i try not to drive any of the old fashioned "clutch drivers" trucks, because none of them have working clutch brakes.

if they put my dump truck out snowplowing in the winter, the very first thing i do when i go back to work is pull it into the shop, and put a clutch brake in it, and do a clutch adjustment. the past 3 years it has needed a clutch, and last year they blew the trans.

this year the truck is buried, and has not moved since thanksgiving day. i can put 55,000 miles on it without having the clutch pedal move 1/4 inch, cause i only use the clutch to start off. and if i am facing downhill i don't use it at all.

these "drivers" take a truck out plowing and within 200 miles, can tear a brand new clutch out of the truck.

the company owner finally realized this fact. and it is now one truck, one driver. if you break your truck, you sit home till it is fixed.

 

We have a driver like that as well.

Brand new clutch in the Freightliner, two months later the clutch has been adjusted twice and releases at the top of the travel again.

I can't figure out how he does it.

 

uses the clutch to shift, and thinks "short-shifting"is only using 4 of the 8 gears in the trans.

i use everything i can get.

the kids laugh at me because i start off in deep reduction on an Eaton 8LL trans.
but ya know what?? i never need a clutch adjustment, or snap axles. they are always in for clutch adjustments, and snap 4-5 axles per year. i also use the trans and engine brake for stopping, and normally go 10,000 miles without a brake adjustment.sone of these kids need brake adjustments every 3-4 days.
i do 300-500 miles per day, and they do 100-200 miles per day.

 

If the clutch is adjusted right and the driver is using the right end of the pedal, they should never be near the brake. A few inches off the top should release the clutch. Any truck driver worth a darn knows you don't ram it to the floor. Some trucks will go an entire year without a clutch adj, and others you might do 2 or 3 times a year, depending on the haul. And many mechanics don't know how to properly adjust the clutch. They figure as long as it has some freeplay and the brake works, its good enough.

I find that alot of the problems with frequent clutch adjusting isn't from using the clutch, but leaving their foot on it. Unless the truck is really underpowered or you have a pup behind your truck, I can't see starting in LL.
Low should pull it out all but the largest grades. A higher horse truck may be able to pull 1st.

I think a mixer application is the hardest on a clutch. Even with 2 speeds and double low trans, they are slipping the clutch on sidewalk and curb pours where they have to follow along with the machine. We used a ceramic type clutch on them and get a pretty decent life out of them.

Should be no suprise that you are getting more between brake adjustments driving 500 miles than someone that is only covering 1-200 miles. You're stopping less. A driver that runs 500 miles on the highway might adjust the brakes once a week. But a local truck may do it every couple of days. And a log truck coming running in steep terrain and in the dirt may do it once or twice a day. Even if they are only covering a couple hundred miles.

Jason

 

Yeah our local transit mix company is going to front discharge mixers with auto trannies.

Probably right on the short shifting, he is a lazy cuss.

Takes to much energy to shift all 10 gears.

 

that 500 miles per day is never going more than 50 miles from the shop. i will run 5 loads to their 2.

my 79 mack dm-800 went 6 years without a clutch adjustment, and the clutch still grabbed dead center of the pedal when i got the 04.
i start in deep down cause i am loaded 90% of the time at 80,000 lbs, and the engine is only throwing 257hp on the dyno. the computer has been bad since the truck was new 400,000 miles ago, but mack will not change it.

 

Schneider, they have one less truck, one less 23 year old driver/instructor and one less 22 year old driver in training as of our last snowstorm.

Jack knife and over the hill on a straight stretch just down the interstate from me.

In my driving days, North American Van Lines were the ones you had to steer clear of.
A little snow and those single axle tractors were everywhere except on the road.

 

our biggest fear here is island transport.
they haul gas and diesel fuel. if you see a smoke column rising in the sky, there is usually an island transport tanker under it.
here is one of the island transport guys handy work from Sunday morning.

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how can you not see a big giant yellow state sander truck, with all the strobes they have on them??

 

Tells me that you are running a higher avg speed and are probably using your brakes a lot less. How many hours are you working to get 500 miles in a rock truck?

I'd have to see that before I would believe it. Been in a lot of trucks that the driver never complained about the clutch, but they were hardly driveable.

Jason

 

We had a few Osh Kosh front discharges with Allisons. Nice for the low speed work. Sent them to auction a couple years ago. They were a nightmare to work on, and we were always working on them.

Jason

 

for me, 500 miles is between 10 and 12hrs.
i usually am load and dump. very little down time waiting to load or dump, cause i don't like sitting.
the kids would rather sit and BS then run loads.

that is why i have a new truck, and they drive the old ones.

the funny thing is, if my truck is in for service, i will take one of the 20 year old trucks out, and do the same amount of loads as if i have a new truck. it just takes me a bit longer.

 

With no load and unload time figured, puts you about 45-50 mph avg speed. Probably a lot of highway, few hills to pull? Must have the most efficient running pits and loader operators in the country. Rarely could I get loaded without a 15 min or more wait. But on a busy day in the summer, they might load 2000-4000 tons of material. So there are a lot of trucks to deal with.

Kinda funny, because around here, it's some of the old guys that want to stay and BS all day. Or chatter non stop on the radio. They get upset when I turn the radio off and bag them if they are on the string in front of me

Jasn

 

i don't have to worry about the squawk box. i took it out 2 years ago.
i used to run a Galaxy DX-88HL.
now i run a sirius receiver tuned to the country station..


i either run clean sandfill, high compaction roadbed stone, or high compaction gravel. not too much call for it around here, so there is always a loader near the pile to keep us moving, cause all three are in the same area, and they keep one loader there to service the three piles.

even when i run asphalt, there is very little wait time, cause we book the plant for the day. so down time is limited to when the plant or paver breaks.

 

Have to keep the CB to communicate at the pit. We use a comp radio to talk to the shop/ office, but they don't work in either of our pits.

We have our own asphalt plant. It's pretty outdated and worn out and they won't spend the money to replace it. So, breakdowns on paving jobs are a daily given. Depending on the type of job, waiting at the paver is inevitable. Goes pretty quickly with a belly dump because you can just roll up in line, spread your load and go. If you have to dump into the paver hopper, you might have 4 or 5 trucks ahead of you. Even more time to drop and hook if you have a pup.

Jason