Simon:
I’ve seen this posted somewhere, but can’t find it quickly, so I’ve posted the original.
You mean my post on the first page of this thread maybe? 
welshboyinspain:
typical response really for drivers nowadays not a shock, “not my job” attitude and then they wonder why they are being replaced by people who are willing to work.
typical muppis nower days coulint change a ■■■■■■■ light bulb
but do you blame them; would they get any thanks for it, would they ■■■■
companies now dont want there drivers totching the truck as they see a driver is a driver and nothing ells
they would prefere you called scany out 100 euros coz they dont have to pay for it they are just folling orders from boss above
Sozzled…?
harry:
Sozzled…?
“Pale Ale”■■ 
I carry a decent socket set, with lorry sized sockets, spanners, screwdrivers, pliers, mole grips, a Stanley knife, an electrical tester, a hacksaw, a drill (powered from my inverter) various lengths of wire, every nut, bolt, washer and screw I’ve ever found.
Spare parts include belts and filters, bulbs, fuses, filters and spare lights (sealed units) 5gals of oil and 5gals of coolant, WD40 and Duct Tape, some spare lengths of hose and a cuddly toy!
I also have overalls and sheets of rubber to lay on should I need to get underneath.
Any problems I’ve had, I’ve been able to fix myself or at least limp to a garage with a temporary bodge up
newmercman:
Spare parts include belts and filters
Think you in the wrong job
mcgregors shafter:
newmercman:
Spare parts include belts and filtersThink you in the wrong job
Why? If a belt snaps I can fix it and continue, the chances of it breaking outside a garage are minimal, so it’ll happen in the middle of nowhere, if I keep running it [zb]s my batteries and I have no aircon if it’s hot out, which it quite often is.
I fill my tanks with nearly a thousand gallons of fuel each week, I can’t guarantee that I’m getting clean fuel all the time, if a filter clogs I can spin a new one on in 5mins and not be stuck on the shoulder.
Running in the extreme temperatures that I do, being stuck on the side of the road with a silly little fixable problem is sheer stupidity.
I’m in the right job, but it sounds like it’s the wrong job for you
newmercman:
Why? If a belt snaps I can fix it and continue, the chances of it breaking outside a garage are minimal, so it’ll happen in the middle of nowhere, if I keep running it [zb]s my batteries and I have no aircon if it’s hot out, which it quite often is.
suppose you carry a spare timing belt as well
newmercman:
Think you in the wrong job
was not being funny about it
just though you may of been better working under it then driving it
do you carry a spare wheel and 10/12 tone hydraulic jack?
mcgregors shafter:
newmercman:
Why? If a belt snaps I can fix it and continue, the chances of it breaking outside a garage are minimal, so it’ll happen in the middle of nowhere, if I keep running it [zb]s my batteries and I have no aircon if it’s hot out, which it quite often is.suppose you carry a spare timing belt as well
newmercman:
Think you in the wrong jobwas not being funny about it
just though you may of been better working under it then driving itdo you carry a spare wheel and 10/12 tone hydraulic jack?
I much prefer it in the driver’s seat, too much grief off of whinging drivers in the workshop 
but I’ll do what I can when the need arises, it’s all about balance, I may spend a couple of hours fixing something to get me back, but then I can leave it to the blokes in the workshop when I get home and have a few days off, rather than sitting waiting my turn in a garage somewhere miles away fom home
As for the timing belt, it’s gear driven AFAIK, luckily I haven’t had to delve that far into anything so it could be made from lego for all I know
I don’t carry spare tyres, but I have twins on the trailer, so unless it’s a front blowout or a double on the trailer or drive axles, I can limp to a tire shop and get it sorted. I do keep an eye on my tyre pressure though, the biggest cause of tyre failure and we also only use first life Michelins, so it’s not often an issue anyway, but I have changed the odd tyre in the past, or made the tea while the drivers that stopped to help me changed it, of course that was a long time ago when we used to help each other out 
I like getting on the spanners, before I sold up and got the ■■■■ outa Dodge, I did as much as I could on my own lorries, it was much easier to work on the old non electronic engines, but even on the most technological modern lorry you can still reline brakes/change pads and simple part replacements are easy enough and a hell of a lot cheaper and quicker to do yourself
So in summary, I’m not a madman who gets the tool box out for the sake of it, anything I can leave for the blokes back in the workshop gets left, simple as that, but anything that’s going to keep me out the road broken down that I can fix gets fixed
If you carry your own spares & tools on long distance you can choose where & when you have your breakdown. For instance something goes wrong on the trip you fix it & later you want a lie-in or a booze up that’s when you have your official breakdown with the evidence.,right outside the Routiers or on the beach. & official breakdowns are always longer.Like the queens birthday -the real one & the official one. If you are trundling around UK unless it affects you personally there’s no point in getting out & getting under.
funny you should say that Harry, I had a few problems that made me miss Customs on a Friday so I was stuck for the weekend, usually only happened in the summer though, especially if there was a beach nearby
Not so much fun in winter though, last year I had a problem with hoses blowing, I had a gearbox oil cooler go (which I limped to a garage with in case you were thinking I’m Mcgyver, mcgregors shafter ) the oil must’ve weakened the hoses and I replaced a few and bodged a few with Stan and a piece of copper tubing, had to do one right under the turbo and I still don’t have any hairs on my right arm 
it was -30 something and I was facing into the wind, I couldn’t do it with gloves on and a simple thing like undoing 2 jubilee clips and replacing the hose took me well over an hour. I couldn’t carry on because I was in the middle of nowhere, I couldn’t leave it until the morning or I would’ve been freezing my ■■■■ off all night, there wasn’t a soul about, so I had to get it done there and then.
I got the same with a Maggie in Europe’s worst Winter. The filter jellied up 9 times from Swiss to Zeebrugge. Had to change 'em on A/bahns in blizzards .The only good thing was the night heater worked all the time ,so I took the old filter off & put it in a plastic bowl in the cab to let it thaw out drove a few miles & changed them again. Lucky the filter was on the outside of the chassis at the back of the cab & easy to get at. Unlucky because of no protection it got the chill factor & froze,unlike my 140 where the pump sits on top & in the middle of the hot V8.
The load of Metal Box on a step frame was taken off at Thurrock & I went home to wait for the reload to Swiss. Next day got a call to reload the same stuff at Thurrock to take to S.Wales because of the weather no-one would do the job. Same thing with the filters down the M4 in thick snow. I stopped at a services with motors all over the place & the UK drivers sitting in the caff in the cold ,because the heating not working , waiting for an army of fitters to rescue them for trivial problems.
Going back to Swiss the Maggie broke down on the A/bahn with gearbox probs. the electric wires on the back of the gearbox had frozen & I had to limp into Swiss in low gears. It was my first time with this outfit. I jacked in in the morning ,in the afternoon I had started a new firm with a White Road Commander2 & on the way to Spain.
newmercman:
mcgregors shafter:
newmercman:
Spare parts include belts and filtersThink you in the wrong job
Why? If a belt snaps I can fix it and continue, the chances of it breaking outside a garage are minimal, so it’ll happen in the middle of nowhere, if I keep running it [zb]s my batteries and I have no aircon if it’s hot out, which it quite often is.
I became great friends with a driver at Norman Lewis just because of this reason. I spotted him parked outside a garage in France, it was closed and iirc was a Renault garage. Quite strange because this driver had an MAN and the routier was about 10km away. I pulled up to find him in tears almost, he had only burst an injector pipe but was destined to stay overnight until they could get MAN out to him.
I went inside and bought an injector pipe, the frog asked which one and I asked for the longest one he had. We threw the cab over on this MAN and I made the pipe fit by bending it around the engine, it wasnt clamped properly but the ends were the same, within an hour we were in the routier and I didnt pay for a meal that night. The next morning we called at a MAN dealer and bought the proper pipe and I fitted it on the roadside. I think I still have the old pipe in my box somewhere. I have certainly still got my injector pipe spanner as it was a great apprentice joke to give them a 17mm ring spanner and a new injector pipe.
Anyway that weekend we were both in Lloret de Mar and not on a motorway services in France. Something that cost a few quid is enough to ruin the evening without a few tools
Scanias always included a spare v. long injector pipe in their tool kit & it came in handy many times.
I’ve done the injector pipe with a ring spanner thing 
I had one go on a 143, the local Scania dealer didn’t have any V8 bits in stock, so It was one of those temporary ones, getting the spanner on at the end where it bolts to the injector is a bit tricky on a V8, so I used a ring, intending to slide it off the other end and turn the spanner round when attaching the pipe to the fuel pump, only I forgot, I did consider taking it off, but it was only a temporary fix, so I cable tied the spanner to the pipe so it didn’t rattle around a break the pipe. I got the correct pipe when I got home and as it wasn’t broke, I never fixed it, anyone who went under the cab after that always had a little chuckle when they saw the ring spanner cable tied to the injector pipe
In the current climate of health and safety a lot of what used to go on has now stopped, some of the repairs I’ve done on the road would be classed as madness now, but they’ve often got me home from a far off country, among many things, I’ve put blocks of wood between the trailer axle and the chassis and chained both axles solid when a balance beam on a spreadaxle cracked in two, this was on the way down, I tipped and reloaded the trailer and got it home. I drove a lorry back from Spain with no windscreen after a forklift smashed into the front corner and mangled it good and proper, imagine the drivers around today being faced with problems like that. The first thing they’d do is post on here whining about it, looking for sympathy
I drove an Iveco wag+drag from Rheims to Swiss on a Sunday with no power steering. It was a Sunday & had a front wheel blowout which took the hydraulics out. I took the wheel off ,bent & blocked off the broken pipe ,stuck on the spare & trundled down to Swiss. Terrible job at backing the trailer up to the ramp in Swiss.Never do it again.Would limp to the nearest Routiers & wait for help.
harry:
I drove an Iveco wag+drag from Rheims to Swiss on a Sunday with no power steering. It was a Sunday & had a front wheel blowout which took the hydraulics out. I took the wheel off ,bent & blocked off the broken pipe,stuck on the spare & trundled down to Swiss. Terrible job at backing the trailer up to the ramp in Swiss.Never do it again.Would limp to the nearest Routiers & wait for help.
Any self respecting driver would carry a spare pair of Mole grips and some tiewraps for that very reason
I always carried my toolbox/bits n bobs box in the side locker,saw me through the few problems I encountered on the road from 1980 until joining my presesnt company last xmas (no tool kit allowed now).
Once had a brake shoe break up between Madrid & Murcia,started binding & smoking as the broken lining overrode the remainder of the intact shoe. Limped to the packhouse then up early next morning, trailer wheel & drum off, removed shoes, disconnected brake chamber actuator & hoses, blocked off pipes with couple of bolts & jubilee clips, re fitted the drum & wheel, loaded that evening & ran back to the UK & tipped up north (Morrisons Bradford iirc) before getting it all sorted back at the yard. All done with a basic tool kit & the jack etc supplied with the vehicle. I know many lads who did major repairs at the roadside, from clutches & head gaskets,to injector pump drives & range changes, all with basic skills & tool kits in the main. mind you it was part of the craic then.
Had a front wheel bearing go in France & the boss sent a guy out from Swiss who handed over the new bearing & left me to it. It was a Sunday & an English driver said he would give me a hand after we had eaten. We had a big lunch ,got half cut & went out to fix the prob. At one stage the new bearing rolled in all the dust & this guy didn’t even bother to wipe it ,put it back together & it ran perfectly forever more.
a friend of mine broke down right before the irun border in france this morning, limping into the last services. the a/c pump had seized up and broke the belt. scania wouldn’t come out as it’s a private highway and the highways garage of choice, wanted €1300 for coming out, regardless of doing any work or not, any work done would be extra. the solution - €57 for a shorter belt that bypasses the a/c pump and €107 cab fare. took some wrestling on top of the engine to fit the belt without the special scania wrench but still, a lot of beermoney saved