Problems with the 604000-605000 series converter gears used at FDX Ground?

[White Line]

This is a issue that continues on the triple lanes and has not been addressed, two weeks ago a line driver from our domicile was pulled over on suspicion that he was drunk, a motorist called NHP to inform them that one of our triples drivers sets were whipping wildly all over the road and suspected that the driver was drunk, as it turned out he wasn't, but he did have two of these series converter gears in his set, all the trailers were hooked in the right order according to weight, with the heaviest on the front and the lightest on the rear, I also have had the same issue with these con gears and although the issue has been brought up, and supposedly safety is aware of the problem, we continue to have to use these gears for triples trailers configurations, while it is possible to find older series gears in the bull pin at our yard, that isn't always the case, as the reputation of these newer gears is well known by most the drivers now and most will use the older gears leaving the newer gears there for later shift drivers, I will however note the new gears perform flawless when in a doubles configuration, but when you spend at least 90% of the year in triples configuration on these runs (when weather is a factor we down grade to doubles) it makes the use of these series con gears almost impossible.

 

[Route 66]

I couldn't even imagine running triples..that's just insane. At Express - at least in my region - we've pretty much even eliminated all doubles (thank God). Our converters are all long gone and I never want to see another one ever again... I'll stick to my single 53' thanks very much!

 

[White Line]

I couldn't even imagine running triples..that's just insane. At Express - at least in my region - we've pretty much even eliminated all doubles (thank God). Our converters are all long gone and I never want to see another one ever again... I'll stick to my single 53' thanks very much!

Yeah no doubt, for awhile these On Trac (formerly California Overnight) guys were running a single 53' on the corridor I run on and I was envious, talk about easy money, they were doing a meet at the same place we do our meet at, knocking down 530 miles a night round trip and home everyday, however they must have got more business because now they run a rocky mountain configuration, but yeah it's triples for us, the good part about it is that we are home everyday, that's what makes it worth while dealing with the triples and we run solo, there is no way in hell that I would be remotely even interested in running team, which anymore seems like that is what makes up at least 40% of Grounds linehaul operations.

 

[Route 66]

God bless ya...to me those things look like a train in search of it's rails

 

[White Line]

God bless ya...to me those things look like a train in search of it's rails

Yeah trains that may eventually go away, when I started with these guys 10 years ago there were a total of 9 triples runs that ran out of our terminal, 10 years later we have a facility that's double the size and double the volume, yet we have only added 1 more solo triples run and 1 team triples run, and they are currently experimenting with a additional solo triples run that was created just this last peak but so far they have been able to keep it going even after peak which is good and all, but between the volume coming out of our building, and the addition of the new Smartpost facility in our area (Ground handles Smartpost linehaul as well) we could probably have upwards of 18 to maybe 20 of these runs out of our building, but no the powers that be believe that running teams and speeding up the network are the way to go, yes lets speed up the network and have unsafe teams dumping over sets between Reno and Salt Lake brilliant idea, if you haven't noticed already I have a bias towards team operations, because for what ever reason they can't seem to go from Salt Lake to Chicago without rolling the set over in the process, but by god we are speeding up the linehaul network.

 

[STFXG]

I just want to congratulate you on your command of the English language. Many on this site believe that ground linehaul is made up of only Russians and Mexicans who cannot speak English. You must have worked hard to learn the language


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[MrFedEx]

I couldn't even imagine running triples..that's just insane. At Express - at least in my region - we've pretty much even eliminated all doubles (thank God). Our converters are all long gone and I never want to see another one ever again... I'll stick to my single 53' thanks very much!

When I used to be an RTD at Express, I ran doubles frequently, and there was a question as to the safety of the Silver Eagle converter dollies. Express said it was "nothing", and we continued to use them. Knowing what I know now about Express, there was probably a very real safety issue that got ignored.

FedEx Ground equipment is contractor-owned, so the issue would be with the contractor who bought it, not FedEx. One would think FedEx would care because Ground semis crash regularly and any additional accidents wouldn't be a good thing. Oh well, what's a few more dead truckers, as long as we still make money?

 

[White Line]

When I used to be an RTD at Express, I ran doubles frequently, and there was a question as to the safety of the Silver Eagle converter dollies. Express said it was "nothing", and we continued to use them. Knowing what I know now about Express, there was probably a very real safety issue that got ignored.

FedEx Ground equipment is contractor-owned, so the issue would be with the contractor who bought it, not FedEx. One would think FedEx would care because Ground semis crash regularly and any additional accidents wouldn't be a good thing. Oh well, what's a few more dead truckers, as long as we still make money?

We have some Silver Eagles, they do the job but are not my particular favorite, as far as the equipment, yes the tractors, straight trucks and the P&D vans are indeed owned by the contractors, however all the converter gears and trailers are owned by FedEx, it's been that way since the RPS days, therefore converter gear issues and trailer issues fall on FedEx.

 

[White Line]

I just want to congratulate you on your command of the English language. Many on this site believe that ground linehaul is made up of only Russians and Mexicans who cannot speak English. You must have worked hard to learn the language


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Well I don't know about working hard to learn the language, I am just another dude born in the states that went through the public school system.

 

[White Line]

When I used to be an RTD at Express, I ran doubles frequently, and there was a question as to the safety of the Silver Eagle converter dollies. Express said it was "nothing", and we continued to use them. Knowing what I know now about Express, there was probably a very real safety issue that got ignored.

FedEx Ground equipment is contractor-owned, so the issue would be with the contractor who bought it, not FedEx. One would think FedEx would care because Ground semis crash regularly and any additional accidents wouldn't be a good thing. Oh well, what's a few more dead truckers, as long as we still make money?

As to the Silver Eagle safety issue, if I remember correctly there was always a concern about the leaf springs that the fifth wheel mounts to, either the springs breaking or the mounts for the springs breaking, and we know what that can lead to, a trailer skidding itself across the freeway, although I have not heard of it happening, it doesn't mean it hasn't.

 

[MrFedEx]

We have some Silver Eagles, they do the job but are not my particular favorite, as far as the equipment, yes the tractors, straight trucks and the P&D vans are indeed owned by the contractors, however all the converter gears and trailers are owned by FedEx, it's been that way since the RPS days, therefore converter gear issues and trailer issues fall on FedEx.

I have been illuminated because I did not know that FedEx owned the converter gears. That is also an important issue in that FedEx owns part of a vehicle fleet that is supposed to be "independent". I would be very wary of anything FedEx says regarding this equipment because your safety will always be secondary or even tertiary to their desire to make money. If the gear are defective, drivers need to start talking with their state commercial vehicle enforcement officials.

 

[White Line]

I have been illuminated because I did not know that FedEx owned the converter gears. That is also an important issue in that FedEx owns part of a vehicle fleet that is supposed to be "independent". I would be very wary of anything FedEx says regarding this equipment because your safety will always be secondary or even tertiary to their desire to make money. If the gear are defective, drivers need to start talking with their state commercial vehicle enforcement officials.

"Independent" ha ha ha you are a funny guy MrFedEx, I completely agree with you, look you are trucker and I am a trucker, and we both know that the only true independents are the guys that have their own truck and trailer, run their own authority (DOT#),broker their own loads, handle their own plates and IFTAs,do their own fuel taxes, and purchase any necessary permits among other things, now I don't know how the P&D contractors look at it, but from a linehaul point of view the contractor model is no more than a glorified lease on, I mean really that's all it is, it's our truck yes, but we run their chosen color 'white', their FedEx logos, we get our plates and IFTA through them (they also handle the fuel tax not us), and it's their freight so they are the broker, it's really no different than if you took your own truck to C.R. England, Swift, Werner, Greatwide or who ever else does lease ons, yeah the truck is yours, but if you run under their authority and fly their flag that's being a lease on not a independent, as far as the state knowing about the problem, I will have to follow up on that one, I can't say wether the driver explained the con gear issues to the NHP officer or not.