how long do you think sticks will be around?

[Rainman]

A few years ago, when UPS's knee-jerk reaction was to take all fans out, the driver that had my truck at the time greased the palm of a mechanic and said mechanic simply forgot to pull the fan.

It makes a huge difference on a hot day, IMO.

We don't have fans in Trucks in my building, but if you go to an auto parts store, you can pick up a power plug that clips that will attach directly to your battery. Costs $3-4. Run the wire under the steps up to the engine cover area. Buy a fan that operates by the power plug/ cig lighter. Cost approximately $10. You can take it down and put it away every day to avoid calling attention to it. Takes just a minute to put up/ take down, doesn't compromise the integrity of the electrical system, and doesn't give management an excuse to tell you that you can't use it.


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[hondo]

We were told a couple of years ago that automotive was no longer buying parts for them and that as the current parts supply ran out, the cars would be crushed rather than be repaired.


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I know there is at least 1 old 800 that had a Spicer 5 speed swapped in to replace the 4 speed. Didn't add PS, though.

 

[TooTechie]

I don't mind shifting but no power steering sucks.

 

[ikoi62]

The last truck i drove had a manual trans and power steering..it was built in the mid to late 90's

 

[cosmo1]

May I just add?

Wahhhhh.

 

[BrownTexas]

We don't have fans in Trucks in my building, but if you go to an auto parts store, you can pick up a power plug that clips that will attach directly to your battery. Costs $3-4. Run the wire under the steps up to the engine cover area. Buy a fan that operates by the power plug/ cig lighter. Cost approximately $10. You can take it down and put it away every day to avoid calling attention to it. Takes just a minute to put up/ take down, doesn't compromise the integrity of the electrical system, and doesn't give management an excuse to tell you that you can't use it.


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We have guys that do this and put radios and speakers into their trucks.

 

[soberups]

After a decade of driving P-600's I will never forget the day in 1997 that I got a new International P-700 with power steering, a PowerStroke diesel, and a 5-speed manual transmission. Good old #654572, getting that truck was like dying and going to heaven compared to the junk I had been working in. I have a newer automatic now, but I still miss that car and would drive it again in a heartbeat if i could. The day I start bitching about driving a stick is the day I turn in my man card, retire, and start a new career knitting doilies or making potpourri.

 

[cosmo1]

After a decade of driving P-600's I will never forget the day in 1997 that I got a new International P-700 with power steering, a PowerStroke diesel, and a 5-speed manual transmission. Good old #654572, getting that truck was like dying and going to heaven compared to the junk I had been working in. I have a newer automatic now, but I still miss that car and would drive it again in a heartbeat if i could. The day I start bitching about driving a stick is the day I turn in my man card, retire, and start a new career knitting doilies or making potpourri.

Same story for me, but I had 654202!

 

[govols019]

The stick shift gives me something to hang on to while going around curves.

 

[Jackburton]

We have guys that do this and put radios and speakers into their trucks.

We had guys who did this and caused a short in the working from it running on the stairs lip where it opens. I would highly discourage anyone from hooking up anything to the vehicles battery.

 

[oldngray]

We had guys who did this and caused a short in the working from it running on the stairs lip where it opens. I would highly discourage anyone from hooking up anything to the vehicles battery.

Yeah, we had guys get in big trouble for fixing wiring harness to run their radios on.

 

[joeboodog]

Bought a boom box radio at Walmart that had great sound but ate batteries at an alarming rate. Then I found a radio at Big Lots that takes 2 D cells and lasts a month. It would never occur to me to tap into the trucks battery to run personal property. It would be nice however if they would provide a power outlet to plug in our phones especially since they expect us to use them for company business.

 

[Wally]

A fan in your cab???? How the heck did you get one of those?

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Wow, I wish I could get a fan?

Somewhere in the NJ district, we had a truck burn up from a hot wired radio. We had a PCM not to do this but every morning guys are still hooking up to the battery.

 

[PT Car Washer]

All of our trucks have fans.

 

[BakerMayfield2018]

Simple. Don't kill it.

They'll be around a good 20 more years knowing ups.

At least Id say. Safety 1st.

 

[degill7994]

I didn't mind driving a stick until they put the pushbutton start on them. Now if you stall it you have to fumble around with the key fob to get it started. Can put you in a dangerous situation depending on where you stall it.

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[Notretiredyet]

I prefer a stick, wish the truck I'm assigned now had one. My heavy industrial route eats up my automatic trans every 12/18 months, it can't handle the weight. Then I end up in a POS crippler (manual trans/no power steering/hi step) for a month when they send it out to get fixed.

 

[Anonymous 11]

5 more years, 10 more years? I hate driving them. I can drive them but i em always more stressed driving them compared to a personal vehicle. Since i dont want to go into an awkward area and have to pull on austin powers on a hill etc.

Sticks are fun to drive in my free time and i can drive ups sticks but i will be happy when they are gone. Like i killed it recently trying to pull on a very busy country road and it was scary having cars heading towards me fast while i had to restart the engine. Like i didnt kill it once the entire day and i was just heading home and it happened in an awkward location. Nothing bad happened but still.. UPS saves money holding onto them but they prob cause a percentage increase in accidents via rolling backwards and killing it. Its just a fact so ill be happy when they are gone.

I heard it will be an all automatic fleet by 2015/2016.

 

[Rainman]

We have guys that do this and put radios and speakers into their trucks.

I have a radio too, no extra speakers. I keep it loud enough to hear when I'm stopped, but too low to hear while I'm driving so it's not a distraction. I keep it mounted under the jump seat with a bungee cord and run the power plug that way unless it's raining. In rain I mount it on the other side to keep the radio drier.


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[Mack Grant]

I was awarded a brand new P800 in Feb, 2014. My old P700 was built in 1988 & has over 400,000 miles on it. The new car has a beep for everything, & I mean everything. People who drive one know what I'm talking about. That car is an automatic. After 3 days in that car, I said you can have this annoying pos, I want my old stick back. I got it & I couldn't be happier.

I agree with you about the beeps on the new cars. The emergency flashers are especially annoying.