Fifth Wheel Grease

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Whilst at work last night I managed to attract some Fifth Wheel grease onto my Trouser Knees whilst connecting the Suzi’s, it’s always the same after an Agency guy has had the motors :unamused: :unamused: :unamused:

Can they not just take care instead of getting everything greased up :imp: :imp:

Anyway, after the large black Dollop on my pants made worse by me trying to wipe it off with paper towels, I remembered the thread in here saying its hard to shift and the bin is the only place for clothes covered in the stuff, I told the Wife this morning and low and behold out came the Magic Squirty bottle and an hour or so later the pants were like new :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: not a trace of the grease in sight :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

Whats the Magic Squirty stuff called :question: :question: :question:

Well for anyone in the same predicament it was Fairy Liquid Foaming Spray, sprayed onto the grease and rubbed in, a little more squirting and left for 15 mins to soak then put into a cold wash, did the trick brilliantly :sunglasses:

Thank Goodness for Women, they do come in handy sometimes :smiling_imp: Lol :laughing: :laughing:

2

Davey Driver:
Whilst at work last night I managed to attract some Fifth Wheel grease onto my Trouser Knees whilst connecting the Suzi’s, it’s always the same after an Agency guy has had the motors :unamused: :unamused: :unamused:
Can they not just take care instead of getting everything greased up :imp: :imp:

Anyway, after the large black Dollop on my pants made worse by me trying to wipe it off with paper towels, I remembered the thread in here saying its hard to shift and the bin is the only place for clothes covered in the stuff, I told the Wife this morning and low and behold out came the Magic Squirty bottle and an hour or so later the pants were like new :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: not a trace of the grease in sight :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

Whats the Magic Squirty stuff called :question: :question: :question:

DAVEY I WOULD LOOK CLOSER TO HOME WHEN TALKING ABOUT DRIVERS at fwcc. my motor was used by fwcc drivers at a weekend and the state it used to come back in was disgusting. it aint JUST the agency bods.
there motors are all trashed. them M A Ns were a disgrace

Well for anyone in the same predicament it was Fairy Liquid Foaming Spray, sprayed onto the grease and rubbed in, a little more squirting and left for 15 mins to soak then put into a cold wash, did the trick brilliantly :sunglasses:

Thank Goodness for Women, they do come in handy sometimes :smiling_imp: Lol :laughing: :laughing:

davey, i would look closer to home when talking about FOWLER WELCH CC drivers and motors. my scanny used to get used by other drivers at a weekend by FWCC bods. and it used to come back in a right old mess. they are the scruffy est bunch ive come across.

you only have to look at the state them M A Ns were in b4 they went back… cost chris a fortune by all accounts.

i wouldnt go tarring agency bods like that with the scruffy gits at g/head. from personnal experience by the way. :wink:

3

Davey Driver:
Whilst at work last night I managed to attract some Fifth Wheel grease onto my Trouser Knees whilst connecting the Suzi’s, it’s always the same after an Agency guy has had the motors…

Agency drivers again…? My boss doesn’t allow agency drivers in the Scanias as each driver has his own motor. However, the air lines and suzies on all our Scanias are a tangled greasy mess. What does that tell you?

I share my DAF with an agency driver - he works days and I work nights. My air lines and suzies are bungied up so they never get tangled or dirty. What I find most irritable is when drivers leave their rubbish in the cab.

4

I guess there are good and bad agency drivers like there are good and bad company drivers.
Maybe the agency which Davey deals with is a bad agency, who only employ bad drivers, it’s very possible!

Anyway i got some of this stuff on my work fleece last year, just happened to be on my shoulder where i had brushed past one of the wagons in the yard. Didnt find it until I had driven my car with it’s pale blue leather trim home and found it smeared across the back rest :cry:

Out came the leather cleaner (saddle soap) and it came off easy as anything though. Fleece went through the washing machine and came out minus the grease. :laughing:

5

I am an agency driver and i always untangle the suzis when picking up a trailer. PLEASE DONT TAR US ALL WITH THE SAME BRUSH. I work for an agency because i like the flexibilty not because i can’t get a proper job. The number of times that i have picked up a trailer and when connecting up i have found that the regular driver has left everything covered in grease are too numerous to mention.Perhaps if drivers with proper jobs were taught how to lower and raise unit suspension the problem of fith wheel grease would go away.

6

Ok, I’ll stick me oar in here too.

Fifth wheel grease - Rub with Swarfega, rinse in COLD water,

Diesel on your clothes - Soak in Coca-Cola , Rinse in cold water, then wash as normal.

All for now

7

i hate fifth wheel grease with a vengance the worst is those that wipe the excess grease of on the side of the trailer. disgusting.

8

Kate:
Soak in Coca-Cola ,

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

You learn something new everyday!!

I’m sure Jess’s Dad will confirm but the motors at ASDA Normanton were a right greasy mess whoever drove them!!!

I always think it’s a ‘risky’ subject to say “agency drivers did it”. :open_mouth:

9

I used to clean my SA80 rifle in the army with coka cola is there anything it cant do?

10

Firstly I’ll point out I am not Tarring all Agency Drivers with the same brush :blush: :blush:

Due to the Agency Drivers we use, some are barely out of driving school as the wages are low and FWC are prepared to give them the chance to gain the experience.

We have one in particular who never makes any effort to keep the Suzi’s clean, and the hand rails behind the cab etc are always upto the eye’s after him.

As Terry rightly states, yes there are a “few” messy drivers however, give them their due, they may not keep the inside of their cabs tidy, but the insides and outsides of the cabs are never upto the eye’s in fifth wheel grease off them.

(One occassion an Agency Driver literally wiped the grease off his hands on the bunk of a brand new motor, he’s never been back since though)

I’m not in a position to have the same vehicle all the time, but litterally drive a different motor each night, you get to know the ones that are looked after and the one’s thats the pig sty’s, When a driver is off the vehicle is used by Agency during the day, and I get it on the night upto the eye’s in grease, now when you know the regular driver is keeping his motor particularly spotless, and between him parking it up and me taking it out there has only been an agency guy using it, I think you can agree that it speaks for it’s self, and yes, I do try and clean the thick of the grease off the hand rails etc despite not putting it there. :angry: :angry: :angry:

I now resort to making sure its noted on the defect sheet under “other” and making a note that the back of the cab is upto the eyes in grease,

11

I have spent about half of my time driving as an agency driver, I always leave the cab as I find it. As I normally do containers so the vehicles I use tend to have a regular driver, this means there is normally cleaning kit in them, if there is then I will use it, If not then I will take my rubbish with me but thats all.

12

I normally drive the same motor every day and share it with the same driver so it is kept clean but if I do use another I like to leave that vehicle as I would expect to find it clean and tidy it only takes two minutes to clean out and take your rubbish with you, and manky suzies I try to keep at arms length if I have the misfortune to encounter though I will always untangle if tangled as it makes my job easier when swapping around trailors

13

Have you thought that your suzi’s might’ve been stiff and rusty? Sometimes I have to use a little grease to help get em in, and when I do I curse the regular driver for not maintaining his motor!

14

Dapper Scavenger:
Have you thought that your suzi’s might’ve been stiff and rusty? Sometimes I have to use a little grease to help get em in, and when I do I curse the regular driver for not maintaining his motor!

Dip them in your fuel tank Dapper that soon sorts them out and diesels cleaner. :wink:

15

I had my own motor and my suzies were minging…
Well, what can you do after a couple of trailer swaps a day and they keep getting caught up on the trailer? Degrease them everytime? So long as the motor got a good degunge every weekend and started off Monday spotless, that was good for me.

If your nighting out and u havent got the luxury of a washing machine at the end of the day and then you get the crap on your jeans, try giving the said blob a good rubbing with johnson johnsons babywipes. Dont use the cheap crap Tesco’s own because they are that, cheap crap. However, i’ve found jj’s works everytime.

16

Spacemonkeypg:
I used to clean my SA80 rifle in the army with coka cola is there anything it cant do?

My missus got this in an email, you might be interested:-

  1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons
    of coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car
    accident.

  2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in
    two days

  3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and
    let the “real thing” sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric
    acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous China.

  4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a
    rumpled-up piece of Reynolds wrap aluminium foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

  5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of
    Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

  6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to
    the rusted bolt for several minutes.

  7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan,
    wrap the ham in aluminium foil, and bake Thirty minutes before the ham
    is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the
    Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.

  8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of
    greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The
    Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains.

  9. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

For Your Info:

  1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It
    will dissolve a nail in about?4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches
    calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase
    in osteoporosis.

  2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck
    must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for highly corrosive
    materials.

  3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean the engines of
    their trucks for about 20 years!

17

Davey, I always wonder why there is so much grease around the fifth wheel anyway? Fitters seem to take great pleasure in using huge amounts of the stuff when it really isn’t necessary. Too much grease means plenty to spare for the lip of the trailer which then gets onto the suzies, tangled or otherwise and hence to our clothes, regardless of who is driving! :imp: :cry:

18

I was once lucky enough to have such a clever agency driver in my truck , sooooooooooo king clever he didnt know where the gloves would be kept in an FH12 :question: ie in drivers side locker where gloves had been kept for years on the design of this truck, any how monkey hooked up and drove all day with ■■■■■ dirty hands and got grease all over seats /steering wheel etc, this was on what was then brand new truck :unamused:
All he had to do was ask someone where gloves where, the result was me spending couple of hours cleaning cab/ him not coming back on site and company charging for cab cleaning :question: which I did :question: and company refusing to use said agency again :open_mouth: what a shame :laughing:

As for removing grease from seats , clothes etc I use brake and clutch cleaner sprayed on , it sort of evaporates the dirty away :open_mouth:

Meatpaste, I found your post interesting and now think I will have to stop me and the kids drinking that gut rotting crap :imp:

19

Ladytrucker679:

Dapper Scavenger:
Have you thought that your suzi’s might’ve been stiff and rusty? Sometimes I have to use a little grease to help get em in, and when I do I curse the regular driver for not maintaining his motor!

Dip them in your fuel tank Dapper that soon sorts them out and diesels cleaner. :wink:

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: I never thought of that, but doesn’t that leave lots of gunk in the fuel tank?

20

fwiw, from THIS agency driver’s point of view…

My agency is a small affair, with 2 regular clients and a few occasionals.

My opinion is that if I want to keep being invited back onto a job I enjoy and quite frankly is a cushy number, then I should ensure there’s no grounds given to prevent me from doing so.

On both jobs, If there’s greasy tangled soosies, I take a photo with my camera-phone (upgraded especially to a Sony W800i so the quality is high enough to print if needs be). If there’s grot in the cab, I take a photo. If there’s damage to unit or trailer I take a photo. Anything whatsoever, I take a photo. The phone’s time isignia is set by the network so I can’t fiddle photos to show a different time of being taken, so it’s as good as guaranteed.

On one site, anything significant I make sure another driver, or a shunter, or the transport office know before I go, to prevent any problems.
If the soosies are REALLY gunged up as is often the case, then I couple up, then walk back for a fresh set so I don’t slop goobs of black slop inside the door pockets or under/beside the seat, and cos it makes my point that I’m unhappy with having to drive a dirty wagon.

The other job since there’s rarely anyone about and I’m using a salaried driver’s regular wagon for the run, I keep the same standard but fortunately they’re usually in a better state in the first place - but I make sure I take photos since there’s rarely anyone to point it out to.

Of course when I return on either job, they’re fuelled up, cleaned outside and in, and left as I found them. If it as filthy inside before though I’ll leave it as such, but with nothing added. I’m not there to valet them!!!

The drivers working on the same agency and same jobs as me are largely the same, without the photos. Many are ex-squaddie and take pride in making sure their equipment is clean and our gaffer is ex squaddie so he likes to ensure his reputation is good by drivers being clean, smart and doing a clean efficient job.
As a result his drivers get good regular work most of the year, and during lean times like now, we get priority over other agencies.

It pays dividends keeping clean. Plus, seeing as I’m paid hourly there’s no reason to moan about an extra 5 or 10 minutes spent cleaning out. Another couple of quid in the bank! Worth about £300 a year!!!

And still, if there’s any gunge where it shouldn’t be, it’s us agency monkeys who get the blamed by the regular drivers :frowning:
From what I see regularly on the site that shares wagons between drivers 1st come 1st served, the regular drivers couldn’t care less about keeping them clean since they consider themselves unsackable unless they crash a wagon, or thump someone and know they’ll probably have a different ride next shift and someone else will clean it out before they get it again.

but granted, some agency drivers are awful and poorly disciplined - but then they must live a life of working dozens of different jobs, no regular faces to get to know, and getting hassle from the agency about stuff they’ve done wrong.
I’ve only ever had hassle the once and I had photos to prove the wagon was a mess when I set off.

ps - top tip for the cleaning…
stain devil for grease, always use biological washing powder/liquid, and with plasticcy materials like hi-vis storm jackets, even a home jet-washer/pressure washer can be used (from a distance mind and not while wearing it, they’re high pressure and can cut material and flesh) for old worn-in stains.

also for grease on skin, steering wheel, handles etc, get some tesco deodorising wipes intended for women what like to stay fresh smelling at work when otherwise they may niff a bit after a long day. a bit like “sure deo-wipes” but cheaper and more wipes in a pack. lifts the grease right off and not as wet and sloppy as baby wipes.