I’ve done the lot in the past carried tool box R & M on a Sunday top o Mountains at midnight seen it done it
Ex owner Driver now drive an Iveco reasonably new just go to the nearest dealer in and out in no time job done
Hey and don’t knock the Iveco I driven most of the crap over the last 39 years it will hold its ground with the best of em
Anyway to old now for lying in puddles FFS for a Tenner x
Rhythm Thief:
merc0447:
I’ll change bulbs, fuses, cable tie mudguards up. Anything that can be done with cables ties or bungee cords I’ll do it.Cable ties are the most useful thing you can carry. If you run out - as I did one night in Birmingham with a trailer mudwing to repair - you can often find them wrapped around lamp posts or traffic lights. Cut them as far as possible from the “ratchet” end and they’re usually long enough to fix trailer mudguards and a host of other things.
Handy hint: you can release the little ratchet locking tab in the ‘eye’ of the cable tie with a small electrical screwdriver and use over again without cutting!
scaniason:
Strongly encouraged to do what we’re comfortable with. Last week I had a day in the yard and repaired a tail lift hose, changed a relay valve, repaired a torn curtain and fitted a phone and tracker to a new lorry. Have also done a gearbox with our fitter (now sadly diagnosed with cancer). Would rather get stuck in and learn new stuff than sit around reading a book whilst somebody else does it.Gary
A man worth employing.Knowledge is not a dirty word
Not supposed to but if I’m confident I can do enough to get it back I will, ■■■■ hanging around for 3hrs before sparrow ■■■■ on a Saturday morning waiting for a fitter to do something I can do myself in a few minutes. Spent most of my life stripping down maintaining and sorting out hydraulics, electrics &etc on farm kit and our most recent big trailed stuff had air brakes, always carry some cable ties and multi head screw driver and spare bulbs/fuses in my bag.
Muckaway:
In contrast do you work somewhere where you can’t change a rear bulb unless you’re a fitter?
Yep. And more than happy to be like that 
My job is paid by the load and mile so in that respect I try and keep lorry downtime to a minimum, if that means changing bulbs and repairing torn mudguards by the roadside then so be it, got all the tools handy. Bought an airline off ebay to pump up tyres in the event of a puncture, saved me many hours and lost revenue waiting for a tyre to be changed at the roadside when I can just keep it pumped up and get it changed when I’m back in the yard.
Yep. And more than happy to be like that
Don’t take this the wrong way I was a driver at tescos for 14 years and that’s a typical supermarket drivers response it was the same in are yard they wouldn’t let you breath in and out without going on a course and I was a trained fitter
Change wheels bulbs fuses that’s about it would like to learn more hate having to wait for fitter
Where I work, we tended to be just thrown on any old motor.
Then I got a 7.5 allocated to me. Had it for 12 months, and as all the MANs were considered dog slow, nobody else wanted to drive them.
So now and again, I’d have to do runs in other motors, if mine was in for service, or the planners had buggered it all up again and sent some guy out in mine who then turned out to be on a 2 dayer.
I’m normally an easy going chap, but this is when me and my boss had our only shouty fall out.
I was in a dirty, unpleasant vehicle through no fault of my own, I’d ring in the faults, and get a call back to “pop into ATS” for this, and go to the MAN dealer for that.
Meanwhile some arse was gouging the living daylights out of mine.
In the end, it was a case of having my own motor, full on, or leaving, and I’d have done it.
In a nutshell, as much as I’d love us to have a perfect fleet, I got proper annoyed at being the fella that ran them all in and sat around while they got sorted
I’m a mechanic by trade and work for a small, 5 lorry firm. I do most of the maintenance on quiet days. I don’t mind one bit. Keeps my hand in.
Had a gear cable problem on my fh lately, no reverse or second gear 6 hours from home. Did a quick bodge to get reversed onto a bay and then drove home at full weight with just the forward gears. I like being able to do it. Wish I got paid more for it though lol
bald bloke:
We’ll change a bulb, fuse and air line etc but that’s our lot, airline’s are easy as we have the Bessie ones.
Can’t remember last time I done any of the above.
What are Bessie airlines then? What makes them better than the usual yokes?
I would love to be more knowledgable about truck maintenance, but I have pretty much always worked in & around companies where you aren’t required/allowed to do it. My most advanced DIY effort shamefully is changing a headlight bulb and putting oil in an Iveco Eurocargo (both requiring a cab tilt 
) - but at that same company there were several instances where drivers overfilled the oil and even put ADBLUE in the washer bottle 
so I am inclined to sympathise with the blue chip companies & supermarkets which is a chronic shame.
rob22888:
I would love to be more knowledgable about truck maintenance, but I have pretty much always worked in & around companies where you aren’t required/allowed to do it. My most advanced DIY effort shamefully is changing a headlight bulb and putting oil in an Iveco Eurocargo (both requiring a cab tilt
I thought the lad that used to be at our place that put AdBlu in the washer bottle was a one off.
I wouldn’t mind but it was a 7.5t MAN, so it didn’t even need any AdBlu anyway!!!
PaulNowak:
rob22888:
I would love to be more knowledgable about truck maintenance, but I have pretty much always worked in & around companies where you aren’t required/allowed to do it. My most advanced DIY effort shamefully is changing a headlight bulb and putting oil in an Iveco Eurocargo (both requiring a cab tiltI thought the lad that used to be at our place that put AdBlu in the washer bottle was a one off.
I wouldn’t mind but it was a 7.5t MAN, so it didn’t even need any AdBlu anyway!!!
Couldn’t make it up could you? It was certainly an unpleasant surprise when I went to clear the windscreen whilst trundling down the M6, had to pull in the next services and clean the white streaks off the screen down by hand
In the past we used to carry spare wheels for the unit and the trailer, and used to change them and get them repaired at the nearest opportunity, and sometimes we had to split the rims and put inner tubes in. We always carried our own tool boxes to be able to do any jobs,adjusting brakes, changing fuel filters and in one instance had to fit a new set of big end shells on a 141 in minus 20. in northern turkey, and in another instant in italy, i had to strip down a compressor, and make one out of two + strip the shells out of that engine, and rub down the crank with emery cloth, but at least the old girl got me back to the uk where i was immediately sacked, problem was, the boss didnt understand why i was asking for a compressor before i left the uk, he was one of the old school who said if you break down, give us a call, but that truck had sat in a field for 3 months prior to that trip and even had weeds growing from the roof, but it was all legal ( not the weeds )
Sad thing is now not many drivers are trained for the obvious, and not many companies want drivers to do roadside repairs, and not many drivers want to, but at the end of the day, its better to learn a bit of how things work, rather than things they already know, like the DCPC.
its better to learn a bit of how things work, rather than things they already know, like the DCPC
As far as I am aware it would be possible for somebody to register a DCPC course on basic vehicle maintenance & it wouldn’t have to be entirely classroom based. I think that’d be a DCPC course a lot of drivers would be interested in attending as well.