Experienced professional truck drivers have picked up “tricks of the trade” over the years to help them with the operation of their trucks.
Some trade secrets are self-taught; others are learned from fellow drivers.
Mike Simons has over 16 years of professional driving experience and shares these extremely handy tips to help you save time or money or both:
scaling out or axling out your load;
tip to prevent a diesel spill when pumping fuel at a fuel pump;
stuck trailer axles or tandems;
trailer lights that won’t work;
correct landing gear positioning;
performing inverter troubleshooting; and
evening out weight between drive axles and trailer tandems for better pulling power and a smoother ride.
We even have pages on
- ensuring a good winter trailer connection,
- how to do temporary and permanent crank handle repair and
- another on how to get rid of flies — both the common housefly and fruit flies — in your truck.
Additional Resource on Tricks of the Trade
Some of these resources have been provided by others.
- Beware of sparks around batteries
- Many uses for WD-40 in a truck?
- Recipe for stuck trailer axles
- Remove grafitti within two days easily from your truck
- Things that freeze on truckers
- Use a battery powered leaf blower to clean your trailer
- Use black jackets, bedding, hats, and duffle bags to keep the truck neat
Money saving tip: By using these time-tested tips, you may be able to save a significant amount of time, money and aggravation down the road.
For example, Mike is able to avoid any and all overweight fines associated with having too much weight on a particular set of axles on his truck by “scaling out” or “axling out” his truck.
