For owner-operators of a trucking company, keeping up to date with proper maintenance techniques is essential to staying competitive and extending the life of your truck. The truck is what makes you the money and it should be treated with the utmost care if you want to run a stable and successful trucking business.
In order to prevent major truck maintenance issues, stay on top routine checks, preventative maintenance, and simple replacements. Doing so could save your trucking company valuable time and money by preventing serious and costly truck maintenance issues later on.
Consult the maintenance manual that came with your truck and talk to a trusted mechanic to find out what regular checks your truck specifically needs. Truck maintenance checkups will vary based on the type of driving you do. Driving at higher speeds, up steep inclines, or with heavier loads will increase how often you should assess the state of your truck. Making sure your Tires for commercial truck are up to scratch and making sure you have a good supplier of new tires will make the process a lot more straightforward if they need replacing.
After talking to a trusted mechanic, develop a preventative maintenance schedule so you can stay up to date with all your truck maintenance needs. Depending on your own mechanical and technical skills, these plans may vary. A simple plan that doesn’t require any technical skills or special equipment will include checks on tires, engine oil, lights, filters, wipers, coolant, and belts or hoses. A more technical preventative truck maintenance plan will include checks on brakes, drive axles, wheel seals, exhaust, drive-line, transmission, batteries, suspension, steering, clutch, and engine.
When assessing your truck maintenance needs, it is important to keep the Department of Transportation requirements in mind. The DOT conducts roadside maintenance checks and requires annual inspections so owner-operators need to make sure they are on top of their truck maintenance or else risk getting shut down.
Keeping up with proper truck maintenance is essential to staying safe on the road and extending the life of your fleet. Proper preventative maintenance plans will save you time, money, and headaches from the government.
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