was soaked in sweat smh. Really not looking forward to July and August heat.... 40-50 degree weather would be the ideal temperature while doing flatbed in my opinion..

So after my empty call I was told I will be going back empty to Cressona. Awesome, no strapping, no tarping, just a straight run back the way I came. Ended up making it to Hebron Ohio and spent the night at a rest area off 70E. Woke up Wednesday morning, did my pre-trip and was ready to rock and roll. I push in my parking brake, then my trailer brake, then I hear a loud wind sound.... That's not good. With my foot still applied to the service brake I listen intently. I reapply the brakes and the sound goes away. Huh, am I hallucinating?? I release the parking brake, nothing. I push in the trailer air supply and there it goes. Lovely, I have a leak.

With the truck still running, I put it in neutral then set my tractor brake. I proceed to go outside the truck and walk to the trailer. Got to the drives and I feel a heavy gust of air hit me on the side of the head. I stop in my tracks and turn around only to be smacked in the face by a strong force of air. I have my bungees hanging on the back of the tractor and it appears that a bungee hook poked a hole in the supply line smh.

I turn the truck off, pick up my phone and called breakdown. While waiting for someone to answer I ask myself "will electrical tape work??" I quickly hang up the phone and grab the tape. Applied a generous amount of tape to the hole and started the truck up. Sound is gone. Air pressure is normal, I think this will do for now. It's only 5 1/2hrs to the terminal from here so I message my DM let him know whats going on and off I go. Now everything is fine but I have a feeling I should just call breakdown. The reason being is it might get fixed faster than if I went to the terminal. But I ignore that feeling and continue to drive to the terminal. Pulled up to the inspection bay at 230pm and yup, 3 hrs for them to change the line. So my 6hrs of drive time is now 3. It takes an hr and 20mins from the terminal to the shipper... My day is not going as planned....

Before I left the terminal to finish my empty run my DM calls and asks what time will I be there. Told him the mechanic is still working on the truck and I'm not sure. He tells me the trailer I'm picking up has a busted leg on the landing gear and won't go up. The trailer tech needs my truck to support the trailer so he can work on the landing gear. Needs an eta so we can meet. After speaking with the terminal tech I called my DM back and we decide 7pm on the safe side.

I arrive at Cressona at exactly 7pm lol. Go through the scale, drop the empty trailer I had and rush inside to meet the trailer guy... He's not there... I have to get a bobtail weight when dropping an empty so I go back to the scale for the weight and to pick up the paperwork. When I told the guy my pick up number he says that load has been refused by 2 other drivers and has been sitting there since Friday of last week. I ask him if he knows anything about the trailer being fixed and he informs me that the guy came to fix it at 2pm but didn't have the right parts and would be back. But he never came back.. It's now 8pm at that point and have no clue what's going on. I make a phone call to breakdown and they told me the guy will be back shortly. Seriously, shortly? So I have to wait for him instead of taking a shower because I have no idea of when he will arrive and he needs my truck to prop up the trailer.. this whole day is shot. My plans were to pick up this load, head back to the terminal and take a much needed shower. Not happening. I also planned on being in Lafayette Thursday night so I can drop this load off first thing Friday morning. Doesn’t look like that's going to work out either. I am not a happy skateboarder right now.

So it is now 1:20am Thursday morning while I'm writing this. Sitting in the parking lot and the trailer still is not fixed, guy never showed.. Breakdown called me back at 10pm and told me the guy wouldn't be there till midnight. Then received another call saying he won't be here till 1am. It's going on 130am and still nothing. I really could have went to the flying j about 30min from here and took a shower smh..

I am out of hrs on my 14 and I should be an A-hole and say I can't move the truck because it would be a violation. Plus it is waaay past my bedtime. He has until 2am and I'm really done for the night, I need to sleep. It's only Wednesday, well technically Thursday now and this week went from promising to crap!

Life of a trucker I guess, expect the unexpected....

From my experience there at your terminal , next time call road service to fix it. Much faster than the the PA terminal shop most days.

If you hang the bunches of bungees on the back of the sleeper, I would hang them on the passenger side, or at points that are above the air lines.

Always something, TwoSides!

Sheesh... good sir!!!! I read this w/Tom before I sent him off to work; and he reminded me....of a VERY similar story, back in '06 or so, haha! It's always something. It was a mess for him, too...but we don't remember the details. As well, however...we/he had to call roadside. The rig was in 'my' yard, in Bellville, before I 'officially' moved in here with him. (Boy did WE (he) look stoooopid!)

I hope things get better for you, as time goes on. If you ever have extra time on your clock (haha!) whilst in Ohio, get a hold of usn's!

Pack Rat is spot on w/the bungees, though. Even in a day cab , there's a generous cache on the FAB truck; high up, on the 'non' side. I just cleaned the rig at 0230 for the guy myself...and ... yep!

It's gotta get better, man. It is, slowly. . . right?

~ Anne ~

ps: Thanks again for the Mom's Day wishes!!! Means a LOT. (You also, Pack!)

Sounds like my very 1st day and load at Legends ! I drive around the block to our drop yard to get my loaded trailer. Well the yards ok its paved etc, but a wee bit tight making u-turns etc. So some trucks are hooked n parked in different spots, and couple trailers dropped in the center area of the yard. I have to manuever my trailer around this goofy stuff in my way. I figure which way I need to turn around and make it out.

Well, as I slowly am making my turn, I feel/hear this weird noise behind the sleeper, then a loud air noise ! I look for the problem, and can't "See" it, but I hear it. Finally, I figure it out, in making the swing, the airlines had brushed across the A/C dryer sending unit, torn a good size /hole in the trailer's emergency /red hose, and the plastic hose wrap, luckily it didn't break the dryers pressure switch, (truck had an APU on the rear of the truck, the dryer was mounted too low in my mech exp.)

This is how I found out the glad hands cannot be switched around. I was gunna swap hoses just to get the trailer parked better, than crooked in the way of others. Shop said don't worry about it just come back and get fixed up... I feel like a total dumbazz newb, so I dropped my trailer, and drove back to the shop. Well, they're gunna replace the whole assembly pretty fast. The young mechanic told me this happens alot, because they factory lines are 12 ft= too short, and they've had issues about it at the Cajon Pass, scales. So he replaced em with a 15 ft set, guess they got em in stock whewwwww!

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Yes Momma Anne, always something lol. Just have to laugh but honestly getting very annoyed of just sitting here. I'm always in Ohio running on I-70. I will take you up on that offer and hit you up if I have time to spare. Maybe Tom can give me a few pointers on backing the split axle

Pack, I have now moved my bungees to the passenger side. Lesson learned and will not happen again. Experience is the best way to gain knowledge and from knowledge comes wisdom....

Aaaand I'm still here lol. Woke up this morning at 0800 and saw two missed calls and a message on my Zonar from breakdown. The guy finally showed up at 0400 but I was sleeping. Surprised I didn't wake up from the phone calls because I'm not a very deep sleeper, was probably just super tired.

I call my DM ask him what's going on and he tells me to contact breakdown. I do and they tell me they don't have it in the system smh. Takes an hr for them to realize what was going on. Now at 1100 and the company ****inson can't get a hold of their trailer tech. Waiting and waiting, multiple calls and messages from breakdown and my DM, and also received a phone call from the corporate office in AZ. I felt so special knowing they were just as upset as I was or am, because I'm still HERE lol.

Trailer tech shows up at 1500. We get inside to the trailer and find that the part left behind by the tech earlier this morning is not the correct part for the trailer. Of course not, why would it be... So he gets in contact with his company let's them know whats going on, I also call my DM and vent a little. He leaves to find a hardware store to look for a part for the landing gear and I'm just here waiting, again. It's now 1730....

DM calls and asks will I be able to deliver tomorrow. Let's do the math, It's an 11hr and 8min drive time from where I'm at, I only have an 11hr drive allowance, there is road construction going on through PA, OH and IN, I have to do load checks on the way and the place closes at 1500hrs and is only open on the weekdays. I'm going to guess no, I will not make it there tomorrow in time to deliver. So he tells me if I don't hear from him I should stop by the terminal , drop that load and he will give me a few short haul dry van runs to do over the weekend. Can't complain about that. At least he is trying to have me make money.

1800hr and I'm outside in the back of the plant enjoying the cool breeze and listening to the birds sing. One more hr and I get breakdown pay YIPPIE!!!!

A week after the fact, and the landing gear never got fixed before? WOW, someone dropped the ball a week ago, and now you're suffering the consequences of the mess.....That sucks, someone should be held accountable from the day, they knew it wasn't working right....But more than likely, no one will

Yes Momma Anne, always something lol. Just have to laugh but honestly getting very annoyed of just sitting here. I'm always in Ohio running on I-70. I will take you up on that offer and hit you up if I have time to spare. Maybe Tom can give me a few pointers on backing the split axlerofl-3.gif

In all seriousness, we SURE have the room for practice, and I'm betting he could! Stop by on a 10, or better yet, a 34.. anytime! FREE SHOWERS & LASAGNA, TOO! ;)

He'd be honored to. He put some time in, flatbedding, when he (we) pulled asphalt tanks. Spread Ax's were the winter gig, hauling 'lennils' (aka: Jersey Barriers) to Cleveland, when the asphalt was too cold to flow, and construction season was over, anyway.

Seriously, would do! I'll do all your pre/post trips for free, also!

I hope this thread is finding you having a 'better day.' I bet we could work out the 'kinks' in that landing gear, as well. :)

Best always to ya, Two! ...

~ Anne & Tom ~

Man, crazy times. I'd have called brakedown and take layover pay for the day. Also. If you used split berth at the terminal it would have paused your 14 hour, between that and the 7 hours waiting the trailer, you could have had hours left.

My first solo run, I picked up an empty trailer that had the brakes locked up. I was so stressed that I left my pigtail sitting on the catwalk. The previous owner of the truck had so much slack in the lines that it could reach the ground.

I got about half hour away, bobtailing to go get another empty and a lady in car points to my back end. I pulled off and both my lines were dragging on the ground and ruined.

Luckily I had spare lines and parts, Teflon tape a fittings. I hacked together a pigtail out of spare parts using cheap tools from a gas station. They finally changed out to a proper unit a couple months later lol.

Stevo, I agree but most likely noone will be held accountable. Definitely got the short end of the stick with that trailer.

Things just keep getting better.... Trailer tech wasn't able to fix the landing gear on Thursday so that day was a waste. My terminal is an hr away from the shipper so I decided to go there take a shower and relax. I sent a message that night to my DM telling him the trailer could not get fixed. Friday morning my DM messages me and asked why am I back at the terminal... I didn't know what else to do. Was I suppose to just sit there at the shipper for a week till things got figured out??

Around noon on Friday my DM gives me two Van runs to do before going back to a flatbed run that's scheduled for Monday afternoon. Both are pick ups in Perth Amboy, NJ going to Pittston, PA. Cool, that beats sitting around and it will be some money I'm making. I completed the first drop then head back to NJ for the second. Arrived at the shipper at 2100hrs, check in with security then go to the shipping office. While at the window waiting to be seen I see a gathering of office members. They all acknowledged I was there by making eye contact with me, I assumed they are having a meeting so I wait. After 15min of standing there and realizing they are having a personal conversation I bang on the window. A lady comes over and asks how can she help me. I give her the B/L # and she comes back saying there is nothing here.... I respond, nothing here or not ready?? Nothing here she says. That is just wonderful lol.

I go back to the truck and call after hours and tell them what's going on and what should I do. I end up leaving, drive 2hrs to Cressona Pa to get ready for my regular run from there to Lafayette, Indiana. I leave because there was no reason for me to stay in Nj when they have nothing for me. I'm a flatbed driver not a dry van guy so I'm thinking that load is not my problem for me to wait there while they figure it out. I have a pre-planned load waiting for me that I can start on. Did I do the incorrect thing in that situation? I will find that out Monday when my DM gets in....

So I arrive in Cresson at 0100 and go to sleep. I wake up Saturday/today, call the office to get the load from yesterday off and to get my preplan dispatched. The Dry Van DM was in the office and I explain to him the events of last night. He seems to understand, didn't question my actions and got me dispatched on my load to Lafayette. It's 1100 and I'm finally thinking things could get back on track and I can finally get into a rhythm. That was very much cut short.... When I went in for my load the lady at the front says she has some bad news and some worse news smh. I jokingly say I can't deal with anymore bad news. She then tells me the bad news is that the load isn't ready. The worse news is they don't have a trailer to put it on. Not only that, apparently there is a line, it's another Knight driver here also waiting for a empty trailer to come in. Good news is I'm second in line lol.

Now at 1700hrs still here waiting. I have seen three Knight drivers come in with empties so now just waiting for them to load it and give me a call that it is ready.

Had an interesting week so far. Did one loaded run, one empty run and a short haul. Spent more time this week sitting than actually driving. Was able to get my 34hr break in though lmao.

I hope this thread is finding you having a 'better day.'

Thanks Momma Anne. Maybe next week I will have better days lol. 🤞

Davy, split berth is applied in my Zonar but still didn't have any hrs left on my 14....