Not What You Think....

Here I am again, blogging so soon.   I know!!!!

So the reason for my sudden appearance on my own blog is that, well.....  I am sitting in a motel room while my truck is being repaired. I hate to even mention it because with all the complaining I did about my issues with the Volvo and the Stooges, people are naturally inclined to think I am bitching again.

That is not the case...

Initially, I was given a truck that had been sitting for a few months and with nearly a half million miles, I was expecting a few problems. I was slowly getting the laundry list of repairs resolved when the air compressor went out. I had just finished loading!! That was on a Wednesday. Thursday, I offloaded the cars and the truck was towed. Friday, the diagnosis began. Shop was closed during the weekend. Monday.... the truck had still not been diagnosed. Yes, this was a major frustration and yes, there are still crappy shops out there, but with it being a new to me truck, I was expecting certain issues to pop up. However, I was ready to get rolling. So Monday evening, the boss runs me down to Georgia to pick up another truck.

Let the swapping begin. I assumed it was a temporary trade, so I did not gather all my belongings. Trust me, you can actually cram quite a few items in a daycab if you are persistent enough. The second truck seemed to operate just fine and I made a decent wage. However, I was looking through the permit book and found that the Annual Dot Inspection was expired. Severely expired. Yesterday morning, I run the truck through a TA Service Shop to get the inspection and was not surprised to find it did not pass. Yes, I am mentioning this, but I am not complaining. It would be unrealistic to expect an old worn old company truck to be completely road ready after sitting a spell. Besides, not everyone treats their equipment the same, so basically I am content to go through the vehicle and make sure it is up to par. IF, after 2-3 months, I continue to have little issues pop up, then I may actually become disgruntled with the situation.

So, for now, I wait....

So far the list includes:

4 tires
2 U-joints
Yokes
Carrier Bearing
Steer axle brakes and brake chambers
wiring harness
2 lights
2 cracks in the framework need welding
and a major oil leak

As of right now, all have been repaired except the oil leak. I should be rolling in a few hours after running it through the inspection again. I guess with all the negative maintenance experiences, I was kind of expecting to be down longer. So far the truck has been in the shop about 12 hours. I was honestly expecting 2 days. And this shop is not a 24 hour service shop, so that makes this even better...  And yes, I did manage to retrieve all of my personal items from the first truck which was still sitting at that shop after 2 weeks. Now, I need to figure out how to organize all of my clothing, tools and food for easy accessibility while living in a day cab! Not looking forward to that!!