It's a Team's Life

Pre Post Trip Complacent

Just recently we had our DOT inspection done.  It always gets us to thinking how complacent we get doing our pre and post trips.  You get so use to checking your truck that you can spot a problem on someone else’s truck in a heartbeat but miss it on yours.  We always use the same shop and technician to do our DOT inspections.

The reason we do this is he is our “extra” set of eyes.  He sees the truck every 120 days unlike us every day.  He spots things that we have missed or points out things that might need attention soon.  If that is the case, we have him just take of it.  Better to do it now than be sitting on the side of the road waiting for road side service or a tow.  It is much safer to have the repair done in the shop than on the side of the road.

As an example of what we are talking about on this last 120 inspection he found something we missed.  One of the U clamps on the exhaust had a crack in it and was about to come a part.   The last thing you want is to drop something on the roadway as you are going down it.  It might damage your truck or other vehicles on the road with you.  In fact, when he went to remove one of the nuts it snapped off. 

Even another example that he has found in past inspections is our quarter fenders were starting to show stress cracks where they are held by the clamp.  He pointed it out to us.  He did not have them in stock.  So, Stephen bought new ones with new clamps and swapped them out.  He was glad he ordered new clamps since the old ones had lost their spring tension.  One of the things we do in our pre post trips is to shake them to see how much they move.  We never felt a difference when doing that.  So now we have modified our inspections to look at where the are attached for those cracks.

The bottom line try to ask someone you know and trust to do a pre-trip on your truck you might be surprised what they might find.  Or even when TA/Petro offers free Mid-Trip Inspections go in and have them do the inspection.   They are offering them right now from April 1st to May 13th 2024.  Another thing don’t be shy about saying something to another driver you see something on their truck or trailer that needs attention.  They just might just missed since they see it every day and thank you for pointing it out.

Sandy & Stephen

We’re Burning Daylight - “Wil Anderson” (The Cowboys) John Wayne