3-4 days off the road is nothing unusual, a day was to make sure the motor was back in the depot and not stuck out on a run.
Jet washed free of grease and serviced on return from MOT
As already mentioned there is the best part of a day consumed in steam cleaning, inspecting, getting authority, ordering parts and if necessary un/loading the vehicle for roller brake test and the actual test. Add on the present for test and a good many hours have gone by without any actual work being done. A huge amount depends on the type of work the vehicle does, how often it is inspected, whether minor defects are rectified at each inspection, or maybe saved up becasue they are serviceable and then attended to at annual MOT. Again as said the MOT is a minimum standard, it is time to tidy up the vehicle and carry out permanent repairs to all those temporary fixes done in a hurry - cable tied stitching of torn plastic mudwings etc. In many instances the time will also be used to carry out a service which may well be a lot more than just an oil change. For years an Item on Volvo’s annual service schedule was to remove the batteries, clean all corrosion off the battery tray and repaint it with anti corrosion paint.
It all depends on the operator and what is done during the year. If the workshop preparing the vehicle either knows what the vehicle is like and the possibility of damage, or saw it only a couple of weeks earlier, then it is quite possible for it to arrive Friday morning for test at 8am Monday. The garage won’t be happy though because that puts a lot of pressure on them.
Windrush is quite right, off road vehicles and on road tippers are going to need a lot more time particularly related to where all the accumulated dirt ends up. Drums full of slurry are going to result in definite failure.
In my opinion, a truck shouldn’t need prepping at all… maybe except for a good wash underneath.
Why aren’t all the potential MOT fails being picked up on inspection? Why isn’t the driver reporting defects and getting them sorted??
Not all companies are the same obviously.
my trailer (i can say my, becasue it is) came off the road friday 630am straight in for a wash, then had weights put on, brake test, then up for test at 1030, passed no probs 
, its all about how you maintain them, i would put any of my trucks in for test now
Darkside:
In my opinion, a truck shouldn’t need prepping at all… maybe except for a good wash underneath.Why aren’t all the potential MOT fails being picked up on inspection? Why isn’t the driver reporting defects and getting them sorted??
Not all companies are the same obviously.
Not saying that the motor doesn’t need prepping but it is on r+m contract at the main dealer that supplied it and it has never missed
an inspection.
I do wonder how thorough the inspections are, as some of the defects I have reported in the past, have not been rectified.
cav551:
(snip)As already mentioned there is the best part of a day consumed in steam cleaning, inspecting, getting authority, ordering parts and if necessary un/loading the vehicle for roller brake test and the actual test. Add on the present for test and a good many hours have gone by without any actual work being done. A huge amount depends on the type of work the vehicle does, how often it is inspected, whether minor defects are rectified at each inspection, or maybe saved up becasue they are serviceable and then attended to at annual MOT.
[/quote]Exactly. Generally most things were noted on the monthly service and a decision made as to when rectification was needed. The MOT inspection at a test centre is (or was?) far more involved than a roadside check (when the truck would be filthy underneath anyway) , so things like kingpin/shackle pin wear will be left until test time to repair. Also cracks in the body and chassis; weld them up at test and a month later the crack will be back, strengthen the crack with a plate and another crack will appear further along! Weld the body up; next load of hot tarmac and the body expanded (stand next to an alloy body when asphalt is loaded and listen to the noise as it expands!!) and the crack reappeared! Foden chassis x members were sods for minor cracking, especially on tippers where a lot of chassis flex was involved daily, so a line of weld just to get it through it’s test and then forget it until 12 months time again as a roadside check would not be concerned.
After all repairs were completed I loaded 15 tonnes on the trucks as they had to be presented loaded and gave them an hours road test to bed linings in and then readjust them and reinspect for oil and air leaks and roller test the brakes, then finally another swill off and away we went! Stop outside the test centre, get underneath to wipe all the oil from the Gardner sump!
Pete.
Steam clean 1 hour, they will book it as two hours.
Brake test 15 minutes.
Inspect for mot 2 hours.
Then its all depending on what you find as to how long it takes, as said above what people save on service repairs always costs them come mot time.
Darkside:
In my opinion, a truck shouldn’t need prepping at all… maybe except for a good wash underneath.Why aren’t all the potential MOT fails being picked up on inspection? Why isn’t the driver reporting defects and getting them sorted??
Not all companies are the same obviously.
We have had a it before where they prepped one truck but took a totally different ruck for test and it passed.
Trickydick:
Darkside:
In my opinion, a truck shouldn’t need prepping at all… maybe except for a good wash underneath.Why aren’t all the potential MOT fails being picked up on inspection? Why isn’t the driver reporting defects and getting them sorted??
Not all companies are the same obviously.
We have had a it before where they prepped one truck but took a totally different ruck for test and it passed.
[/quote]Back in the eighties we sold off two six year old Sed ak 400 tippers to the same haulier, he took one for test in the morning (it passed) and swapped the reg and chassis plates over from the other one and took the same one again and it passed!
Pete.
Darkside:
In my opinion, a truck shouldn’t need prepping at all… maybe except for a good wash underneath.Why aren’t all the potential MOT fails being picked up on inspection? Why isn’t the driver reporting defects and getting them sorted??
Not all companies are the same obviously.
Because wearing items that have allowable limits eg king pins approx 20 mm on the bottom bush may be worn to say 18 mm it’s not going to detected by a driver on a daily check or the vosa at a roadside check although It could possibly be measured by the pre mot inspector on the lean side and measured again by the mot tester a bit too much and be a fail, but some lorries eat king pins and if I’d got one worn I’d probably leave it until mot time to do it ,it’s not a kitten killer .
windrush:
dave docwra:
The MOT test for vehicles is the minimuim standard required in road worthiness, so my question would have to be, why is the vehicle needing three or four days preparation to meet the minimuim standard.Dave…
Simple really. Strip and clean or reline all eight brakes as steam cleaning washed a lot of crap in the drums, replace any worn brake clevis pins and bushes, shim/replace balance beams and bushes etc which needed doing annually unless on rubber, renew any worn kingpins and adjust any worn steering balljoints. On the body weld any minor cracks and shim or bush tipper bar. Tidy up paintwork and give a good grease round, re-inspect and then hope for the best! We had at least one truck a week for test and didn’t have that many failures plus it set them up for a few more months work.
Pete.
Some companies run vehicles below the minimum standard until MOT time, What I don’t get is why not replace wearable/service parts to avoid the major cost of having the work all done for the test instead of spreading the cost over the year, if there is that much ■■■■ around the back plates that wash into the drums causing the linings to become contaminated, how were the components checked during safety inspections.
Dave…
dave docwra:
Some companies run vehicles below the minimum standard until MOT time, What I don’t get is why not replace wearable/service parts to avoid the major cost of having the work all done for the test instead of spreading the cost over the year, if there is that much [zb] around the back plates that wash into the drums causing the linings to become contaminated, how were the components checked during safety inspections.Dave…
Brake lining wear was easily checked through the access holes each month. Our maintenance record was second to none, oils/filter/fuel filters changed monthly on 40+ eight wheelers. Rear brakes kept reasonably clean during the cleaning process and could normally be left unless an oil seal had gone (a very regular Foden axle problem, never really solved!) as the test run while loaded would warm them up and dry them off but the fronts would get all the oil and crap from the chassis lube that congealed around the springs, kingpins and brake cams/slack adjusters washed into them from the steam cleaning. A simple matter to strip and clean them and remove and grease the brake cams and paint the backplates to keep them rust free. Remove and regrease the hub bearings with new seals at the same time. As Cav said it was a good time to tidy everything up, the truck was going to be off the road for several days anyway regardless of the work involved so the time was well spent. If there was no spare truck available, or he hadn’t booked a week off which most drivers did, then the driver would amuse himself painting the bumper, fuel tank and mudguards etc.
Nowadays though I’m guessing that downtime is kept to a minium and having a vehicle off the road for several days isn’t acceptable any longer? All rush rush rush! I remember back in the sixties one haulier who took a lorry (a four wheeler Dodge dropside) off the road annually for one month, he took the body off to repaint the chassis and would rebuild the engine and gearbox at the same time to hopefully give him another years trouble free running, alas those days have long gone.
Pete.
dave docwra:
dSome companies run vehicles below the minimum standard until MOT time, What I don’t get is why not replace wearable/service parts to avoid the major cost of having the work all done for the test instead of spreading the cost over the year, if there is that much [zb] around the back plates that wash into the drums causing the linings to become contaminated, how were the components checked during safety inspections.Dave…
Very true. The MOT prep was often the only time the vehicle got anything actually done unless something had fallen off. I used to get fed up with reporting defects only for them to be downgraded to ‘report’ simply because the customer didn’t want to spend the money. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard: " leave it, it’s going soon" only for the old dog to be hanging around for another year. I would laugh my socks off when the thing eventually reappeared on a hook, along with much weeping and a wailing and a gnashing of teeth about a missed delivery and an upset customer. Nemesis.
Or like a midland hauler my mate George worked for …a flat trailer kept in the yrd only for test (great tyres,painted nice etc) .George was told work local from the main depot (he ran the motor from a sw Scotland outreach depot)till he got his unit back …he was ower the moon new tyres ,the old scabby front bumper replaced ……………………looked real good going for test.,came back in passed ,bumper off old scabby back on no one thought to tidy it up and the new tyres on alloy rims taken off and the old near done recuts on scabby rims put back on.,i remember he told me the driver seat was worn out and they got one from a motor round the back that had been in a bad accident absolutely sodden with green moss on it and told him job was a good un!! talking about late 80s
ooppps cider fingers!
My daf went in 2016, still waiting for it to come back
Punchy Dan:
Darkside:
In my opinion, a truck shouldn’t need prepping at all… maybe except for a good wash underneath.Why aren’t all the potential MOT fails being picked up on inspection? Why isn’t the driver reporting defects and getting them sorted??
Not all companies are the same obviously.
Because wearing items that have allowable limits eg king pins approx 20 mm on the bottom bush may be worn to say 18 mm it’s not going to detected by a driver on a daily check or the vosa at a roadside check although It could possibly be measured by the pre mot inspector on the lean side and measured again by the mot tester a bit too much and be a fail, but some lorries eat king pins and if I’d got one worn I’d probably leave it until mot time to do it ,it’s not a kitten killer .
tell that to the kittens mother
Darkside:
In my opinion, a truck shouldn’t need prepping at all… maybe except for a good wash underneath.Why aren’t all the potential MOT fails being picked up on inspection? Why isn’t the driver reporting defects and getting them sorted??
Not all companies are the same obviously.
Cause and effect with DVSA cherishing first time MOT pass rate with operator compliance. Too much workshop time gets spent on MOT prep and PMI work suffers in a sort of vicious circle. Previously perfectly compliant operators would just give the truck a wash and take it for test if there was nothing obvious on a walk round. Every so often one would fail on headlight aim or 1% on parking brake but big whoop.
My opinion is it was safer when workshop time went on general roadworthiness rather than an obsession with 1st time MOT pass which really means nothing.
Has the thread lost an n or gained a u cos if it’s the latter it might take longer 