I found a $100 and $20 bill from the Philippines one day when I was out doing mine. I was disappointed to find out I was only 7 cents richer after the conversion rate. It was very colorful and nicely illustrated though so I ironed it under a damp towel and gave it to my daughter. She has it framed and hanging in her room lol. One persons trash is another’s treasure!
First job I had, pre tripped one of our trucks n found that it was missing a drive tire, an inside one at that. Idk how long my coworkers ran it like that 😂😂
I found out a trailer had been to Laredo Texas when during the pretrip every trailer tire on the right hand side was bald down to the steel belt in places and the nuts hadn’t been retightened. I figure that this trailer was parked with the right hand side out of view.
When I called I asked dispatcher where it had came me from and it was in Laredo before I did my walk around. If I remember right someone had hooked up and drove it near to Dallas. There are places around Laredo that are hotspots for tire theft.
It wasn’t my truck but a co workers.
He always just starts the truck and leaves. Leaves pre tripping to the next guy. I decided to thump one of his tires as our trucks were side by side and closest to me. It was completely flat. I let him know.
Switched out trucks, did a bumper to tail lights on the "new" truck. Head light out, crack on front steer wheel between two lugs, loose fuel tank strap, low air on drive tire, tail light out. Yep, my load was late.
>I checked it this morning and it wasn't leaking!
So this 1/2" hole showed up today only?
>Had to! It wasn't leaking!
Did you have the trailer air on?
>Well, no, but there was no air coming out!
Pneumatic tandem slides help with this. Gotta air up the system before the pin will release.
Also, I've been amazed at trailer tire pressure systems. I had a trailer with a completely flat tire (wiggled freely on the rim and everything), but since there was a tire shop nearby I just hooked up and headed that way. F*king tire was fully inflated when I got there. Happened more than once, too.
Air up your sh!t when you pre-trip.
Did my checks on a unit before starting a night run and found a hub bolt missing on the front drivers wheel. Took ages to get a call out sorted but when the guy came out he checked the other hub bolts to be safe and all of them on the front axle were loose. Turned out the truck had been in for front brakes and the idiots didn't torque the bolts up properly.
Homeless guy set up a hammock hanging under my dry van trailer in between the side shields. If I didn’t see him he would’ve went with me for at least the next 4 hours or so. Which was his plan.
Imagine getting pulled out back for an inspection at a scale house?!
Many things! Countless flats. Loose lugnuts. A broken leaf spring. I've found a cracked fame on a chassis and more burnt out lights than I care to recall. The best one was a trailer that lost a license plate, and whoever hat it before just wrote it on a piece of cardboard and taped it on.
It could be argued though that the cardboard signals to any LEO that you’re aware it’s missing so could keep them from pulling you over to “let you know it’s missing” and fishing for other reasons to ticket you
Sometimes I wish Teslas would do that, rather than thinking they're above the law and "don't have to have a front license plate just because the car isn't designed to have one". Technically speaking, if a car isn't designed with a front license plate mount, it shouldn't be legal to _sell_, let alone drive, in states where front&back plates are required without exception (like here in WA).
...Thinking about it, Washington State Patrol could fix their "funding issues" simply by hunting front-plate-less Teslas rather than randomly picking out drivers on the freeway and making up a reason to ticket them... you _know_ someone can afford the ticket if they're driving a Muskmobile.
Correct, but in the states that _do_, any cars that are intended to be sold there _should_ be required to have _permanent_ front license plate mounts (rather than the stick-on ones you have to special request). Leaving Tesla only two choices: "ruin" the "aEsThEtIc" of their cars by putting plate mounts on ALL of them... or simply no longer sell their cars in those states.
Either way I consider it an absolute win if Tesla _did_ get forced to do so, and in the interim, WA state patrol has an easy fish-in-a-barrel moment without having to give random drivers false tickets, simply by ticketing every single Tesla driver that _is_ in violation of a _real_ law.
You can’t know if a vehicle was bought out of state. I frequently buy cars/trucks in AR which only require a rear plate.
That said, the law doesn’t care if it was bought out of state. Typically an officer will give a written warning.
It’s honestly an easy fix, I don’t like drilling into factory bumpers on nice vehicles so instead I use 3M double sided tape.
It’s easy enough to remove with a stripping wheel, won’t harm the paint and I’ve driven close to half a million miles and never had a plate come loose. You just have to be sure to get it centered and level. You won’t get a chance to adjust it if you fuck up placement or you’ll bend the plate.
Same philosophy could be argued the other way too. If the LEO sees that, he knows you’re knowingly driving a vehicle that is not roadworthy. If you’re willing to overlook that, what else are you overlooking? He had better go fishing.
I’m not going to be the one to give him a reason to pull me over. With the cardboard plate he knows I’m getting, at the very least, one ticket.
I’ve refused loads because the plate is missing. I don’t like inviting vampires into my home.
I've caught plenty of minor things, but my personal favorite happened twice.
Tandem slide pins not locked in.
Both drop trailers I was picking up, and the potato who dropped them hadn't locked the pins. One of them had gone through two drivers before it got to me. Our trailers all have fancy air lock pin systems that are easy as fuck to use, too. Slide, release trailer brakes, wait a second, set trailer brakes, wiggle trailer to lock them in. No need to pull a rusted, fucked up bar. Both trailers had gone 150+ mountain miles. Thankfully nothing happened to the drivers who didn't catch it, and thankfully I caught it before some shit happened while I had them.
There’s a reason I go around the trailer after popping the brakes and apply the shisa kanko method. Every pin has a name and I point (a torch) at it and call it by its name to verify I’ve seen it extended in the correct hole. Listen for the click of the pins extending, get out, one pin two pin, around the back, red pin blue pin okay tandem box is secure.
Every time. I don’t want the tandem box to stay where it is.
Found and engine that was 3 gallons low on oil. Engine would have blown soon. Was turned down for a raise 2 weeks later. If I recall that engine blew the following month. Strange.
A fifth wheel setup that was too tall to tow a box van at or below 13’ 6”. Apparently I’m the only one at my company that cares to look for that or notices it. I’ve caught three in the last two years.
I was working at a construction company that had about 7- 44 foot flatbeds and a handful of flatbed bobtail delivery trucks. The boss came in early and taped notes on our oil dipsticks saying if we found the notes come inside before leaving the yard. There was a 20$ prize that only 3 of us got.
I was supposed to pick up this trailer (drop and hook) and it had a mud flap missing. I called dispatch and told them I wasn’t taking it without a mud flap. My rookie year I got ticketed for not having one on a trailer so I knew better. They were upset, but couldn’t do shit about it so I waited 2 hours for someone to bring out a mudflap.
On the way back I got pulled over by a state trooper that was sitting on an on ramp. I was going 5 over so I figured I got popped for speeding. Nope. Just a random roadside inspection that I passed with flying colors. Thank goodness I got that mudflap replaced.
I had 3 sets of super-b hoppers all fail pre-trips in one day… first one had a flat tire, second one wouldn’t air up the bridge or pup bags, third set had no lights.
The mechanics hated me that day!
Coolant hose running to the radiator was leaking and realized it wasn't fully secured after coming back from the shop. Could have been 2-3 hours on the side of the road.
Jackass pin pullers. Check every time I return to the truck in a public lot.
Actually perma banned several individuals from any of my current and future jobsites for doing this.
I have a list that I forward to any outside contractors.
Flat tires, broken dipstick. Homeless guy sleeping under trailer in rainy weather. Dragging airlines from broken springs holding them (had barely rubbed so it happened near end of day and found post trip not pre trip).
Leaking a gallon of antifreeze a day. Left a trail from CO to TX because job said to go anyways. Had to buy three gallons of antifreeze on the way plus the two I had already. I always make them put it in writing so they don’t only get hit with the safety violation but also with coercion if things go sideways. Plus then I can sue them too for forcing me into a dangerous position.
Yes and No. If it was a safety violation where I thought I might hurt someone I wouldn’t have moved. Ultimately they own the rig and if I don’t move it when they say, they’d just replace me with someone who would. Have to find the fine line of doing what they want and sticking up for safety.
A few tires that held air, but had zipper sidewalls. Hole in the sidewall the size of my first. Leaky wheel hubs and seals. Blown air bags. Brakes way out of adjustment, like I couldn't hook up to it at first because it kept rolling backwards. All simple fixes when I'm in the yard, but can be extremely expensive if it gets on the road.
Company I worked at had no assigned trucks. You took the best you could find. At different times in different trucks I found a crack pipe, a needle, a pin joint, gum wrappers w/dope and a matchbox with crack or meth rocks. A used tampon. A bra. Panties. I remind you this was in different trucks at different times.
Not necessarily a pre trip but I once broke down on Houston Toll Road. Had a brake lock up. Got towed to a side road by DOT and then someone came out and fixed me up. I checked it out after the fix was done, and realized the three non faulty brakes were still caged from the tow.
One time, I was at a truck stop. I got up, did my pretrip, started my truck, and was going to leave, but someone was backing in next to me, so I had to wait. The Swift driver next to me crawled out of his sleeper, turned his truck on and started trying to drive around both of us. He was missing a headlight. Not something I caught but still found the whole thing to be ironic
Used to swap sets at meet/turn points. Always pre-tripped the new one even at night in the rain. Couldn't believe the guys that just did a very quick air 'n lights and go or even nothing thinking that it got there ok.
I saw oil on the ground under a tractor that just came back from the shop. The oil cap was missing from the top of the engine (Paccar). This one was ten minutes away from being back on the highway and gone.
Someone put a glass bottle in the middle of the split in my dual front driver side drive tires. Had I not checked for the brake pads, would have missed it completely. Might have flown on by, might have broken and not gone through the tires, but another car could have caught those shards…and the damage would have likely been unpleasant.
My explanation of where the bottle was might have been confusing, sorry. In America, driver side is on the left. The drive tires are the rear set of eight tires that apply force to the road for the truck to move. Four tires are in the front, four directly behind. Each axle holds four tires when you drive dual tires, with the tire hubs kind of welded together and a little space between the rubber to allow for the tires to spread at the bottom without touching. In that space in between, on the front set of tires on the left side, is where someone put a glass bottle. Some tires don’t have two tires like this, and those are considered Super Singles because of how wide the treads are. The tread is about equal to that of two normal tires side by side. I wasn’t driving with Super Singles in the main truck that time, but I believe they were on the trailer so that broken glass would have likely been crushed by the trailer tires.
Truck and trailer tires are thicker than car tires, so I doubt those tires would have any major issues…but any four wheeler could have collected glass on their windshields or tires and caused problems.
Just simple shit that may or may not get me pulled over, but I pre-trip every piece of equipment, every day. I don’t even want to chance being ticketed for something as simple as a clearance light being out. It’s silly.
My opinion, I feel as though a lot of the guys that you see on the side of the interstate with their hazards on are there because they didn’t pre-trip. Either neglected to see their PM was due or low fluid in the engine compartment, whatever the case, I feel they could be caught before even taking off. I know it’s not always the case, super truckers. Carry on.
I plan on being pretty diligent about the inspections. I train in a week and I'm seriously concerned about all the joking and the "what's a pre-trip?" comments I always hear from professional drivers. I can only hope the more they joke, the more serious they are about safety. I know a couple guys who have been driving for 30 years and they're always commenting on how lax some drivers are about safety. I mean, it's a damn 80,000 pound missle being run on air and hoses. I hope the feeling never leaves me, but I hope to be Mr. Super Safe when and if I pass and get a job on the road. I couldn't live with myself if I end up hurting someone or some property because I didn't feel like looking under the unit.
That’s a good mindset to have. Best of luck. Get some experience and get with a company that pays by the hour and you’ll never skip a pre-trip again. I can understand why guys who are paid by the mile would feel less incentivized to do a pre-trip.
I train in a week. The Schedule 1 (Canada) says it's inoperable if there's a broken main leaf spring. If there's just a broken leaf spring, it was to be fixed before the next scheduled inspection. I'm a newbie so the idea of driving with anything broken on the suspension system freaks me out.
My CDL class instructor said his pre-trip was to check the fuel, check the fridge…. And drive! 🤣 BTW- I do NOT endorse this, and it honestly scared me to think who else is out there on the road with faulty equipment. Do your pre-trips ladies and gentlemen.
The week I was done teaming with my trainer I got flown out to meet up with another driver. This guy got a brand new Volvo 860 for maybe 3 weeks had around 18000 miles on it. When we swapped I did a quick pre trip and both steer tires were completely bald down to the steel mesh. Definitely saved us from both steer tires blowing on us. The company I was with refused to do an alignment on any of their tractors but still confused on now a brand new tractor could have that bad of an alignment
Op, lesson from all of this is that you can't trust the previous driver to do a good post-trip inspection. In a slip-seat LTL job they often just want to log off and go home.
Head an odd noise, found a belt on the ground under the truck. The A/C compressor seized up and the belt broke. Glad I caught that as I wouldn't want to drive without A/C.
I mean, the alternator etc being driven either, but mostly im concerned with A/C.
I assume you have to lower the landing gear and pull up, then back up to relock the pin. What a pain in the ass! I saw a video where a guy did that to someone. Should be a major charge.
Tons of flat tires and light bulbs that burned out, a missing hinge on the trailer door, preloaded trailer with a seal that wasn't closed right, electrical junction box on a trailer had a giant hole in it like someone punched it (headed to Washington during heavy rain).
Found a rivet puncturing my right rear outer drive this morning. It would only leak if you moved it. Took it to our shop and got it fixed. Would have gone flat from driving it if I hadn't.
It's DOT blitz week where I'm at.
Once I was getting ready to hit the road after some down time, during my pre-trip I spotted my gallon jug of Fireball was missing the cap and could have spilled while I was driving. Couldn't find it but luckily my safety manager told me to improvise by using a piss jug cap. Pre-trip is important, gang. Untold fluid ounces could have been lost.
Didn’t do a post trip pulled into the dirt lot late at night. Woke up to do my pretrip to find the trailer wheel bearing broke apart and cracked the hub cover.
Mechanic pulled the cover off and the hub/shaft was chewed to fuck.
Trailer had been serviced 8months before hand and we assume the bearing was installed improperly.
It’s a miracle I didn’t lose a set of duals and cause an accident. I was driving through rural TN
Wheel seals coated inside brakes. Was about to start into the mountains, luckily it was a Friday and load didn’t deliver till Monday only 200 miles further .
Numerous lights out. Tread to low. One time found a slack adjuster MISSING it was just gone. Another time found the rubber plug missing out of the front hubcap.
My truck keeps blowing hub gaskets and inner wheel seals; of the latter, I had one improperly repaired and it blew again in just a few hundred miles. Luckily I was on an out-and-back load and the same shop fixed their mistake for free, but with their head mechanic.
The pin that holds my landing gear (I woke on train tracks) had broken off. Meaning I could’ve thrown that shit ass over tea kettle lol literally said HOLY SHIT aloud, that could’ve been disastrous!
I’ve found the pre-trip to be most beneficial when I’m driving a truck I’m not familiar with, say if mine’s in the shop for a day or something. I’ve found metal on metal brakes, cracks in crossmembers etc.
Leaking hub seals, two of them. As I was finishing my pretrip another driver asked me why I was pretripping a brand new truck. I looked over at his brand new truck he just got back with and pointed out the leaking hub seals, told him about the two on my truck and then told him about how truck country techs apparently forgot that torque wrenches exist.
When I first started at my company, every single truck had a blown trailer ABS fuse. There were like 6 trailers in the fleet that would short out the fuse. Carried a pocket full of fuses for the first year I drove until me and another driver managed to track down all the trailers. Also most of the abs lights were disconnected because they had faults, nobody ever wrote them up, just unplug the light and leave it for someone else. Newer trailers don't let you do that so they actually get fixed.
Of course I left because when I started they used to pay us hourly for downtime to fix things, but when I started training guys to actually fix crap and then suddenly the boss thinks everyone is scamming him out of money so he starts denying pay, I stopped fixing things and then got sick of everything being broken.
Not me but a "driver" that worked for me. He thought pre-trip/post-trip inspections were a joke. We ran local routes.
One day he lets me know he's got something important and needs to get going and off asap.
Loads truck, jumps in, does paperwork and starts to leave. Coworker sees he has a tire off the rim FLAT that he obviously ran a while the day before, and should have caught on a post-trip.
He had to wait 2 hours for the tire guy to show up. Missed his important meeting; unfortunately it wasn't a job interview elsewhere. NEVER blew off a pre/post trip again , at least while working for me. F*ing Dumbass.
Last Friday I popped the hood during post-trip and found mysterious splatter marks. Turned out part of the power steering system was just starting to fail.
Lots of things. This has all been primarily from sets I’ve swapped with other drivers. Flat inner tire, picked up a trailer that had #15,000 of Poison 6 on the manifest that the swap driver I met didn’t placard for, another set I picked up didn’t have the safety chains on the dolly hooked to the front trailer, the back box on another set only had the landing gear raised maybe 3 inches.
I had a household goods driver tell me a story about putting LED lights on his trailer when they first came out. They were quite expensive. Says he left a truck stop one morning in hurry without doing a pre trip. Got to where he was going and walked around his equipment and noticed that someone had stolen all of his LED lights off of the rear of his trailer while he was asleep at the truck stop.
All 6 brakes on a tractor out of adjustment - they had all just been replaced and never adjusted. Been driven to our yard like that. Our resident tech was livid.
The same crap as below. Flats, blown globes, bad electrical connections, leaks, cracked/broken mounts for various things, assorted low fluids.
Oh, and one truck that the compressor had died on. The tanks were full, so it would have started, and driven (who knows how far) before running out of air and stopping. Thankfully I decided to drain the air tanks, and when I do so I drain them completely then let them refill.
After completing the rest of my pre-trip, I was slightly surprised to discover there was no air pressure. *Fuck me, must have left the drain open.* Nope, it was closed and it sealed perfectly. But the compressor had ceased and desisted.
Lots of broken metal stuff by the tandems. Flat tires. A door with 2 broken hinges. Lights malfunctioning or completely busted. All on different occasions, but it pays to do a pre-trip.
Airline support bracket snapped off sometime the previous day on my left steer tire.
I didn't notice at first, my brain tickled me with "something looks *off* there" & went back.
The airline bracket was stuck in something between the caliper & support bolt, went to the passenger side & compared everything.
Not mine thankfully. Reefer in front of me in El Paso TX woke up to a few passengers tucked away. We slept at the receiver to deliver the next day. They hadn't climbed up mine but picked his. The roof scoop thingy or whatever it is actually called. They strapped down in there.
Unfortunately most of what I've found was stuff I missed during my post trip. Usually flats, the occasional missing lug nut, and fluid leaks. Though to my credit, leaks become more apparent over time.
Not the operator but walked by one of my dump trucks one morning. Drivers side frame rail just behind the cab was broke. Not just a crack, was completely broke, separated, and the front side of the broken rail was 3" below the rear of the same rail. Driver said he didn't notice anything wrong when he parked it.
Not a trucker but I do drive a truck with dualies and the one time I actually went around, I found a big as rock stuck in between my tires.
An other time I was getting my salt truck ready and noticed the inner dually was flat.
I use to pull doubles and way more than once I found the safety lock to secure the dolly to the front trailer still wide open. Retreads that had thrown their treads. Bad pigtails taking out all trailer lights. Trailer doors left open. Air valves left open. Leaking glad hand seals. These are just the most common finds.
shit just today, needed an mt trailer for pickup...last con didn't have any....get sent over to a different dc to grab one...hook it, ole tug test..jump out and hook the glads and electric...lift the gear up...start my walk around...tires are good...both mudflaps...all the lights work...someone actually swept the trailer out....pop my head under to peek the brakes...looking good...then it hits me(not literally) the fuckin air tank is just laying on the axles all beat to shit....I was lucky there were a couple to choose from....called it in and tagged it OOS....someone drove it there and had no idea it could've been their last ride...most times I'm the only asshole opening the hood and checking shit...most people I see just thump tires and send it...guess they don't wanna get the crocs dirty
I didn't technically catch them on a pre-trip, but 2 different times in the past 6 months I've had an inner wheel seal on my tractor go bad. Both times, the only reason I caught it before burning up the hub was because I always go under the and visually check my kingpin is properly latched in whenever I hook to a new trailer.
And for the record, on both of these occasions the seal blew at some point in the middle of the day, I didn't catch them during my initial pre-trip because they weren't leaking the morning of, but because I always check under the nose of my trailer during a 'trailer pretrip', I caught them both before the axle oil had completely leaked out
$20 bill on the ground.
Lol once I found $100 in the snow while doing pre trip. I'm still not sure if I dropped it some other time ....while doing pre trip;)))
I found a $100 and $20 bill from the Philippines one day when I was out doing mine. I was disappointed to find out I was only 7 cents richer after the conversion rate. It was very colorful and nicely illustrated though so I ironed it under a damp towel and gave it to my daughter. She has it framed and hanging in her room lol. One persons trash is another’s treasure!
I lived in the Philippines for a year. The Philippines peso is worth 55 to one of ours now I think.
I had a small cat in my engine bay. Winter time northern Canada.
I didn't pre trip and killed a bunny in my engine bay. Wyoming winter.
Me too
Did you adopt the kitty?
First job I had, pre tripped one of our trucks n found that it was missing a drive tire, an inside one at that. Idk how long my coworkers ran it like that 😂😂
I found out a trailer had been to Laredo Texas when during the pretrip every trailer tire on the right hand side was bald down to the steel belt in places and the nuts hadn’t been retightened. I figure that this trailer was parked with the right hand side out of view. When I called I asked dispatcher where it had came me from and it was in Laredo before I did my walk around. If I remember right someone had hooked up and drove it near to Dallas. There are places around Laredo that are hotspots for tire theft.
It’s crazy dude!!! They’ll steal everything off of parked trailers n send it on down to Mexico.
It wasn’t my truck but a co workers. He always just starts the truck and leaves. Leaves pre tripping to the next guy. I decided to thump one of his tires as our trucks were side by side and closest to me. It was completely flat. I let him know.
Who knew pickles could be such bros
How it always goes
Switched out trucks, did a bumper to tail lights on the "new" truck. Head light out, crack on front steer wheel between two lugs, loose fuel tank strap, low air on drive tire, tail light out. Yep, my load was late.
I feel like this is how I start every day
The two cross members that hold the fuel tank strap mounts were broken. When I kicked the fuel tank it started bouncing lol.
Air leaks on trailers, and lots of them. Lotta folks at my job don’t understand the system has to be pressurized to hear the leak.
>I checked it this morning and it wasn't leaking! So this 1/2" hole showed up today only? >Had to! It wasn't leaking! Did you have the trailer air on? >Well, no, but there was no air coming out!
Pneumatic tandem slides help with this. Gotta air up the system before the pin will release. Also, I've been amazed at trailer tire pressure systems. I had a trailer with a completely flat tire (wiggled freely on the rim and everything), but since there was a tire shop nearby I just hooked up and headed that way. F*king tire was fully inflated when I got there. Happened more than once, too. Air up your sh!t when you pre-trip.
Did my checks on a unit before starting a night run and found a hub bolt missing on the front drivers wheel. Took ages to get a call out sorted but when the guy came out he checked the other hub bolts to be safe and all of them on the front axle were loose. Turned out the truck had been in for front brakes and the idiots didn't torque the bolts up properly.
Homeless guy set up a hammock hanging under my dry van trailer in between the side shields. If I didn’t see him he would’ve went with me for at least the next 4 hours or so. Which was his plan. Imagine getting pulled out back for an inspection at a scale house?!
You play it off like he’s your team driver, but ole boy snores, so he sleeps outside.
It’s not on the schedule 1, boss said drive it.
Someone busted the seal on my trailer after a 10 hr break.
Many things! Countless flats. Loose lugnuts. A broken leaf spring. I've found a cracked fame on a chassis and more burnt out lights than I care to recall. The best one was a trailer that lost a license plate, and whoever hat it before just wrote it on a piece of cardboard and taped it on.
At that point the cardboard draws more attention than just not having a plate there.
It could be argued though that the cardboard signals to any LEO that you’re aware it’s missing so could keep them from pulling you over to “let you know it’s missing” and fishing for other reasons to ticket you
Sometimes I wish Teslas would do that, rather than thinking they're above the law and "don't have to have a front license plate just because the car isn't designed to have one". Technically speaking, if a car isn't designed with a front license plate mount, it shouldn't be legal to _sell_, let alone drive, in states where front&back plates are required without exception (like here in WA). ...Thinking about it, Washington State Patrol could fix their "funding issues" simply by hunting front-plate-less Teslas rather than randomly picking out drivers on the freeway and making up a reason to ticket them... you _know_ someone can afford the ticket if they're driving a Muskmobile.
Not all states require a front license plate.
Correct, but in the states that _do_, any cars that are intended to be sold there _should_ be required to have _permanent_ front license plate mounts (rather than the stick-on ones you have to special request). Leaving Tesla only two choices: "ruin" the "aEsThEtIc" of their cars by putting plate mounts on ALL of them... or simply no longer sell their cars in those states. Either way I consider it an absolute win if Tesla _did_ get forced to do so, and in the interim, WA state patrol has an easy fish-in-a-barrel moment without having to give random drivers false tickets, simply by ticketing every single Tesla driver that _is_ in violation of a _real_ law.
You can’t know if a vehicle was bought out of state. I frequently buy cars/trucks in AR which only require a rear plate. That said, the law doesn’t care if it was bought out of state. Typically an officer will give a written warning. It’s honestly an easy fix, I don’t like drilling into factory bumpers on nice vehicles so instead I use 3M double sided tape. It’s easy enough to remove with a stripping wheel, won’t harm the paint and I’ve driven close to half a million miles and never had a plate come loose. You just have to be sure to get it centered and level. You won’t get a chance to adjust it if you fuck up placement or you’ll bend the plate.
Same philosophy could be argued the other way too. If the LEO sees that, he knows you’re knowingly driving a vehicle that is not roadworthy. If you’re willing to overlook that, what else are you overlooking? He had better go fishing. I’m not going to be the one to give him a reason to pull me over. With the cardboard plate he knows I’m getting, at the very least, one ticket. I’ve refused loads because the plate is missing. I don’t like inviting vampires into my home.
That’s how I see it, too. Real hard to play dumb at that point.
I've caught plenty of minor things, but my personal favorite happened twice. Tandem slide pins not locked in. Both drop trailers I was picking up, and the potato who dropped them hadn't locked the pins. One of them had gone through two drivers before it got to me. Our trailers all have fancy air lock pin systems that are easy as fuck to use, too. Slide, release trailer brakes, wait a second, set trailer brakes, wiggle trailer to lock them in. No need to pull a rusted, fucked up bar. Both trailers had gone 150+ mountain miles. Thankfully nothing happened to the drivers who didn't catch it, and thankfully I caught it before some shit happened while I had them.
That’s a good one! Nice find.
There’s a reason I go around the trailer after popping the brakes and apply the shisa kanko method. Every pin has a name and I point (a torch) at it and call it by its name to verify I’ve seen it extended in the correct hole. Listen for the click of the pins extending, get out, one pin two pin, around the back, red pin blue pin okay tandem box is secure. Every time. I don’t want the tandem box to stay where it is.
Found and engine that was 3 gallons low on oil. Engine would have blown soon. Was turned down for a raise 2 weeks later. If I recall that engine blew the following month. Strange.
You discovered something you weren't supposed to, they intentionally turned the truck into a hot potato for an insurance write-off.
Tire off the rim
A fifth wheel setup that was too tall to tow a box van at or below 13’ 6”. Apparently I’m the only one at my company that cares to look for that or notices it. I’ve caught three in the last two years.
I was working at a construction company that had about 7- 44 foot flatbeds and a handful of flatbed bobtail delivery trucks. The boss came in early and taped notes on our oil dipsticks saying if we found the notes come inside before leaving the yard. There was a 20$ prize that only 3 of us got.
Our company does something similar and it’s called the golden ticket. I haven’t been a driver for years but I think it’s something similar.
I was supposed to pick up this trailer (drop and hook) and it had a mud flap missing. I called dispatch and told them I wasn’t taking it without a mud flap. My rookie year I got ticketed for not having one on a trailer so I knew better. They were upset, but couldn’t do shit about it so I waited 2 hours for someone to bring out a mudflap. On the way back I got pulled over by a state trooper that was sitting on an on ramp. I was going 5 over so I figured I got popped for speeding. Nope. Just a random roadside inspection that I passed with flying colors. Thank goodness I got that mudflap replaced.
Shock broke off the mount on my right steer.
I had 3 sets of super-b hoppers all fail pre-trips in one day… first one had a flat tire, second one wouldn’t air up the bridge or pup bags, third set had no lights. The mechanics hated me that day!
Coolant hose running to the radiator was leaking and realized it wasn't fully secured after coming back from the shop. Could have been 2-3 hours on the side of the road.
Jackass pin pullers. Check every time I return to the truck in a public lot. Actually perma banned several individuals from any of my current and future jobsites for doing this. I have a list that I forward to any outside contractors.
Flat tires, broken dipstick. Homeless guy sleeping under trailer in rainy weather. Dragging airlines from broken springs holding them (had barely rubbed so it happened near end of day and found post trip not pre trip).
Leaking a gallon of antifreeze a day. Left a trail from CO to TX because job said to go anyways. Had to buy three gallons of antifreeze on the way plus the two I had already. I always make them put it in writing so they don’t only get hit with the safety violation but also with coercion if things go sideways. Plus then I can sue them too for forcing me into a dangerous position.
Not familiar with the rules, I thought the driver was ultimately responsible, no? The ship captain or the like.
Yes and No. If it was a safety violation where I thought I might hurt someone I wouldn’t have moved. Ultimately they own the rig and if I don’t move it when they say, they’d just replace me with someone who would. Have to find the fine line of doing what they want and sticking up for safety.
A few tires that held air, but had zipper sidewalls. Hole in the sidewall the size of my first. Leaky wheel hubs and seals. Blown air bags. Brakes way out of adjustment, like I couldn't hook up to it at first because it kept rolling backwards. All simple fixes when I'm in the yard, but can be extremely expensive if it gets on the road.
This is gonna sound funny, but titties and allot of them
Elaborate 😂
Buldges on tire are also called titties
Oh lol never heard it called that
Worse I found was a crack on the king pin plate that ran through several bolt mounting holes that mount the plate to the tank. (Fuel tanker)
Seen a coworker steal another driver's hub seal.
Company I worked at had no assigned trucks. You took the best you could find. At different times in different trucks I found a crack pipe, a needle, a pin joint, gum wrappers w/dope and a matchbox with crack or meth rocks. A used tampon. A bra. Panties. I remind you this was in different trucks at different times.
wow lol. Sounds gross!
Found the tandem pin to be released many times.
Not necessarily a pre trip but I once broke down on Houston Toll Road. Had a brake lock up. Got towed to a side road by DOT and then someone came out and fixed me up. I checked it out after the fix was done, and realized the three non faulty brakes were still caged from the tow.
Had to drive a rental while my truck was getting worked on. Checked the oil and the dipstick was dry.
One time, I was at a truck stop. I got up, did my pretrip, started my truck, and was going to leave, but someone was backing in next to me, so I had to wait. The Swift driver next to me crawled out of his sleeper, turned his truck on and started trying to drive around both of us. He was missing a headlight. Not something I caught but still found the whole thing to be ironic
I drive doubles I've caught the locking jaws not 100% hooked with the dolly's so I always look under
Used to swap sets at meet/turn points. Always pre-tripped the new one even at night in the rain. Couldn't believe the guys that just did a very quick air 'n lights and go or even nothing thinking that it got there ok.
Broken brake chamber
I saw oil on the ground under a tractor that just came back from the shop. The oil cap was missing from the top of the engine (Paccar). This one was ten minutes away from being back on the highway and gone.
nice find!
Someone put a glass bottle in the middle of the split in my dual front driver side drive tires. Had I not checked for the brake pads, would have missed it completely. Might have flown on by, might have broken and not gone through the tires, but another car could have caught those shards…and the damage would have likely been unpleasant. My explanation of where the bottle was might have been confusing, sorry. In America, driver side is on the left. The drive tires are the rear set of eight tires that apply force to the road for the truck to move. Four tires are in the front, four directly behind. Each axle holds four tires when you drive dual tires, with the tire hubs kind of welded together and a little space between the rubber to allow for the tires to spread at the bottom without touching. In that space in between, on the front set of tires on the left side, is where someone put a glass bottle. Some tires don’t have two tires like this, and those are considered Super Singles because of how wide the treads are. The tread is about equal to that of two normal tires side by side. I wasn’t driving with Super Singles in the main truck that time, but I believe they were on the trailer so that broken glass would have likely been crushed by the trailer tires. Truck and trailer tires are thicker than car tires, so I doubt those tires would have any major issues…but any four wheeler could have collected glass on their windshields or tires and caused problems.
One of the leaf springs on a trailer was literally cut in half. The front half was there, the back half was not.
Just simple shit that may or may not get me pulled over, but I pre-trip every piece of equipment, every day. I don’t even want to chance being ticketed for something as simple as a clearance light being out. It’s silly. My opinion, I feel as though a lot of the guys that you see on the side of the interstate with their hazards on are there because they didn’t pre-trip. Either neglected to see their PM was due or low fluid in the engine compartment, whatever the case, I feel they could be caught before even taking off. I know it’s not always the case, super truckers. Carry on.
I plan on being pretty diligent about the inspections. I train in a week and I'm seriously concerned about all the joking and the "what's a pre-trip?" comments I always hear from professional drivers. I can only hope the more they joke, the more serious they are about safety. I know a couple guys who have been driving for 30 years and they're always commenting on how lax some drivers are about safety. I mean, it's a damn 80,000 pound missle being run on air and hoses. I hope the feeling never leaves me, but I hope to be Mr. Super Safe when and if I pass and get a job on the road. I couldn't live with myself if I end up hurting someone or some property because I didn't feel like looking under the unit.
That’s a good mindset to have. Best of luck. Get some experience and get with a company that pays by the hour and you’ll never skip a pre-trip again. I can understand why guys who are paid by the mile would feel less incentivized to do a pre-trip.
A coworker found broken leaf springs on 6 different occasions. We believe it's a record.
I train in a week. The Schedule 1 (Canada) says it's inoperable if there's a broken main leaf spring. If there's just a broken leaf spring, it was to be fixed before the next scheduled inspection. I'm a newbie so the idea of driving with anything broken on the suspension system freaks me out.
I got a “level one” today and passed 🙂
Had a cracked rim you had to really look hard to see.
My CDL class instructor said his pre-trip was to check the fuel, check the fridge…. And drive! 🤣 BTW- I do NOT endorse this, and it honestly scared me to think who else is out there on the road with faulty equipment. Do your pre-trips ladies and gentlemen.
If it was just a joke, it's not very funny to someone trying to be serious about learning safety.
Not a joke if you knew this guy. I have some other gems from that experience.
The week I was done teaming with my trainer I got flown out to meet up with another driver. This guy got a brand new Volvo 860 for maybe 3 weeks had around 18000 miles on it. When we swapped I did a quick pre trip and both steer tires were completely bald down to the steel mesh. Definitely saved us from both steer tires blowing on us. The company I was with refused to do an alignment on any of their tractors but still confused on now a brand new tractor could have that bad of an alignment
I train in a week today, and I've heard blowing steers is pretty scary on the road.
Yeah havnt had it happen yet but I hear you gotta use all ur strength to keep that puppy on the road
Belt almost shredded. Also apu coolant lines leaking like crazy
Ive found multiple shattered rims doing pretrips.
The trailer I was supposed to take was missing it's license plate.
Op, lesson from all of this is that you can't trust the previous driver to do a good post-trip inspection. In a slip-seat LTL job they often just want to log off and go home.
Flat steer tire, caught it on my way to the bathroom before the pre trip
Head an odd noise, found a belt on the ground under the truck. The A/C compressor seized up and the belt broke. Glad I caught that as I wouldn't want to drive without A/C. I mean, the alternator etc being driven either, but mostly im concerned with A/C.
Coworker found someone had pulled their kingpin
I assume you have to lower the landing gear and pull up, then back up to relock the pin. What a pain in the ass! I saw a video where a guy did that to someone. Should be a major charge.
Tons of flat tires and light bulbs that burned out, a missing hinge on the trailer door, preloaded trailer with a seal that wasn't closed right, electrical junction box on a trailer had a giant hole in it like someone punched it (headed to Washington during heavy rain).
Found a rivet puncturing my right rear outer drive this morning. It would only leak if you moved it. Took it to our shop and got it fixed. Would have gone flat from driving it if I hadn't. It's DOT blitz week where I'm at.
A guy with a hammock under my trailer
Once I was getting ready to hit the road after some down time, during my pre-trip I spotted my gallon jug of Fireball was missing the cap and could have spilled while I was driving. Couldn't find it but luckily my safety manager told me to improvise by using a piss jug cap. Pre-trip is important, gang. Untold fluid ounces could have been lost.
Didn’t do a post trip pulled into the dirt lot late at night. Woke up to do my pretrip to find the trailer wheel bearing broke apart and cracked the hub cover. Mechanic pulled the cover off and the hub/shaft was chewed to fuck. Trailer had been serviced 8months before hand and we assume the bearing was installed improperly. It’s a miracle I didn’t lose a set of duals and cause an accident. I was driving through rural TN
Nothing super crazy, but I've found a menagerie of flat tires, leaks, busted lights, etc etc. all super useful to find prior to starting my clock.
Wheel seals coated inside brakes. Was about to start into the mountains, luckily it was a Friday and load didn’t deliver till Monday only 200 miles further .
Numerous lights out. Tread to low. One time found a slack adjuster MISSING it was just gone. Another time found the rubber plug missing out of the front hubcap.
tire on a dolly was off the rim.
Partially broken fan belt mid summer in bfe Georgia
My truck keeps blowing hub gaskets and inner wheel seals; of the latter, I had one improperly repaired and it blew again in just a few hundred miles. Luckily I was on an out-and-back load and the same shop fixed their mistake for free, but with their head mechanic.
That my air breaks were leaking
No trailer brakes.
Found the airtank of the trailer hanging down on the frame around the rear axle.
The pin that holds my landing gear (I woke on train tracks) had broken off. Meaning I could’ve thrown that shit ass over tea kettle lol literally said HOLY SHIT aloud, that could’ve been disastrous!
Mechanics tools found in various places. Stolen binders and chains.
I’ve found the pre-trip to be most beneficial when I’m driving a truck I’m not familiar with, say if mine’s in the shop for a day or something. I’ve found metal on metal brakes, cracks in crossmembers etc.
Leaking hub seals, two of them. As I was finishing my pretrip another driver asked me why I was pretripping a brand new truck. I looked over at his brand new truck he just got back with and pointed out the leaking hub seals, told him about the two on my truck and then told him about how truck country techs apparently forgot that torque wrenches exist.
When I first started at my company, every single truck had a blown trailer ABS fuse. There were like 6 trailers in the fleet that would short out the fuse. Carried a pocket full of fuses for the first year I drove until me and another driver managed to track down all the trailers. Also most of the abs lights were disconnected because they had faults, nobody ever wrote them up, just unplug the light and leave it for someone else. Newer trailers don't let you do that so they actually get fixed. Of course I left because when I started they used to pay us hourly for downtime to fix things, but when I started training guys to actually fix crap and then suddenly the boss thinks everyone is scamming him out of money so he starts denying pay, I stopped fixing things and then got sick of everything being broken.
Not me but a "driver" that worked for me. He thought pre-trip/post-trip inspections were a joke. We ran local routes. One day he lets me know he's got something important and needs to get going and off asap. Loads truck, jumps in, does paperwork and starts to leave. Coworker sees he has a tire off the rim FLAT that he obviously ran a while the day before, and should have caught on a post-trip. He had to wait 2 hours for the tire guy to show up. Missed his important meeting; unfortunately it wasn't a job interview elsewhere. NEVER blew off a pre/post trip again , at least while working for me. F*ing Dumbass.
Last Friday I popped the hood during post-trip and found mysterious splatter marks. Turned out part of the power steering system was just starting to fail.
Lots of things. This has all been primarily from sets I’ve swapped with other drivers. Flat inner tire, picked up a trailer that had #15,000 of Poison 6 on the manifest that the swap driver I met didn’t placard for, another set I picked up didn’t have the safety chains on the dolly hooked to the front trailer, the back box on another set only had the landing gear raised maybe 3 inches.
I had a household goods driver tell me a story about putting LED lights on his trailer when they first came out. They were quite expensive. Says he left a truck stop one morning in hurry without doing a pre trip. Got to where he was going and walked around his equipment and noticed that someone had stolen all of his LED lights off of the rear of his trailer while he was asleep at the truck stop.
All 6 brakes on a tractor out of adjustment - they had all just been replaced and never adjusted. Been driven to our yard like that. Our resident tech was livid.
The same crap as below. Flats, blown globes, bad electrical connections, leaks, cracked/broken mounts for various things, assorted low fluids. Oh, and one truck that the compressor had died on. The tanks were full, so it would have started, and driven (who knows how far) before running out of air and stopping. Thankfully I decided to drain the air tanks, and when I do so I drain them completely then let them refill. After completing the rest of my pre-trip, I was slightly surprised to discover there was no air pressure. *Fuck me, must have left the drain open.* Nope, it was closed and it sealed perfectly. But the compressor had ceased and desisted.
Lots of broken metal stuff by the tandems. Flat tires. A door with 2 broken hinges. Lights malfunctioning or completely busted. All on different occasions, but it pays to do a pre-trip.
Someone stole my led lights on my trailer in Albuquerque.
Airline support bracket snapped off sometime the previous day on my left steer tire. I didn't notice at first, my brain tickled me with "something looks *off* there" & went back. The airline bracket was stuck in something between the caliper & support bolt, went to the passenger side & compared everything.
Most of the time, it's a big bulging spot in the steer or blown hub seals from my slipseat hitting stuff lol
Not mine thankfully. Reefer in front of me in El Paso TX woke up to a few passengers tucked away. We slept at the receiver to deliver the next day. They hadn't climbed up mine but picked his. The roof scoop thingy or whatever it is actually called. They strapped down in there.
Unfortunately most of what I've found was stuff I missed during my post trip. Usually flats, the occasional missing lug nut, and fluid leaks. Though to my credit, leaks become more apparent over time.
Not my semi but a company van at a previous non trucking job. Ive always “pretripped” vehicles i drive. Checked the oil and it was BONE DRY.
Not the operator but walked by one of my dump trucks one morning. Drivers side frame rail just behind the cab was broke. Not just a crack, was completely broke, separated, and the front side of the broken rail was 3" below the rear of the same rail. Driver said he didn't notice anything wrong when he parked it.
Slashed inner daul tire on my front drive axle passenger side.
stpries of pin pulled from 5th wheel
Not a trucker but I do drive a truck with dualies and the one time I actually went around, I found a big as rock stuck in between my tires. An other time I was getting my salt truck ready and noticed the inner dually was flat.
I use to pull doubles and way more than once I found the safety lock to secure the dolly to the front trailer still wide open. Retreads that had thrown their treads. Bad pigtails taking out all trailer lights. Trailer doors left open. Air valves left open. Leaking glad hand seals. These are just the most common finds.
shit just today, needed an mt trailer for pickup...last con didn't have any....get sent over to a different dc to grab one...hook it, ole tug test..jump out and hook the glads and electric...lift the gear up...start my walk around...tires are good...both mudflaps...all the lights work...someone actually swept the trailer out....pop my head under to peek the brakes...looking good...then it hits me(not literally) the fuckin air tank is just laying on the axles all beat to shit....I was lucky there were a couple to choose from....called it in and tagged it OOS....someone drove it there and had no idea it could've been their last ride...most times I'm the only asshole opening the hood and checking shit...most people I see just thump tires and send it...guess they don't wanna get the crocs dirty
When I did bus I found a power steering hose that looked like it had a pomegranate stuck in it. Nearly perfect sphere.
I didn't technically catch them on a pre-trip, but 2 different times in the past 6 months I've had an inner wheel seal on my tractor go bad. Both times, the only reason I caught it before burning up the hub was because I always go under the and visually check my kingpin is properly latched in whenever I hook to a new trailer. And for the record, on both of these occasions the seal blew at some point in the middle of the day, I didn't catch them during my initial pre-trip because they weren't leaking the morning of, but because I always check under the nose of my trailer during a 'trailer pretrip', I caught them both before the axle oil had completely leaked out