Youngstown Breakdown

[other dog]

I had a little breakdown yesterday, but it had a pretty big price tag on it. I had just loaded 5 coils in Sharon, about 45,000 lbs, and was on 376 just a little ways south of I-80, heading for Lynchburg. Then the alternator light came on and the volt meter dropped. I was pretty sure what it was, another broken belt. So, I pulled over on a ramp, opened the hood, sure enough, the belt was off. I made a flip on the ramp and headed back north to 80 and went over to Youngstown Kenworth at Hubbard.

I went in and told the service manager I needed a belt, and asked if they could stick it on for me. I could do it myself, I put a couple on the Cat in the Peterbilt, and one on this Paccar on the side of the road- two of those times were at night by flashlight. But they could do it in less time than it would take me to think about how to get started, so I let them do it. They said they could get it pretty quick, so I went back outside to wait around. I looked at the belt again and it wasn't broken, it was separated between the little ribs. So I said "hmmmmmmm-why would that belt separate like that?" So I checked all the idlers and they turned freely, alternator spun free and easy, AC compressor- locked up tight. So the belt had been just spinning on the AC pulley until it finally gave out.

I went back inside and told the service manager what i'd found. They checked to see if they had a compressor, which they did. They put a new one on, recharged the AC, installed 2 new belts, topped of the radiator- which was barely low, might have held half a gallon- used some new O rings, some clamp ties, and a few more small miscellaneous items.

The bill came to a little over $1100.

I called headquarters and got a Comcheck number and went back inside to pay. Then I got in the truck, backed it out the door, and was just fixing to pull around to hook back up to the trailer when I noticed that the amp gauge was almost over to 100- normally it's just a little past zero. Turned on the lights, heater fan on high, sleeper fan on, and the needle never dropped a bit. So I cut it off and opened the hood again and the alternator was so hot you could only touch it for a few seconds. So I told the guy that had worked on it I had a problem, and told him what it was doing.

He said "well all we did was take it off and put it back on- i'll check it."

He got a little hand held tester and put it on the alternator. It didn't even have a meter to show the volts or amperage, it just had a red light that lit up if it was over charging. The light never came on.

He said "ain't nothing wrong with it, it's probably just because it's working to catch the batteries back up because you drove it here with the belt off".

I called Jimmy, our head mechanic, and asked him what he thought. He said if I didn't feel comfortable with it to get them to put an alternator on it, it would be better than having somebody have to put one on it down on rt.39 or 20 in West Virginia.

So I told them to put an alternator on it too, because "this one's gonna burn up before I ever make it to Lynchburg".

So they checked the batteries first and found one completely dead and shorted out- the one that the alternator went directly to. They repaced the battery, then rechecked the alternator. The alternator was bad, way over charging still, so they put an alternator on it.

They said the bad battery might have ruined the alternator, and I said "or the bad alternator could have fried the battery". "Very possible" they said.

Anyway, it was $780 more dollars.

I couldn't get anybody at headquarters on the phone by then, it was about 10:30pm by then and i'd been there about 9 hours. All i'd had to eat all day was 2 bags of bacon cheddar potater skins, a bag of bugles, and a pack of donuts out of the vending machine.

So I told the service manager that I could go over to Truck World and get something to eat and go to bed and call for another Comcheck number in the morning. I'll leave the trailer here I said. They didn't like that plan, so I paid with my Visa card and left. Only got down to the West Virginia line on 79 and went to bed on the on-ramp at exit 1.

Left there at 9 this morning. I dropped my trailer in Lynchburg and bobtailed to the shop. Randy- that's dispatcher Randy, not Randyp, Randym, or Randy y- said "you can back that trailer in the shop, take your tarp off, get a van, go to Dillwyn, load a Chester, W.V, then go load at McKees Rocks coming back to Lynchburg, that'll put you back in here Friday".

So I said "OK, i'll do it tomorrow", then got in the pickup and came home...after stopping by the bank to deposit the check they wrote me for $780.

[farmer52]

Tom,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. At least you were not stranded along side the road in some desolate location in the middle of a blizzard. As the saying goes "that's trucking". Good that you have a company to cover your repair costs in a timely manner.

Good luck down the road and stay safe!

[carlotpilot]

tom look again make sure the name on your truck door does`nt say gemstone

[PeterMack]

At least your smart enough to watch your gauges and have a little know how on how a truck works. Plenty of drivers out there would have shrugged

their shoulders, drove on and broke down 20 min down the road. Although it probably wasn't a fun day, its still better to be broke down at the dealer

than on the side of the road, plus it didn't have to come in on the hook. Saves you time and the company money.

[keg1]

Your week isn't much better than mine. Had the R back to New Castle for a leaking rear main seal. Just had the motor rebuilt in Jan. First of March rear seal was leaking but they wanted to charge me to drop the tranny since I pulled the motor the first time. So I pulled the tranny and he sent a guy up to put in a seal. Last week it's leaking again he wants me to pull motor I said have at it. He promised it to me by last weekend but just got it back tonight. $1700 more. They have the shifter in backwards, hits the dash when you go forward, clutch brake doesn't work. I just brought it home and fixed it myself. I'm done with garages.

[57 bcr]

I thought you were talkin' about a fiddle tune Al (Glad you were not stranded,Tom)

[Brian Blaylock]

Stranded in Winfall sounds like a good country song to me

[j hancock]

Well, that all sucks! Hopefully it is all tuned up now and you can pack some more groceries into the sleeper.

[Freightrain]

Been an hour west and I coulda hooked you up with some dinner!

I always say.....breaking down is always better when you are near someplace. Out in BFE really sucks.

[Vladislav]

Far from to be called a nice day but I think your chiefs must be proud having you as a driver.

Shure repairs weren't turn out for free although you have it all arranged in one day and the truck (and the driver) was almost ready to go on the next day. As a different story the rig could be stopped on a shoulder waiting for a wrecker and an extra truck to pull off the trailer.

[other dog]

Well, that all sucks! Hopefully it is all tuned up now and you can pack some more groceries into the sleeper.

I have several cans of beanie weanies, ritz crackers, a gallon of water, a can of spam that's about 3 years old, some sardines, etc. for emergency situations but I was thinking i'll be out of here soon, so I never got into my emergency stash. One day when it was snowing this winter I told the girl over at Newcomerstown Truckstop that I had beanie weenies in case I got snowbound.

She said "ewh, yuck!"

I told her "well, it's better than a snowball!"

[j hancock]

Sounds like a good selection of Boy Scout supplies. If you want to get fancy, pack a small Coleman stove. Doesn't take up a lot of room. Then you can heat up the Spam dressed with pineapple and brown sugar.

[fxfymn]

Nice save. I'm guessing the boss didn't offer any extra for all the time you spent babysitting his truck.

[Green Dash]

"or the bad alternator could have fried the battery".

They seem to have conveniently forgotten that it works both ways.

There must be something in the water up there. I had a Youngstown Breakdown Friday night. My first trip was a relay at the former Penn-Ohio truckstop in North Lima. I did the drop-n-hook and jumped back in the truck, thinkin' I was gonna shit-n-git, and there was a message on the dash saying the engine was in derate and needed to regen immediately. No warning or countdown to the derate. I tried to regen and it wouldn't let me. Pitt got off cheap in comparison to your boss because they only had to pay for a tow to the terminal in Hermitage. Turned out to be a faulty power cable, an easy and relatively inexpensive fix.

[mowerman]

some of these truck repair bills sure add up fast.lol....glad im not paying,,,just hand in the reciept,,,and they dont seem to bat an eyelash lol.bob

[1958 F.W.D.]

So lemme get this straight.....You said you would drop the trailer in their yard, go across the street and get something to eat and rack out until the morning and then get the comchek number.....And they said no.....

Well......All I have to say about THAT is ........WHAT THE FOOK?

Aholes.

[41chevy]

So lemme get this straight.....You said you would drop the trailer in their yard, go across the street and get something to eat and rack out until the morning and then get the comchek number.....And they said no.....

Well......All I have to say about THAT is ........WHAT THE FOOK?

Aholes.

Probably the insurance carriers rule.

[Brocky]

FWD

With ALL Big truck shops you do not get off the premisis until the bill is Paid!!!

[mack mhe9]

Glad they got you in the door.

I love it when you ask to look at something and they say next month.

[Outbehindthebarn]

I had a little breakdown yesterday, but it had a pretty big price tag on it. I had just loaded 5 coils in Sharon, about 45,000 lbs, and was on 376 just a little ways south of I-80, heading for Lynchburg. Then the alternator light came on and the volt meter dropped. I was pretty sure what it was, another broken belt. So, I pulled over on a ramp, opened the hood, sure enough, the belt was off. I made a flip on the ramp and headed back north to 80 and went over to Youngstown Kenworth at Hubbard.

I went in and told the service manager I needed a belt, and asked if they could stick it on for me. I could do it myself, I put a couple on the Cat in the Peterbilt, and one on this Paccar on the side of the road- two of those times were at night by flashlight. But they could do it in less time than it would take me to think about how to get started, so I let them do it. They said they could get it pretty quick, so I went back outside to wait around. I looked at the belt again and it wasn't broken, it was separated between the little ribs. So I said "hmmmmmmm-why would that belt separate like that?" So I checked all the idlers and they turned freely, alternator spun free and easy, AC compressor- locked up tight. So the belt had been just spinning on the AC pulley until it finally gave out.

I went back inside and told the service manager what i'd found. They checked to see if they had a compressor, which they did. They put a new one on, recharged the AC, installed 2 new belts, topped of the radiator- which was barely low, might have held half a gallon- used some new O rings, some clamp ties, and a few more small miscellaneous items.

The bill came to a little over $1100.

I called headquarters and got a Comcheck number and went back inside to pay. Then I got in the truck, backed it out the door, and was just fixing to pull around to hook back up to the trailer when I noticed that the amp gauge was almost over to 100- normally it's just a little past zero. Turned on the lights, heater fan on high, sleeper fan on, and the needle never dropped a bit. So I cut it off and opened the hood again and the alternator was so hot you could only touch it for a few seconds. So I told the guy that had worked on it I had a problem, and told him what it was doing.

He said "well all we did was take it off and put it back on- i'll check it."

He got a little hand held tester and put it on the alternator. It didn't even have a meter to show the volts or amperage, it just had a red light that lit up if it was over charging. The light never came on.

He said "ain't nothing wrong with it, it's probably just because it's working to catch the batteries back up because you drove it here with the belt off".

I called Jimmy, our head mechanic, and asked him what he thought. He said if I didn't feel comfortable with it to get them to put an alternator on it, it would be better than having somebody have to put one on it down on rt.39 or 20 in West Virginia.

So I told them to put an alternator on it too, because "this one's gonna burn up before I ever make it to Lynchburg".

So they checked the batteries first and found one completely dead and shorted out- the one that the alternator went directly to. They repaced the battery, then rechecked the alternator. The alternator was bad, way over charging still, so they put an alternator on it.

They said the bad battery might have ruined the alternator, and I said "or the bad alternator could have fried the battery". "Very possible" they said.

Anyway, it was $780 more dollars.

I couldn't get anybody at headquarters on the phone by then, it was about 10:30pm by then and i'd been there about 9 hours. All i'd had to eat all day was 2 bags of bacon cheddar potater skins, a bag of bugles, and a pack of donuts out of the vending machine.

So I told the service manager that I could go over to Truck World and get something to eat and go to bed and call for another Comcheck number in the morning. I'll leave the trailer here I said. They didn't like that plan, so I paid with my Visa card and left. Only got down to the West Virginia line on 79 and went to bed on the on-ramp at exit 1.

Left there at 9 this morning. I dropped my trailer in Lynchburg and bobtailed to the shop. Randy- that's dispatcher Randy, not Randyp, Randym, or Randy y- said "you can back that trailer in the shop, take your tarp off, get a van, go to Dillwyn, load a Chester, W.V, then go load at McKees Rocks coming back to Lynchburg, that'll put you back in here Friday".

So I said "OK, i'll do it tomorrow", then got in the pickup and came home...after stopping by the bank to deposit the check they wrote me for $780.

This reminds me why I milk cows instead of truckin'.

[Green Dash]

This reminds me why I milk cows instead of truckin'.

I broke down once and a farmer offered to fix my truck while I milked his cows. Some of us truckers get the best of both worlds.

[other dog]

Stranded in Winfall sounds like a good country song to me

I thought of a song title, all I have to do is breakdown there 18 more times...