Breakdown Again!

Since the beginning of this year, I have been broke down for over two months. Last year we got 5 “almost new” Volvos, which were assigned on a ????? (were still trying to figure this out) basis and not on a seniority basis as one would conclude. At the time, I could care less, but right now I am paying the price.

My truck is in the shop for the umpteenth time this year, and now the spare is in the shop as I sit here in some hotel in Tennessee. When I brought my truck to the shop last week, our mechanic told us that it was good that I did, because the S cam was camming over, which could cause the brakes to lock up.

On the way back from the shop, I brought back the spare. Thinking everything was alright, I chose a long trip seeming that work is slow and I had to make up for all the breakdowns that Gary has yet to pay me for.

Ok, so today I pull over on a get off ramp and notice smoke coming from the brakes. Backing up, the brakes have been acting funny since I brought it back from the shop. Anyways, I call John …. he tells me that he had noticed the same thing when he brought the truck to Tommys.

Being the highly paid maintenance man with mechanic know how, I am wondering why he didn’t get this all fixed back then?

Anyways, I get to a shop … Let me add that finding a shop with trailer parking, clean work areas, a hotel and a decent place to eat is very hard to find in that combination. Well I found one. Once there I had the mechanics take a look to see if it was something simple that they could fix and have me gone the same day.

What they had found was a gap between the drum and brake liners large enough for someone to put there fingers between. Not Good! And the other brake liners were basically hung up on the drum. Also not good.

I tell the mechanic to call John and authorize the work. After hearing that there were two guys ahead of me and the mechanics couln’t get to work on it right away. John actually had the nerve to recommend that they temporarily back off the brakes, so I can drive it to another shop!

For those who don’t know what that means. He was recommending that they disengage the brakes on one axle, while loaded, so I could drive it to another place. Not only is this dangerous, it is illegal.

Moving on …. Anytime we bring our truck to a shop, we have to detach from the trailer. Again … luckily I am in a place that has the room enough to do this. Most places don’t allow you to drop your trailer in their yard for liability reasons and/or inadequet space.

After an hour or so, I drop it and later on while on the phone talking, I notice the whole trailer moving to the side. What had happened is that the 4 x 6’s that I used, to hold the trailer up, were now going through the pavement.

It’s now going on 900 and I am stuck with the hassle of getting a wrecker to pick the thing back up, because the trailer is too far down for me to back underneath it. So, here goes another $150 bill and more time wasted!

10:30 and I’m finally in a hotel. One would think this would be all over with tommorow. Instead, when I return back to Jacksonville, I’m gonna have to add this to my previous breakdowns requests and beg for reimbursement once again. Gawd, I love my job!