If you can’t fix it, Duck it,
And if you can’t Duck it, ■■■■ it! 
I’m quite proud of the fact I’ve never had to call anyone out in Europe. Always managed to get the truck moving again. Tyres, water leaks, flat batteries, airlines, airbags, bulbs.
But then I’ve always worked for companies that think highly of a driver that can get the truck home.
welshboyinspain:
bigvern1:
Not bolshy at all. We have a good boss who looks after us, so if anything happens it’s dealt with.
Without being too pedantic…I would obviously change bulbs, or change a wheel if poss. But a mechanic I ain’t.
So what else can I do?thats not how your post comes across
bigvern1:
None.If it breaks Im not paid to fix it.
Yeah, but the question was" Do you carry tools?" No I don’t!
only the basics but always bulbs air line and electrical suzie.
I always carry duct tape, came in handy when a Romanian took my n/s mirror off my 6 day old truck while I was asleep in Stuttgart
Do you not have to carry bulbs by law in Europe or France so are you expected to fit them 
, I ask as my car went in for an MOT test in Oct and the n/s side light bulb was off so I was giving the chance to change it as this was the only fault, after 15 minutes I give up and said I will come back the next day. I had to remove the front bumper and headlight unit to get access to the bulb (Citroen C5) wouldn’t like to do this at the side of the road with a French copper watching over me, may have the same problem with some trucks ■■
Always carry a few of the bits others have said.Company supplied suzies,filters, bulbs etc. I would have my littel bag of Clouseau ‘tuuls’ and a bit of an electrical stash.I’m no Hungarocamion driver,and know when to give up, but a bit of time to either fix a problem or a temporary fix to get it to someone that could is time well and profitably spent.
I was on my way to Milan for Staceys of Cheshunt in the early eighties,driving a 110 Scania.Just passing through Susa when the engine started to rattle,so i managed to make it onto a dusty car park of a restaurant.No mobiles back then,but used the phone in the restaurant to call Gerry,told him that the motor had dropped a valve " how do you know " he said… " Because i have got the rocker covers off & i can see 1 missing " was my answer. " Sit tight, i will send another unit down " he said.
4 days later,after a good weekend with an owner driver of called Pete from the Leeds area driving a Volvo NAJ 99P ,a recovery lorry with another 110 on suspended tow turned up,i hooked up to my trailer & on my way.
I only had the basic tools with me but was enough to find the problem. Good old days 
switchlogic:
I’m quite proud of the fact I’ve never had to call anyone out in Europe. Always managed to get the truck moving again. Tyres, water leaks, flat batteries, airlines, airbags, bulbs.But then I’ve always worked for companies that think highly of a driver that can get the truck home.
I on the other hand have not, and i know of one such occasion where the throttle cable snapped on a hire truck in France, the driver got the fiiter who got sent out to botch it up so they could make the ferry and ordered the cable whilst on the boat to save them dollar and time, he didn’t even get a thank you
As for blown bulbs if it is reasonably accessible and i have access to a new bulb, either in the supplied kit in the truck or by buying one from a shop with company fuel card (as getting money back can be an issue),sometimes, i will and have replaced bulbs, secured a curtain after the front ratchet was ripped off by a overtaking jeep, as for the rest if the boss wanted us to play at being a fitter he would supply air /electric suzies and the tools to do the job,
I’ve never crossed the water without a tool kit and spares like bulbs, hoses, filters and most of all…air bags, think I’ve changed 7 air bags by the road side in the last 5 years!
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Yep, surprised people dont have the basic gear. Carry basic tools,plus various pushfit connectors, cable ties, fuses,odd relay the obligatory Duck tape. Cant understand the “its not my problem” attitude. Oh hum, different folks and all that.
Well some company’s don’t want their drivers meddling with their vehicles , and as such do not provide tools apart from what if any tools that are supplied as standard by the manufacture, so apart from this and a bit of a bulb kit (that isn’t always restocked) as we do not use the same vehicle at the time, if a driver did decide to buy air couplings Suzie’s electrics abs ect the boss would have a fit, and driver if was daft enough would be lucky to get re reimbursed for them,
but as most the fleet is under 5 years old and is serviced regularly as well as the 6 weekly inspections very little actually has gone wrong, when it has the vehicle has been recovered and either repaired out in euroland or towed or transported back to blighty,
not to mention that with most of the modern trucks there is very little that a driver with a few tools could do if something serious developed engine wise due to all the electronics involved that control everything, but if they want me to carry Suzie’s ect then they had better supply them, we are lucky to have enough straps sometimes
I have a full toolkit, spare bulbs, suzies, torque multiplier for wheels, some wires, tape and lots of other crap
kind of sorry I haven’t had a chance to use most of it nor to help anyone else but I still have my war stories of changing a turbo with gaffer tape and beef jerky in minus verycold
milodon:
I still have my war stories of changing a turbo with gaffer tape and beef jerky in minus verycold
I can’t beleive either how a lot of driver’s don’t carry the basic tools with them,I’d rather fix it myself,or at least try to,before having to call the office or call a garage out,it saves sitting there on the side of the road freezing,as it’s usually in crap winter weather when you get problems.
I carry a small toolbox with just about everything like sockets,spanners,screwdrivers,circuit tester and an array of nuts,bolts,screws and electrical terminals.
The most important thing I carry though is a set of jump leads.
A few years ago I was trying to get my FH back home on a Friday evening from Dijon,the alternator had packed up and our boss arranged for one of our driver’s who was on his way out for the weekend to meet me on the road with a replacement.
I eventually had to stop at Yutz,between Metz and Luxembourg,as it was getting dark and the batteries had just about given up,and when the voltage gets low the truck will just shut down on it’s own.
The other driver arrived half an hour later with the alternator,so it was cab up and swap alternator’s,but not before having to take the pulley off the old one and fit it to the new one.
The batteries were by now dead,but I soon had the truck started with my life saver jump leads.
In this day and age of electronic wizardry on modern trucks it’s not always possible to fix it yourself,but when I first started driving International in the early 80’s sometimes there was no other choice.
If you had problems in the middle of nowhere in Eastern Europe there wasn’t the option of calling out the local Scania dealer,basically because there wasn’t one,and even if there was,you then had the problem of finding a phone!
Sometimes I think that if a driver has an attitude of ‘I’m not a mechanic’ or ‘It’s not my job’ then he shouldn’t be driving long distance.
In Holland for instance,it’s part of a driver’s training to know how the truck works and how to fix it.
billybigrig:
milodon:
I still have my war stories of changing a turbo with gaffer tape and beef jerky in minus verycold
I carried lots of tools & spares and one weekend I changed 2 head gaskets on my F12 at La Jonqera on a Sunday morning, having arried Saturday evening with it ‘chuffing’ it’s brains out between cyl’s 1 + 2.
I never went anywhere without my tin opener
Ross.
You can have as many computers as you like but if a jubilee clip wont tighten up or a bottom hose splits, no end of laptops will fix it, it could be something as simple as an inline fuse for the radio, but you may need to remove part of the dashboard. In this weather night heaters are going to pack up and after removing the pubic hair and socks, the next best thing is to check the glowplug for carbon deposits or diesel.
No one expects you to rebore an engine using a meccano spanner, but a box of bits & poeces, a few tools and a sense of adventure is necessary 
There always seemed to be a couple of spare ones on any ferry when you just wanted to eat and chill out.
I carry a set of screwdrivers, a few spanners, a set of mole grips, some bulbs and other bits n pieces and a hammer.
The main tool in my arsenal though is, my company mobile phone.
billybigrig:
milodon:
I still have my war stories of changing a turbo with gaffer tape and beef jerky in minus verycold
For goodness sake, no wonder it went wrong 
Turbo’s are supposed to move (spin), you should have used WD40
I’ve seen this posted somewhere, but can’t find it quickly, so I’ve posted the original.