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Busted By the DOT
allen griggs
Member Posts: 35,692 ✭✭✭✭
I pulled in to a scale in Mississippi yesterday. My weight was fine but I got pulled over for a random safety inspection.
Believe me, boys, you do not want a DOT inspection. It took an hour.
I couldn't believe it, nothing wrong! All lights, brakes, windshield wipers, even windshield squirter, all fine.
Then, they had me drive over that GD pit, the two cops spent 20 minutes down in that pit checking this, checking that.
Turned out I had a bad air bag. There are four big air bags, about 10 inch diameter and 14 inches long, that are part of the suspension for the truck.
Well one bag was flat so I had to pull over to the side of the yard, they put this notice on my truck. I couldn't leave the yard until the airbag was fixed.
Comments
Its not like they pull you over and check for things and give you a warning that you have to get something fixed.....not a helpful check over that is geared toward helping a person who is trying to do a job or provide an essential service. We can't imagine a world where our services were geared toward helping us. We have to deal with this machine of punishment and fines that we somehow created that is constantly growing.
I picture people that do these sorts of jobs saying to themselves over and over again "I am TOO relevant" "I'll show all of you how relevant I am" "I'm not leaving until I find SOMETHING that makes me relevant".
Its not like they pull you over and check for things and give you a warning that you have to get something fixed.....not a helpful check over that is geared toward helping a person who is trying to do a job or provide an essential service. We can't imagine a world where our services were geared toward helping us. We have to deal with this machine of punishment and fines that we somehow created that is constantly growing.
+1
Well Said!
I picture people that do these sorts of jobs saying to themselves over and over again "I am TOO relevant" "I'll show all of you how relevant I am" "I'm not leaving until I find SOMETHING that makes me relevant".
Its not like they pull you over and check for things and give you a warning that you have to get something fixed.....not a helpful check over that is geared toward helping a person who is trying to do a job or provide an essential service. We can't imagine a world where our services were geared toward helping us. We have to deal with this machine of punishment and fines that we somehow created that is constantly growing.
Actually Kasey I've been pulled over a bunch of times by DOT and been inspected. Sometimes they didn't find anything wrong, other times they found minor things wrong and just gave me a fix-it-ticket. I've only had a vehicle put out-of-service by DOT once.
They only put a vehicle out-of-service when they find something wrong that will create a hazard if driven. Such as something wrong with your suspension as in this case.
I for one am glad that they exist. do you realize how many companies would be driving down the road with a truck falling apart and not care if it weren't for DOT?
In Allen's case, about a bad airbag is borderline when it comes to driving a safe vehicle. But like I said there are other people that would knowingly drive a truck that has broken Shackles, broken frames, bad parts in there suspension, completely wore out tires, outdated tires, retread on their drive axles and a bunch of other things that would be dangerous to the public if they were allowed to be on the highways.
It is inconvenient to be pulled over by DOT, but I'm sure glad they're out there,
[}:)]
quote:Originally posted by Locust Fork
I picture people that do these sorts of jobs saying to themselves over and over again "I am TOO relevant" "I'll show all of you how relevant I am" "I'm not leaving until I find SOMETHING that makes me relevant".
Its not like they pull you over and check for things and give you a warning that you have to get something fixed.....not a helpful check over that is geared toward helping a person who is trying to do a job or provide an essential service. We can't imagine a world where our services were geared toward helping us. We have to deal with this machine of punishment and fines that we somehow created that is constantly growing.
Actually Kasey I've been pulled over a bunch of times by DOT and been inspected. Sometimes they didn't find anything wrong, other times they found minor things wrong and just gave me a fix-it-ticket. I've only had a vehicle put out-of-service by DOT once.
They only put a vehicle out-of-service when they find something wrong that will create a hazard if driven. Such as something wrong with your suspension as in this case.
I for one am glad that they exist. do you realize how many companies would be driving down the road with a truck falling apart and not care if it weren't for DOT?
In Allen's case, about a bad airbag is borderline when it comes to driving a safe vehicle. But like I said there are other people that would knowingly drive a truck that has broken Shackles, broken frames, bad parts in there suspension, completely wore out tires, outdated tires, retread on their drive axles and a bunch of other things that would be dangerous to the public if they were allowed to be on the highways.
It is inconvenient to be pulled over by DOT, but I'm sure glad they're out there,
Imagine a world where you had a DOT that you could take your vehicle to and they would inspect it for free and tell you what was wrong....run codes....look things over...and give you a list of "must be done" and "not necessary, but might need tending to" things they find. They could give you a certificate that could be presented if you did get pulled over and it would make things go faster for anyone who used this service to check their things out. If you were thinking about buying a car or such....."let me run this down to the DOT and I'll let you know if we have a deal." or..... "I'll buy this if you let me have 20 days to get a DOT inspection done."
Lets take this a bit further.....
How about a world where the ATF came to a dealer and helped them go through their paperwork and helped do an inventory to sort out any lingering mistakes or errors....leaving a gun store with the feeling that everything is "RIGHT" proceeding along with an air of lightness that any mistakes or errors have been handled and everything is fine.
Its just beyond me that our government is set up in a way to punish everyone in EVERY way they possibly can. There is not one of these "services" we have that is actually set up to HELP people. You can be proud of whatever we have......but I think they could do more than lurk in the shadows waiting to catch the next victim. Imagine a restaurant that is happy to see the inspectors because they know they will come with a team of people that are there to help boost them to a level of cleanliness and provide tips to help production. Why can't we live in a world of assistance instead of punishments???
Of the people for the people.
Instead is has become of the government for the government. [xx(]
quote:Originally posted by Locust Fork
I picture people that do these sorts of jobs saying to themselves over and over again "I am TOO relevant" "I'll show all of you how relevant I am" "I'm not leaving until I find SOMETHING that makes me relevant".
Its not like they pull you over and check for things and give you a warning that you have to get something fixed.....not a helpful check over that is geared toward helping a person who is trying to do a job or provide an essential service. We can't imagine a world where our services were geared toward helping us. We have to deal with this machine of punishment and fines that we somehow created that is constantly growing.
Actually Kasey I've been pulled over a bunch of times by DOT and been inspected. Sometimes they didn't find anything wrong, other times they found minor things wrong and just gave me a fix-it-ticket. I've only had a vehicle put out-of-service by DOT once.
They only put a vehicle out-of-service when they find something wrong that will create a hazard if driven. Such as something wrong with your suspension as in this case.
I for one am glad that they exist. do you realize how many companies would be driving down the road with a truck falling apart and not care if it weren't for DOT?
In Allen's case, about a bad airbag is borderline when it comes to driving a safe vehicle. But like I said there are other people that would knowingly drive a truck that has broken Shackles, broken frames, bad parts in there suspension, completely wore out tires, outdated tires, retread on their drive axles and a bunch of other things that would be dangerous to the public if they were allowed to be on the highways.
It is inconvenient to be pulled over by DOT, but I'm sure glad they're out there,
I couldn't agree more.
quote:Originally posted by remingtonoaks
quote:Originally posted by Locust Fork
I picture people that do these sorts of jobs saying to themselves over and over again "I am TOO relevant" "I'll show all of you how relevant I am" "I'm not leaving until I find SOMETHING that makes me relevant".
Its not like they pull you over and check for things and give you a warning that you have to get something fixed.....not a helpful check over that is geared toward helping a person who is trying to do a job or provide an essential service. We can't imagine a world where our services were geared toward helping us. We have to deal with this machine of punishment and fines that we somehow created that is constantly growing.
Actually Kasey I've been pulled over a bunch of times by DOT and been inspected. Sometimes they didn't find anything wrong, other times they found minor things wrong and just gave me a fix-it-ticket. I've only had a vehicle put out-of-service by DOT once.
They only put a vehicle out-of-service when they find something wrong that will create a hazard if driven. Such as something wrong with your suspension as in this case.
I for one am glad that they exist. do you realize how many companies would be driving down the road with a truck falling apart and not care if it weren't for DOT?
In Allen's case, about a bad airbag is borderline when it comes to driving a safe vehicle. But like I said there are other people that would knowingly drive a truck that has broken Shackles, broken frames, bad parts in there suspension, completely wore out tires, outdated tires, retread on their drive axles and a bunch of other things that would be dangerous to the public if they were allowed to be on the highways.
It is inconvenient to be pulled over by DOT, but I'm sure glad they're out there,
Imagine a world where you had a DOT that you could take your vehicle to and they would inspect it for free and tell you what was wrong....run codes....look things over...and give you a list of "must be done" and "not necessary, but might need tending to" things they find. They could give you a certificate that could be presented if you did get pulled over and it would make things go faster for anyone who used this service to check their things out. If you were thinking about buying a car or such....."let me run this down to the DOT and I'll let you know if we have a deal." or..... "I'll buy this if you let me have 20 days to get a DOT inspection done."
Lets take this a bit further.....
How about a world where the ATF came to a dealer and helped them go through their paperwork and helped do an inventory to sort out any lingering mistakes or errors....leaving a gun store with the feeling that everything is "RIGHT" proceeding along with an air of lightness that any mistakes or errors have been handled and everything is fine.
Its just beyond me that our government is set up in a way to punish everyone in EVERY way they possibly can. There is not one of these "services" we have that is actually set up to HELP people. You can be proud of whatever we have......but I think they could do more than lurk in the shadows waiting to catch the next victim. Imagine a restaurant that is happy to see the inspectors because they know they will come with a team of people that are there to help boost them to a level of cleanliness and provide tips to help production. Why can't we live in a world of assistance instead of punishments???
Well like I said Kasey, I have been put serviced once by DOT. And I'm glad they did put my vehicle out of service. It was unsafe to drive. There were no fines involved, nor are fines involved usually with a DOT ticket. The Only Time Fines are levied is when it's a reoccurring ticket. meaning that the person did not fix the problem and decided to drive anyway on an unsafe vehicle.
A vehicle is never put out of service unless it is deemed unsafe to be on the road. And leave it still there is no ticket involved. Again unless like I said they had been pulled over for before and not fix the problem within the two weeks they give you to get it fixed
So basically DOT IS only there to help you make sure your vehicle is safe. Again they don't penalize you unless you have ignored prior Fix-It tickets. Or again if the problem is so bad that it is unsafe to go further down the road.
there is no doubt in my mind that allen was not ticketed. he won't have to appear before judge, he won't have to send in a a payment for a fine. The only thing he has to do is fix his truck before he can move it.. because they don't give you a ticket unless like I said you have got a Fix-It ticket from them for the same thing and not got it fixed.
So as soon as allen fixes the airbag, he can go on his merry way. Which should take no longer than a half hour to do plus the time it takes to go get another one. Trust me, I know that's all it takes to replace them, I've done it before
So pretty much, you don't have to imagine a world in which the DOT helps to truck drivers to maintain their vehicles properly as far as safety reasons go. That's what they do when they pull you over. And again they will only issue you Fix-It ticket, or put your vehicle out of service if it's too unsafe to continue driving it.
As far as taking your vehicle into them to have them inspect it for you, part of aa
commercial driver's license test to get your commercial driver's license is knowing and demonstrating how to do safety inspection your vehicle. You should do a safety walk around every time get in your vehicle. It takes less than 5 minutes to do. And any good trucking company makes you do it as part of your required duties. But there are shotty Fly by Night companies that don't because they know their vehicles will fail that don't care about the safety of the public, and only care about their bottom line.
And trust me Casey, I know you good enough that if truck in front of you lost want to just leave Springs and you had to Swerve to miss it, you would be on here asking why the state doesn't watch them closer.. and yes I have seen trucks that have lost a leaf Spring, lost a tire because he didn't check yours lug nuts. The list goes on and on...
DOT is like a padlock. You're there to keep the honest drivers honest...
And you show me a person that isn't okay with DOT pulling truckers over, I'll show you a person that doesn't drive an 18 wheeler or a semi so doesn't realize how dangerous they can be if not maintain property, or a person that does, and is trying to drive an unsafe truck to save on repair bills.
Kasey, they actually will do that, not run codes, but will do a full safety inspection on request.
Allen, You know the law requires a "Pre-Trip" and "Post-Trip" inspection by the driver. If you did it right, you would have caught the blown airbag before they did. Granted, chit happens while you're driving down the road, but your air pressure gauges would have let you know you had a blown air bag. At the very least, you would have felt it in the ride, especially if loaded.
Now you got red tagged, you lost time/money, and the company had to pay extra for a road service fee from Loves. I have no special love for the DOT inspections, but just think of the daily carnage we would have without them. It's bad enough now.
A blown airbag isn't a minor thing, not on an 80,000lb guided missile. If you had to make a panic stop, evasive maneuver, or rolled over in a turn, you would be at fault. Someone gets hurt or killed, you face felony and/or manslaughter charges. DOT investigates, finds the blown airbag, no mention of the airbag, or even an air leak on your pre-trip, you're toast! Be safe, and every chance you get, educate any of these young knotheads that think they're drivers, to do the same.
On the bright side, you have a new 2018 Inspection Sticker that's good to 2019, you're in the computer system as a recent inspection, so you have a 90% chance or better of getting a green light on your PrePass at the scales. [:)]
I just wish the DOT would inspect every single vehicle pulling a trailer, get those guys exceeding th GVW of thier equipment, unsecured loads, unsafe hitching, squatted rear suspension with no airbags/add a leafs, and tons of other stuff wrong. Far too many ?weekend warriors? running up and down the highways that need to be held to the same standards as a CMV.
Even though you didn?t get a ticket check your CSA scote in 30 days, guarenteed you got points. Anytime a Revenue Ranger puts pen to paper even if it isn?t a fine it shows up as points if something was wrong. Since the CSA scoring came about Revenue Rangers write paper on everything and I mean everything, clean inspections do not help thier cause so voluntary inspections are not done because they know they won?t find anything. Revenue Rangers (DOT) are a necassary evil sadly, but they love thier jobs too damn much. I got pulled over in Iowa yesterday, the cop walked around and saw the new S-Cam tubes and told me to leave, that?s a good thing right? Nope, I want inspected because right now my MC# is unrated and I have an OOS that needs offset. Nope, he saw those new tubes and made me leave with no inspection.
I just wish the DOT would inspect every single vehicle pulling a trailer, get those guys exceeding th GVW of thier equipment, unsecured loads, unsafe hitching, squatted rear suspension with no airbags/add a leafs, and tons of other stuff wrong. Far too many ?weekend warriors#65533; running up and down the highways that need to be held to the same standards as a CMV.
Yep, plus a lot of flight by Night Truckers. It sounds like you're not one though.
if you had a flat air bag then you should have had a hefty air leak.
yep.
That air bag was a lot less dangerous to my safety on the road than Chuck Schumers words are. There was no reason to red tag you for a flat air bag...
Flat air bags means air leaks. Air leaks mean no brakes...
Good thing it was caught before it got worse
quote:Originally posted by bpost
That air bag was a lot less dangerous to my safety on the road than Chuck Schumers words are. There was no reason to red tag you for a flat air bag...
Flat air bags means air leaks. Air leaks mean no brakes...
Good thing it was caught before it got worse
Safety feature would have dynamited the brake chambers bringing him to an abrubt uncontrolled stop before he actually lost enough air to render the brakes useless.
Now what sounds like happened is Allen had a rare moment where the suspension check valve actually worked!! If air pressure is under 90PSI the airbags won?t infalte meaning it will not run the system out of air. Often times though that valve is stuck and will dump air till there isn?t anymore.
Let?s not forget about truck stability, a down bag makes the suspension less stable making loss of control easier.
I imagine them to be a pack of Cartmans with the "Respect My Authoritah" mentality.
Yosh, there's a few of those, but for the most part, just people doing a job. In 40yrs, I've experienced both extremes.
Ft.Collins,CO scale I had one of those Cartman types tell me AT GUNPOINT, that no, I was not calling his supervisor to question a permit he was trying to charge me for, that I didn't need. Thankfully another officer showed up and got him to calm down. Company paid the permit fee so I could get out of there, and filed a complaint with the DOT later.
Opposite of that, Cottonwood, CA scale (has a bad reputation) pulled in for a paper check. The DMV screwed up my recent DOT physical entry in the system, so in effect, I was unlicensed to drive. They could have written me a ticket with a healthy fine, and the truck wouldn't move until I found a ride 20 miles into town to the DMV to get it corrected.
Had to wait an hour for the DMV to open in Red Bluff. One of the DOT officers had a friend that worked there, called and had everything straightened out for me over the phone in 15 mins.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
How do you get it fixed if you can't take it anywhere to get it fixed?
Mobil roadside repair, and bend over for the bill.
I have had this truck for just 2 months, had 400K miles on it when I got it. Looking back I think this air bag was leaking when I got the truck.
Driving down the road I had 115 psi. Overnight, now I don't idle the truck I have an APU, overnight, it would go down to about 50.
Crank it up, and in a few minutes, back up to 115.
I have had 15 trucks and this is normal performance I never had one that would hold 115 psi overnight.
Suspension felt fine the truck rode fine.
But now with the air bag replaced the truck goes up to 120 psi, and holds the air better with the engine off.
So this thing was leaking from Day 1.
quote:Originally posted by Mr. Perfect
How do you get it fixed if you can't take it anywhere to get it fixed?
Mobil roadside repair, and bend over for the bill.
They're super easy to change out, they're held on by a nut on top and a nut on bottom. And then just removing the plumbing. If you change one out in less than 15 minutes. And it's so easy a kid could do it
The worst part is trying to find a ride to and from getting your new Air bag... Hopefully where you are red taged, they have a taxi service in town... Plus a lot of truck parts stores has delivery service.
Leaks are a PITA to find, if it was blown, you wouldn't have to guess. That check valve/leveler that BSR mentioned will make you invent new cuss words! They rarely just quit, they work fine, then they don't. You have the mechanic check it, and of course it works fine again....until you're an hour down the road.
Allen, if you have lifts going in and out of your trailer while you're hooked up, drop your landing gear with the air pressure all the way up. Talking to our lead mechanic about the bags and valves, he said that was a major cause of failures.
Out of curiosity, what was the bill on the bag replace?
Airbag suspensions make for a nice ride....if everything works! They suck for traction.
Yes they do. Give me an old Henrickson walking beam any day.
The air bag cost $110. Total bill $230.
Oh heck, that was cheap.
quote:Originally posted by TRAP55
Airbag suspensions make for a nice ride....if everything works! They suck for traction.
Yes they do. Give me an old Henrickson walking beam any day.
Me too! Henrickson has an airbag version now, but I still want to see if it performs like the original. I just can't see one of these new airbag Freightshakers doing this.[:D]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMq7RRzZX18
Before the states began enforcing MCSR there were only a couple of Federal inspectors in the state. They checked maybe 3 or 4 trucks a day. But not every day.
At an Interstate weigh station it was not unusual to have 250 trucks an hour come thru during the prime time, 10 AM to 4 PM. It's not possible to check every single vehicle on the road. If you want that to happen, you would * about the cost. It would be astronomical. But it ain't going to happen. Fear is the only deterrent, fear that you might be selected, and put out of service or fined. The program has made trucking companies not want to take the chance, and take better care of their equipment. Saving drivers and motorists lives and billions of dollars.
Time for the DOT theme song.[:D][:I][;)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMq7RRzZX18
That's them all right. Where I grew up they're known as the Goon Squad.......
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
The air bag cost $110. Total bill $230.
Oh heck, that was cheap.
I read your post, and you seemed to be hinting the that the charge I gave was a little low.
So I dug through my records again, I realized that I had glanced at the bill from another repair not an air bag that was done a year ago. I gave you the numbers from the wrong bill.
And I looked at the actual bill from the nice Love's repair man there at the Mississippi scale. The air bag alone was $184. The Love's labor charge was $180. Plus taxes and disposal fee of old airbag. Let's see, a 15 minute drive, 15 minutes of work, I guess Love's has to make a profit.
Total bill $387.