Rick Ross

I'm into distribution!!
He's working 5 days, it's not a 3 day weekend unless you guys have some kind of 8 day week there. That being said Sun-Thur is a nice schedule if having both Friday night and Saturday night off is important to you.

We have some Sunday-Thursday runs that are 4x10. Some have Monday or Tuesday off and the others are 4x10 swing runs with 5 drivers.

I'm surprised the 4x10 swing runs haven't made it to package by now.
 

Yeet

Not gonna let ‘em catch the Midnight Rider
It is pretty normal to sit at the exit for our building waiting for a break in traffic and the tractor shuts itself off because it idled too long.
Just rev the engine when it starts beeping at you, it’ll stop it from shutting down.
 

barnyard

KTM rider
Just rev the engine when it starts beeping at you, it’ll stop it from shutting down.

The Sterling and Internationals at our building did not beep when they shut down, they just shut down. I have not done a Friday night during summer tourist season in our 'new' tractors yet.
 

olroadbeech

Happy Verified UPSer
The Sterling and Internationals at our building did not beep when they shut down, they just shut down. I have not done a Friday night during summer tourist season in our 'new' tractors yet.
we used to rev up and set cruise so it would not shut down over a certain rpm but they changed the computer so that wouldn't work anymore. the whole idea was the save money on fuel , right??? and don't worry about the driver freezing to death or get fatigued from excess heat.

so then drivers would not pull the buttons when taking a nap and pull down the hand valve to keep engine going. that was kinda dangerous if your knee caught it and released it. they may have thwarted that also by now. I stopped sleeping over the steering wheel while the engine was running because would wake up and think the truck was moving and I'd be slamming on the brakes to stop , haha

then in winter i would bring an electric blanket that plugged into cigarette lighter to stay warm. that was hard also because it was TOO QUIET. I needed engine noise to fall asleep. eventually got used to it and was able to sleep.
 

104Feeder

Phoenix Feeder
I have heard of a driver who had a trailer where someone had "backed out" the brakes because they were seized so they could still pull the load . Now let's not talk about how stupid this is but rather how could he tell it was backed out ? I assume during the pretrip you would see a space between the drum and the pad? I never got under a trailer and adjusted the brakes . Never thought as a driver I should be making adjustments like that . Have you guys ever found the need to?

As someone else stated it's called "caging" the brakes. The way to know is by doing the brake adjustment test. So you do your full UPS pre-trip where you have supplied air to the trailer and have the hand valve applied. You should be looking at the break shoes and drums closely, which requires you to get under the trailer. A caged brake will show a gap between the shoe and drum. There should be no gap with the brakes applied. A caged or out of adjustment brake also may show a light rust on the normally shiny brake drum because of lack of friction.
Now, after completing the rest of the UPS pre-trip, release the handbrake and walk back to the trailer axles and inspect the brake shoes again. Now you should see a slight gap between the shoe and drum, no more than the width of a dime. Any more and they are out of adjustment or caged.
 

Indecisi0n

Well-Known Member
Does the company supply us with a creeper so we can get under the trailers?

In all my years I've never known anyone who was issued a creeper.
I normally do not go under the trailer. The only thing I will crawl under to make sure of is to check the pin. I have a good flashlight so I can clearly see the pads and drums from standing beside the trailer.
 

104Feeder

Phoenix Feeder
I normally do not go under the trailer. The only thing I will crawl under to make sure of is to check the pin. I have a good flashlight so I can clearly see the pads and drums from standing beside the trailer.
You can see the bottom pad but not the top, and it's tough to see the drum surface. If you're satisfied with your pre-trip nothing I can say will dissuade you.
 
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