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Post by kevlar on Oct 10, 2022 7:16:46 GMT -6
In the long run I believe having safeties done saves money, keeps things in good shape and worth fixing. I’ve seen many trucks get run down with so many little things that all of a sudden they aren’t worth fixing.
It getting more expensive now with the mandatory wheels off inspection every other year, regardless of miles put on.
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Post by northernfarmer on Oct 10, 2022 9:00:49 GMT -6
I certainly don't want to see unsafe trucks on the road either as I just wanted to point that aspect out, its just that we put so few km on our trucks and trailers that some aspects of a safety would be a waste of time and money out of our pocket for units that are not getting worn out like a commercial vehicle that is constantly pounding up and down the road wearing out brakes and brake systems, suspension and so forth. Now if lets say a farmer never did any service work or crawled under their trucks or trailers to realize their braking system is a shivering wreck with worn out shoes, brake pots not working, clevis pins totally seized up, slacks not adjusting up etc, wheel seals leaking oil all over the shoes, and clearance/brake lights not functioning, steer tires about to blow as the cords are showing, that would be a bad picture to have on a road !
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Post by kevlar on Oct 10, 2022 9:36:16 GMT -6
I seem to find our stuff deteriorates faster when it’s not being used much. Not sure why, if the rubber seals and such dry out and rust gets a better hold on parts that should move freely because it’s not getting used? I find when something sits for a length of time, that’s when things don’t work.
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Post by northernfarmer on Oct 10, 2022 10:14:28 GMT -6
A big part of the rust issue although not all of it, is those crappy winter roads due to the shit they spread on them. If a unit stays off of those completely and no calcium on gravel roads either its like a whole different unit without a doubt. For example I have an old tandem here that we bought years ago from a neighbours farm sale and they obviously did not realize that the brake pot clevis pin to slack adjuster arm can totally seize up and it was one or two of the drive axle pots that had that happen. Combination of winter roads and like you said then sitting not being used for months at a time when they owned it and it all locked up on the pin and once its that way it won't function properly at all nor ever break loose. So when we bought it I am going through things checking and discovered that mess and had to torch off the clevis and trying to save the pot and the slack arm in the process which I did and then changed out the clevis. Don't use our tandems much anymore km wise and mostly in the spring for seeding and have not seen a winter road in many years and every year I squirt oil onto all the clevis pins. That makes all the difference, the lube on the pins and no winter roads and they stay moving free. But you are right that time deteriorates as well as km and have to check various items rather then assume its always good because its rarely used.
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Post by meskie on Oct 10, 2022 12:49:17 GMT -6
The shop we take out stuff do for safety’s said the first thing they do is free up the clevis pins. They said it’s surprising how many trailers especially come in with stuck pins on the slack adjusters. I put spray grease on ours and hit them back and forth every time they are in the shop getting greased or serviced. Seems to work good and keeps them free
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Post by OptimallyDismal on Oct 10, 2022 21:29:25 GMT -6
In the long run I believe having safeties done saves money, keeps things in good shape and worth fixing. I’ve seen many trucks get run down with so many little things that all of a sudden they aren’t worth fixing. It getting more expensive now with the mandatory wheels off inspection every other year, regardless of miles put on. I think the way it was with being allowed 1 hour for a trailer and 2 hours for a truck safety was better, it kind of limited the costs, when they went to the take as long as you like, take apart a bunch of stuff to take a looky loo at it and charge your full shop rate for all this time the costs skyrocketed and in my case the quality of the inspection went way down. If I can't watch what you are doing to my truck, you don't get to work on my truck. I have seen some very bad things done during these inspections and I seriously question the qualifications of some of these people. I have been subjected to these for over 30 years and the last half of those years have been substantially poorer quality. My year of the $1/km cost of inspections was no repairs were needed except for what was damaged during the job, mostly labor, made me sad. I know there is junk on the road, and there are some benefits to some sort of safety program, but for the most part it costs a lot of money and time and I have not seen much benefit myself. Also most of these places really love their BIG air wrench, but they say they aren't over torqueing anything, I say BS, the only way to know is if you are using a torque wrench. And that goes for the passenger vehicle safeties as well, had a few discussions with "certified mechanics" about this seemingly basic concept. |
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Post by northernfarmer on Oct 10, 2022 22:10:05 GMT -6
I've never had a safety performed on a truck but can well imagine the cost and in some cases fabbing up a work creation list beyond what should have been straight forward. In respect to torquing wheel ends there are a few ways I can see shops doing it that result in either an under torque or over torque. Like you said OD, going heavy on the large air impact and then actually going through the motions with the torque wrench but nothing turns because its already been way over tightened but yet claim "we torqued them". Then the other way which is to have removed rather dry somewhat rusty hardware and rather then do as the hub piloted wheel manufacture specifies by lubing the two in one nuts where they swivel and on the stud, they throw them back on dry and I've seen charts that have shown a severe under clamping force because of dry hardware even though an actual torque wrench was used to bring them up to the final torque. Then also no follow up retorque which finds those wheels that have settled in together and effectively dropped the torque down rather significantly. So what had been fine before it was touched can now be a hazard just waiting to happen, that would be frustrating and could prove deadly or at least costly. I always go over any wheel ends that I had a tire shop work on after I have done a bit of distance with the truck or trailer.
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Post by Beerwiser on Oct 13, 2022 9:18:10 GMT -6
Got some prices on the air bag. 130 right from freightliner, 170 plus 20 shipping from Napa, 160 from bumper. All prices were for firestone. Last few years it seems like dealerships are cheaper if not comparable to jobber. Been finding that quite a bit particularly with ag consumables like twine.
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Post by northernfarmer on Oct 13, 2022 13:47:58 GMT -6
Got some prices on the air bag. 130 right from freightliner, 170 plus 20 shipping from Napa, 160 from bumper. All prices were for firestone. Last few years it seems like dealerships are cheaper if not comparable to jobber. Been finding that quite a bit particularly with ag consumables like twine. I am surprised the dealer was lower although my comparisons in the past have been between Peterbilt and Fort Gary and it varies with what it is but the spread can be vastly different on some parts. For how things are these days a 130.00 airbag is not bad at all.
I had asked a friend who used to haul logs during the winter and he said the private gravel roads for the lumber company would allow a weight that brought their bags up to 80 to 90 pounds. I have no idea what the truck manufactures say the maximum is but he too in the past would have bags up to 105 to 110 off the field but avoids doing that now with super b's. I know depending on how the bags are mounted to the frame and the frame thickness and if it does not have a sub frame in that area, its possible to bend the lower channel of the frame. 5/16th frame on a light spec truck isn't up to the challenge vs a 3/8 frame. That would go for the axle housings as well as they can actually flex apparently.
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Post by meskie on Oct 13, 2022 13:56:27 GMT -6
Freightliner is real competive with pricing I’ve found.
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Post by kevlar on Oct 13, 2022 14:15:54 GMT -6
I’ve always found all truck shops and places like FG to be in line with each other, have even had one place send me to another because the part I needed was either cheaper there or on sale. Maybe I’m just lucky because in Brandon they are all within eyeshot of each other, that likely helps.
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Post by Beerwiser on Oct 13, 2022 15:57:57 GMT -6
Yeah, I have to agree meskie. When I first got the truck I has a cracked leaf on the steer. Ended up buying from freightliner.
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Post by meskie on Oct 13, 2022 18:17:09 GMT -6
Couple truck shops around here order from dealer as it’s just easier. Give serial number and the right part comes. And they said most times it’s within a few dollars of aftermarket. But they spend more time on the phone getting the part when not from the dealer.
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Post by northernfarmer on Oct 13, 2022 18:56:01 GMT -6
Definitely it is easier to get straight from the dealer because the aftermarket doesn't seem to have any decent information to go off of to figure out what the component part is and I know the local Pete dealer is very used to getting calls to find out a part and isn't bought there due to their pricing. A couple of examples is buying one suspension shock at Peterbilt for 400.00 or buying one that is made by the same shock company for Pete and cost 100.00 from FGI or another example was a so called special bolt that was 100.00 a piece from Pete but shops made do with a normal bolt at a fraction of the price because of the insane cost. But a few years ago got a surprise as I had ordered a certain low restriction Donaldson muffler from FGI and it took them a month to get two in and after the fact found out at Pete that they had access from their own wearhouse for that same non OEM muffler for a bit less and probably overnight delivery which shocked the hell out of me as the OEM muffler was insanely priced and bet its also made by Donaldson.
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