Car service warranties cover the gamut from legitimate to scam. The scammers take up deposits and conveniently go out of business.
All Diesel engines have governors, they maybe mechanical or electronic. If they didn't, you'd be able to hold the accelerator to the floor and watch the diesel engine start shedding parts. Back when I was driving most Cummins and Caterpillar Diesel engines were set to 2100 RPM, most Detroit Diesels were set to 2400 RPM. When they switched to electronic governors, the one company I worked for had Cummins program the governor to limit the diesel engine speed to 1800 RPM in 9th gear. Now this was back in the day when the Federal speed limit was 55. So with the rear end gearing of 3:70, a Road Ranger 9 speed transmission and 300 HP Cummins (Shiny 290) at 1800 RPM in ninth gear, you had a top speed of 62 MPH. Yes folks, on flat land you could pull out the throttle lock and give your right leg a rest and the police back then would not even give you a second look, they were looking for people traveling more then 10 mph over the speed limit.
Bill, A few points, first it's not the truck drivers fault the company has limited their top speed via the rear end, transmission and governor settings. Second point, trucks are not on the highway on vacation, those people are at work and they don't get paid by the hour. They get paid by the load or by the mile. There is no such thing as overtime for over the road truck drivers, if you need to earn a little more money, then you need a few more miles or a couple more loads per week. You're not going to get that following a slower truck down the highway. One truck is trying to pass a slower truck for the same reason you want to pass both of them. Now let me tell you a few things about the trucking industry you might now know, not only do trucking companies and owner operators pay a tax on diesel fuel like you pay a tax on gasoline, but trucking companies also pay a highway use tax. For the trucking industry every road is a toll road and every road is their work place. Remember these folks out there are at work, not on vacation, trying to deliver the products we as a nation want and need. Yes many items move by rail, but it takes trucks to get them to their final destination. You want trucks to only use the right lane and never pass, then don't complain with it takes a month to receive the model railroad item you just purchased online instead of receiving it next week.
I can say after 22 years of driving trucks, I was never involved in a fatal accident. I was involved in a few accidents were people did stupid things, like the women in Ohio who was driving 60 MPH on snow covered roads, when the rest of the traffic was moving at 25 mph. She slid into my front tire and the lug nuts opened up the side of her car like a can opener. The only thing injured was her pride, the Ohio State police issued her a failure to control ticket at the scene. I had a guy in Alabama tried to drive under my trailer while he was reading a news paper. He was holding the news paper against the steering wheel while he was driving. Again thank God no injuries, that could have been very bad. Just his right fender got dinged up on my landing gear. I'll also never forget the guy in a pickup trying to get on Interstate 40 in Tennessee by using the exit ramp, all I could do move over to the left lane and hope he stayed on the shoulder. He made a u-turn then passed me on the right. Another bad one was an older woman traveling East in the Indiana US 30 Westbound passing lane. I flashed my lights at her and tried point to the East bound lanes, I still remember seeing her smiling face as she waved at me when we passed. All I could do is get on the CB and tell everyone to look out of her. Not sure how that one turned out. Yes people did stupid things back before they had cell phones to distract them. I still have my CDL as a fall back, but hoping I'll be at my current job until I retire in 5 years. When I started driving trucks the CDL license did not exist, back then I think it was called a Class C license and it did not have your photo on the license. When the federal government mandated the CDL, I was grandfathered in only having to take a written exam. I've had my license now for 38 years, might as well hang onto it for another 5.
when i got my truck license it as a class 1 no CDL its been 45yrs and my truck could do 80 but most time i keep'ed it at 70
I'm sure I'm not the only one that remembers why the left lane was called the "Monfort Lane". If not paying attention, your mirror would be filled with orange and yellow rather quickly, with a big red KW emblem right in the middle !!!
2 things to remember if you hate trucks on the interstate... 1) The Interstate system was originally built for trucks to be able to get across the country faster to deliver perishable goods. 2) An old saying; "If you hate trucks, stop buying stuff, problem solved!"
I keep getting calls to pay student loans and also health insurance. My collage time was paid 40 years ago and I already have great health insurance. Joe
Sounds wise. Many years ago I spoke with a senior Class I railroad manager and he said that he and his colleagues that came into management from train train service kept their union memberships intact, so as they could roll back into their old roles with good seniority if they were ever axed as managers.
I have to ask guys like you, if you expect auto drivers to drive safely and courteously, why can't you do the same. And the interstate wasn't built for truck freight, it was built to handle military supplies in case of a Russian attack.
You sound like you know. I'm curious. How does he drive? A big chunk of the truck traffic out there right now is hauling military supplies on contract.
I'm sure some of the traffic is, but that doesn't change the fact that the Interstate Highway system, envisioned and promoted and enacted by president Eisenhower dut to his experience in the European Theatre in WW II. He built it with military transport in mind. Contract hauling never entered his mind. What it was never designed for is two lane highways clogged with truck traffic driving side by side at 60mph. My point is that not all truckers are courteous and considerate as the ones here state. You want a little slice of Hell? Drive I70 from Denver to St. Louis.
I understand that and agree with you. I tried to hold my tongue on this, but the flood of posts from holier than thou ruckers about how bad others are just got to be too much. I just got sick of truckers saying a guy in a car did this , and a woman in a car did that but refused to recognise that some truckers are just plain inconsiderate and incompetent drivers. NOt all of them, but watch where you point your fingers, truckers.
Probably the worst drivers in my area are pulling a dump trailer or container. I DO NOT consider them "truckers" !!! They try to do things that neither Mario Andretti or Richard Petty would ever dream of. Look at the bottom 4' of their vehicles. All scarred up, and it's NOT always the car's (my case, '99 Suburban) fault. Another problem is 53' trailers. Don't care how good you are, very few streets were made for that. 48' was pushing it.
Again after 22 years driving trucks and over 2 million miles driven professionally, none of the accidents I was involved in were caused by another truck. Plus none of those accidents were classified as my fault. Contrary to what some people believe, truck drivers do not get pay raises for being in accidents or accumulating speeding tickets. You get fired for being in preventable accidents or getting too many speeding tickets. Like I said before, those people out there driving trucks are at work, they have someplace they need to be, they are not out there on a joy ride. How would you like it if someone came to your place of employment, constantly got in your way and you ended up getting fired because you were not able to preform the task you were working on when the company expected the task to be completed? Also I never said all people driving cars were bad drivers. There are a lot of car drivers out there that will give you the lights to help you pass and the people in the car will give you a friendly wave when they are passing you. Just like I never said all truck drivers are the best thing since sliced bread. Like MK mentioned, there are good and bad in all. One thing I did notice just before I got out of trucking, for some reason too many current truck drivers never wave at other drivers. It use to be when another truck was passing you, you'd give a friendly wave and they'd return the wave as a way of saying I'm alert and I'm OK. The one thing I did say and it's true for my 22 years of professional driving, every accident I was involved in was caused by someone driving a car.
This is still true to this day. I started out on the railroad as a Fireman & Oiler, when an opening was available I upgraded to a locomotive electrician position. For 5 years I maintained my F&O union dues along with paying my IBEW dues, just in case I was furloughed from my locomotive electrician position. Many of the older foreman were the same, upgrading to foreman positions from a craft job and they maintained their union dues in case they needed to go back to the craft. Today many of the foreman and above have been hired off the street and were never a member of a craft. Sadly because of this, those foreman know very little about locomotives. The new management style is to hire people managers and while there is some merit to this, it's also helpful if you know something about a locomotive so you can assign the correct people to the job.
