Companies running old junk

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
101

At our place, even day men like me get an allocated unit. You would think that either pride or potential recrimination would ensure ’ your ’ unit is immaculate. But sadly this is not the case. My wagon is absolutely spotless and I take great pride in it, however some fella’s just don’t give a [zb] which I am assuming is because they did not pay for it.

In an ideal world, one of the office staff would have a quick check on the trucks at the end of the week, and if required have a quick whisper in the shell like of the pigs who masquerade as drivers in order to get them cleaned up.

But if people don’t have any respect or pride, what can you do?

102

eagerbeaver:
But if people don’t have any respect or pride, what can you do?

In an ideal world you’d think class leading terms and conditions would make the world of difference, does it buggery, those who take a pride in their work would look after their kit anyway, and those who don’t, don’t anyway.

As always the blame lies entirely at the desk of the recruiter, so long as they give top paid jobs to drivers who don’t appreciate therefore don’t deserve them, they’ll carry on being who they are.
The best interviewer can drop a bollock, get seduced by some smooth talking cad, but within a matter of weeks these people show their true colours without fail, ■■■■ takers can’t help but take the ■■■■, non-drivers can’t carry on pretending to be lorry drivers for much longer than an assessment.

Why though when the useless prove who they are do companies shrug and accept it?, would admitting they dropped a bollock when setting someone on mean losing face? Not as if they learn from it either, often enough they’ll employ the useless’ bestest mate or brother a few months later who without fail proves to be their equal.

103

Conor:

dieseldog999:
1.to the o/p…its a daf,so itl be prone to head probs as their a bag of crap being the remmnants of british Leyland

DAF have nothing to do with British Leyland. DAF is a Dutch Company. Leyland sold re-badged DAFs for a period but that was about as far as it got.

they were in bed together for years…you just need to look at the build quality of earlier dafs to realise that…apart from looking at anything british that was an exercise in 6 nuts bolts and self tappers holding on another bracket with 10 self tappers in it,then daf was the next similar logic though nowhere near as bad…you would see more self tappers in a daf cab than anywhere else apart from anything built by british crap standards,apart from the fact eve in the car industry,lots of bl cars had constnt overheating problems when factory built until a private garage did a head job,then they ran fine.dafs have similar water related probs,especially older ones as that bloody coolant alarm never stops.germany lost 2 wars,but they build the best build quality cars,and scandanavia builds the best build quality trucks…the best thing that happened to the truck drivers bum and back,that the words,built in Britain…are a thing of the past.hence the reason they dropped the Leyland/ part from the daf badge as the marque was just utter crap.

104

Not so sure about that sweeping statement DD.

Rolls Royce, Land Rover, Aston Martin etc…

105

tango boy:
You should work with Conor he can “Demand” what truck he drives :sunglasses: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

when your in such great demand from every limper agency in western Europe working what day,shift,run,and earning £42kpa then would you not be demanding and fussy yourself? :open_mouth:

106

Quality cars is an interesting concept, what superb quality German engineering that designs timing chains of cheese and sites them at the back of a north/south engine, oil pump drives that don’t, egr’s that block with hilarious regularity so we bury the sod in the depths requiring min 5 hours labour to change, auto gearboxes amusingly filled for life but then life (if you the buyer are daft enough to believe that cobblers) amounting to 100k if you’re lucky, so convinced of their own quality that they only offer 3 years warranty (and get stuffed the day it runs out Tommy) where other makers now offer 5 plus and treat their customers as people they want to return.

I had no problems with my properly specced Brit lorries, but for the Brit makers it was a case of too little too late, they could make just as good a product, arguably better because the customer could specify which engine gearbox axle they preferred, if you plumped for ■■■■■■■ Eaton/Fuller Rockwell you didn’t get any bother, rust was a problem for the Sed Acks, but no more so than an equivalent Scanny or Volvo of its day, and miles ahead of anything the Italians threw together which would have fallen apart by the second year…where our makers failed was in dealer back up, overnight servicing as 24hr operations became common, and all incl leasing deals…the foreign makers knew how to woo the accountants with a not necessarily better product.

107

lolipop:
The mind boggles on what some people class as junk,just because its not automatic and they have to move a gear stick in line with the engine revs
Next thing will be refusing to take motor out because the radio is not working or no sockets to plug gadgets like Satnav kettle or TV

I know a driver who refused to take a motor out because the 12V socket wasn’t working for the Sat Nav. “How am I supposed to find my way around” were his words.

It’s embarrassing really.

108

eagerbeaver:
Not so sure about that sweeping statement DD.

Rolls Royce, Land Rover, Aston Martin etc…

Rolls are owned by BMW and Land Rover are owned by Indian Tata Motors but were owned as part of Jaguar Land Rover by BMW at some point. Anything good about the British Auto industry is now owned by a foreign company.

109

But not before they had established themselves as some of the finest BRITISH car marques in the world.

110

eagerbeaver:
But not before they had established themselves as some of the finest BRITISH car marques in the world.

says it all there mate…best of british…blind leading the blind there…you used to be able to take the roof off of a range rover with about 20 10mm speedscrews…rolls loyce and aston nowadays still have their captive markets…at a price…britains best was poorly built,with a bone idle poor quality,and poorer attitude unioned to death workforce,hence the great demise of anything built in Britain.

111

I find it mildly amusing that anyone would mention Land Rover when talking about vehicle build quality.

Sent using smoke and mirrors

112

newmercman:

switchlogic:

Carryfast:
On that note hopefully if we get Brexit we’ll at least be able to spec them again here.Like the rest of the English speaking world.

That’s some serious wishful thinking!

No Luke, it’s not wishful thinking, he’s off his nut!

Driving a lorry with a Fuller is a PITA, I know because I do just that, compared to a synchro box it is a nicer change, as long as you get it right of course, which I do most of the time, it’s a nice simple glide from one gear to the next, I never use the clutch apart from pulling away, a split is almost effortless, just a quick lift of the throttle and it slips in sweet as a nut.

My other lorry has ishift and it’s much nicer to drive, especially in the mountains, the shifts go through seamlessly and when down changing to bring the revs up for maximum engine brake performance it changes far quicker than I can with a Fuller, meaning that freewheeling is kept to a minimum and that is much safer.

The reason I bought the lorry with the Fuller was nothing to do with its shift quality or any macho crap, it was simply because everything else about the lorry was exactly what I wanted and as I pay for any repairs, the added complications of ishift are a bit daunting, but I’ll tell you this for free, the next new one I buy will be an ishift, especially if I can get hold of one of those twin clutch ones, I honestly wouldn’t care if I ever held a gear stick again.

Off my nut leave it out.Given an objective comparison of customer acceptance,in the English speaking world away from all the EU bs,to date,of 18 speed v I shift I’d guess that the 18 speed is at least holding its own if not ahead.You’ve provided the reasons for that there yourself.Not surprisingly,as I said,in an environment in which a truck’s working life is measured in millions of kilometres and decades and in which added unnecessary complication is the anti thesis of that requirement.

Which leaves the question who would you rather employ.The type of driver moaning about ‘old’ trucks in the OP,who actually needs an auto shift,or one who’d actually prefer to drive an 18 speed but will drive the I shift if you really must have one. :bulb:

As for the superiority of constant mesh over synchro the explanation as to why even the I shift chooses the constant mesh format says it all in that regard.IE it’s simply unarguably the best choice of the three different types of manual/automated manual transmission design.Regardless of whether a driver is happy to actually drive the thing or not.Either because of a lack of ability,which is a scary prospect in the case of anyone driving any type of truck.Or the lesser issue of can just no longer be bothered.In which case like you and others give them an I shift but don’t call anyone who’d prefer the real thing and to drive the thing themselves,which I’d guess would include people like Robert 1952 or myself,as being ‘off their nut’. :unamused:

113

Best 4x4 by far. You can’t argue with LR’s sales success for decades.

Although it seems on here people will argue for the sake of it. And knock our own country for the sake of it too.

114

switchlogic:
Volvo have something much better, iShift

iShift…pull it backwards to go forwards :unamused: and push it forwards to go backwards :confused: :confused: :laughing: :laughing:

115

Carryfast:
Which leaves the question who would you rather employ.The type of driver moaning about ‘old’ trucks in the OP,who actually needs an auto shift,or one who’d actually prefer to drive an 18 speed but will drive the I shift if you really must have one. :bulb:

Where was the OP moaning about getting to grips with a manual? :open_mouth:
To me it read that he was happy to get stuck in and improve his skills…
You really are full of guff! :imp:

You did it a few pages back as well, claiming that new drivers are not capable of being proper drivers, like they’re genetically deficient in some way. Why don’t you stop looking at your ego in the mirror and get real… :unamused:

I’ve been asked to do a bit of stuff in an old ERF Olympic before, did I run away crying like a little girl?
No, like the OP I did what 99% of people would do and got stuck in…

So yeah, you’re off your nut! :smiley:

116

Radar19:

eagerbeaver:
Not so sure about that sweeping statement DD.

Rolls Royce, Land Rover, Aston Martin etc…

Rolls are owned by BMW and Land Rover are owned by Indian Tata Motors but were owned as part of Jaguar Land Rover by BMW at some point. Anything good about the British Auto industry is now owned by a foreign company.

Jaguar Land Rover were owned by Ford. Rumour had it that they wanted Jaguar so that the executives could have a decent motor to drive around in. BMW bought Rover (not Landrover) and we all know how that rose from the ashes and flew too close to the sun. Mini is still BMW.

117

Santa:

Radar19:

eagerbeaver:
Not so sure about that sweeping statement DD.

Rolls Royce, Land Rover, Aston Martin etc…

Rolls are owned by BMW and Land Rover are owned by Indian Tata Motors but were owned as part of Jaguar Land Rover by BMW at some point. Anything good about the British Auto industry is now owned by a foreign company.

Jaguar Land Rover were owned by Ford. Rumour had it that they wanted Jaguar so that the executives could have a decent motor to drive around in. BMW bought Rover (not Landrover) and we all know how that rose from the ashes and flew too close to the sun. Mini is still BMW.

I was wrong. Ford owned Jag whilst BMW owned Land Rover as part of the Rover Group buyout. Ford later bought the Land Rover brand from BMW.

118

caledoniandream:
So if you get the change to drive a older truck, enjoy it, learn from it, as it won’t come back ever,

True, in another thread about old Scania’s I mentioned that my work still has a 1988 Scania which has not been restored into a show truck so it shows its age. A few things took a bit of trial and error: Gear stick didn’t show you where the gears were so I probably went forwards a couple of times before getting reverse. Didn’t know how to turn it off either as I didn’t know about the lever next to the handbrake. Probably other odd things whilst getting high off the fumes and enjoying the noise.

The novelty for me is I was born in 1988 and own a few 80’s cars but didn’t think I would drive a truck that old.

119

Evil8Beezle:

Carryfast:
Which leaves the question who would you rather employ.The type of driver moaning about ‘old’ trucks in the OP,who actually needs an auto shift,or one who’d actually prefer to drive an 18 speed but will drive the I shift if you really must have one. :bulb:

Where was the OP moaning about getting to grips with a manual? :open_mouth:
To me it read that he was happy to get stuck in and improve his skills…
You really are full of guff! :imp:

You did it a few pages back as well, claiming that new drivers are not capable of being proper drivers, like they’re genetically deficient in some way. Why don’t you stop looking at your ego in the mirror and get real… :unamused:

I’ve been asked to do a bit of stuff in an old ERF Olympic before, did I run away crying like a little girl?
No, like the OP I did what 99% of people would do and got stuck in…

So yeah, you’re off your nut! :smiley:

You obviously missed the bit 'as long as it’s not a ‘crash box’.Bearing in mind that as has been said ‘crash boxes’ went out soon after WW2.Even that still being a case of get on with it bearing in mind that we still had things like a 1940’s Matador to drive on the council in the early 1980’s. :unamused:On that note I don’t think I’ve said anything different to nmm in that regard.

120

Carryfast:

newmercman:

switchlogic:

Carryfast:
On that note hopefully if we get Brexit we’ll at least be able to spec them again here.Like the rest of the English speaking world.

That’s some serious wishful thinking!

No Luke, it’s not wishful thinking, he’s off his nut!

Driving a lorry with a Fuller is a PITA, I know because I do just that, compared to a synchro box it is a nicer change, as long as you get it right of course, which I do most of the time, it’s a nice simple glide from one gear to the next, I never use the clutch apart from pulling away, a split is almost effortless, just a quick lift of the throttle and it slips in sweet as a nut.

My other lorry has ishift and it’s much nicer to drive, especially in the mountains, the shifts go through seamlessly and when down changing to bring the revs up for maximum engine brake performance it changes far quicker than I can with a Fuller, meaning that freewheeling is kept to a minimum and that is much safer.

The reason I bought the lorry with the Fuller was nothing to do with its shift quality or any macho crap, it was simply because everything else about the lorry was exactly what I wanted and as I pay for any repairs, the added complications of ishift are a bit daunting, but I’ll tell you this for free, the next new one I buy will be an ishift, especially if I can get hold of one of those twin clutch ones, I honestly wouldn’t care if I ever held a gear stick again.

Off my nut leave it out.Given an objective comparison of customer acceptance,in the English speaking world away from all the EU bs,to date,of 18 speed v I shift I’d guess that the 18 speed is at least holding its own if not ahead.You’ve provided the reasons for that there yourself.Not surprisingly,as I said,in an environment in which a truck’s working life is measured in millions of kilometres and decades and in which added unnecessary complication is the anti thesis of that requirement.

Which leaves the question who would you rather employ.The type of driver moaning about ‘old’ trucks in the OP,who actually needs an auto shift,or one who’d actually prefer to drive an 18 speed but will drive the I shift if you really must have one. :bulb:

As for the superiority of constant mesh over synchro the explanation as to why even the I shift chooses the constant mesh format says it all in that regard.IE it’s simply unarguably the best choice of the three different types of manual/automated manual transmission design.Regardless of whether a driver is happy to actually drive the thing or not.Either because of a lack of ability,which is a scary prospect in the case of anyone driving any type of truck.Or the lesser issue of can just no longer be bothered.In which case like you and others give them an I shift but don’t call anyone who’d prefer the real thing and to drive the thing themselves,which I’d guess would include people like Robert 1952 or myself,as being ‘off their nut’. :unamused:

When was the last time you drove a truck Carryfast old chap? Just the year will do… :wink: