It's Been A Little While

I haven't posted in a little while.

Just focusing on driving and life.

I got snowed in up around Springfield, MA last week. I finally had a good long load that I was able to get going from Scarborough, ME to Louisville, KY. About 35 miles east of Brookville, PA headed west, my truck breaks down. Breakdown with my company is telling me on the phone that I have multiple pistons misfiring. I let the truck sit for a few minutes and try again. Truck won't go and white smoke is coming from the exhaust. I don't know what happened to the truck, but it was bad enough that my company decided that it was better to pay to have a truck towed to me to continue with my load and tow my broken down truck back to the terminal (3-1/2 hours away).

My terminal manager asked me if I was set on driving a Volvo or if I would be ok with driving a Freightliner. He said that if I were willing to take a Freightliner, then I could be upgraded to a new truck.

I am now driving a brand new 2023 Freightliner. It was so new that the mattresses were still rolled up in plastic. This is my first brand new truck assigned to me. That load to Louisville was rescheduled, and I dropped it in a drop yard, per dispatch. The very first load assigned to me a in my new truck is 2000 miles from Streetsboro, OH to Tolleson, AZ. I really feel like my company is rewarding me for the hard work in taking all the little under 500 mile loads and being willing to do anything that's legal. I don't think it's coincidence that I get two long runs back-to-back and happily puts me in a brand new truck.

Ok, I have to start driving soon. Take care everyone. Be safe out there.

No load is so precious and no freight so valuable that it requires compromising our safety to deliver it.

First impressions of the Freightliner??? Please share. I'm sure it is a rougher ride. I prefer FL to International and Peterbilt. Haven't driven a volvo.

First impressions of the Freightliner??? Please share. I'm sure it is a rougher ride. I prefer FL to International and Peterbilt. Haven't driven a volvo.

I know that by reputation the Freightliner is supposed to be a rougher ride, but because it's brand new and my previous trucks all had at least 300K when I got in them, this is a smooth ride. The collision mitigation system is reacting to overpasses, but I remember from my last truck that this kind of takes care of itself over time. When I first got in my last truck, it did the same thing. Safety manager informed me that it will improve over time.

I had Freightliner loaner truck last year, but I didn't like because it didn't have enough storage space for me. This truck seems to have more storage space. I am getting used to the layout, and I think I really prefer the Freightliner now. I may have been pulled over to the Freightliner side. I don't like the way the engine break works. It will drop the transmission from 12th to 10th, which spikes the RPMs, so I just don't use it much. Good old foot brake 99% of the time.

I don't like the way the engine break works. It will drop the transmission from 12th to 10th, which spikes the RPMs, so I just don't use it much

It usually only does that when you have too much momentum. It drops 2 gears to compensate. If you use the foot brake to slow it down a little first it should be OK. You can also pull back on the wand to manually shift up to 11th, but if you have too much momentum or the hill is too steep for the weight of your load it will drop you back into 10th. That's kind of how I determine a safe speed to go downhill. If the transmission drops to 10th and the RPMs are over 2,000 I'll use the service brake to slow it down until RPMs hover at 2,000.

Play around with it to see what works best for you.

I don't like the way the engine break works. It will drop the transmission from 12th to 10th, which spikes the RPMs, so I just don't use it much

It usually only does that when you have too much momentum. It drops 2 gears to compensate. If you use the foot brake to slow it down a little first it should be OK. You can also pull back on the wand to manually shift up to 11th, but if you have too much momentum or the hill is too steep for the weight of your load it will drop you back into 10th. That's kind of how I determine a safe speed to go downhill. If the transmission drops to 10th and the RPMs are over 2,000 I'll use the service brake to slow it down until RPMs hover at 2,000.

Play around with it to see what works best for you.

That makes a whole lot of sense. I will be trying the techniques suggested as I go through New Mexico and enter Arizona.

When you're putting the Jake on, what level are you putting it on to? I've been in a few FLs. They did that if you put it directly to level II, but at level I, they would just drop a single gear or not at all.

When you're putting the Jake on, what level are you putting it on to? I've been in a few FLs. They did that if you put it directly to level II, but at level I, they would just drop a single gear or not at all.

I always start with level 1 and only move to levels 2 or 3 for especially steep grades after controlled braking. The Volvos I drove dud exactly as you described, and this is what I was expecting to encounter with the FL. I think that RealDiehl had it right in saying that the likely cause is the downward momentum of the truck on a decline. I am just a tad slower in engaging the jake than I had been in the Volvos. I am still getting adjusted to the control placements, so brain recognition to muscle movement is slightly behind what it had been. The result is that I have been engaging the jake just as the nose of the truck has already crested a hill, as opposed to just before cresting a hill.

I think the lesson here is to not take for granted having become familiar and comfortable with where controls are located for a given truck.