Mike Laird, a field service engineer with International, tells the story of a driver who became inattentive and drove off the road, running into a pond by the time he woke up. He then had the truck towed to a dealer and said there was water in the engine because it had rained heavily the night before.
Laird also knows of a driver who tried going across a drawbridge as it was opening. He bent his truck’s frame.
Another driver was pulling a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer across a field on a lowboy and got stuck in the mud. Seeing another D-9 sitting nearby, he decided to pull the truck out of the mud with what was available, rather than calling a tow truck. The dozer exerted so much pulling power. That result was a front bumper and hood pulled off the frame.
And then there was the guy who, finding a leak in his power steering system, elected to improvise with a bit of engine cooling system stop-leak. The result was a $3,000 bill for a major power steering system rebuild.
These stories fortunately represent the extremes of driver operational and maintenance error. However, much more mundane truck abuse occurs every day. Victor Chavez, southwest regional maintenance manager for Rush Truck Leasing, believes there are lots of things drivers just don’t know about maintenance and operation. “Those who know about them can greatly improve the viability of a trucking business,” he says.
Here are 10 tips on chassisfriendly operation:
1. Stick with the sticker
Many fleets use a sticker on the windshield to remind the driver when maintenance is due. Many drivers want to keep that pretty truck the fleet has given them looking sharp, and will remove it. Leave the sticker in place and get the truck in when maintenance is due.
