5 Money Saving tips to Avoid Spending on a Mechanichal Repairs and Learn to Do-it-Yourself Posted by DC Cargo Mall on October 21, 2013

Everyone knows that although buying your own truck- and a new one at that- is a hefty sum to pay, the payback is truly gratifying. It seems that an old beat up truck will win you more money, but at the end of the day you spent more on the mechanic than on your own dental insurance, and the new one would have saved you a couple good dimes.

But sometimes we have to first opt for the older one because we simply don’t have the funds to lay out for a brand new ride. So now it’s up to you to save yourself money and become a do-it-yourself guy. Yeah, you’ll have to spend money on tools, but in the long run, after using the same tools ten times each; you've saved more than you can calculate.

So let’s start with the must-have tips:

1. The Automotive Stethoscope – Be your Truck’s doctor

This funky tool will aid you in a wide range of problems and is not limited to a popped tire, or an oil change. Wear it just like a real stethoscope and scour for the problem via sound waves with the amplifier, and then dive more specific into the noisy area with the smaller metal probe. Finding the problem is already half the solution. Even if you don’t end up fixing the problem yourself after spotting the problem yourself, you will be able to tell the mechanic exactly that which is broken and he will not be able to overcharge you for unnecessary extras.

2. A Diagnostic Code Reader

Invest in a vehicle Diagnostic code reader. This is super practical for when you know something is wrong- you just don’t know what. This electronic device can be plugged into your connector under the dash (while the engine in off) and the screen will read a code that tells you what is going wrong. If you aren't a code maven – no problem, isn't that what Google is for? Just search up the results on the web and voila: there’s your diagnosis.

3. Brakes and Loading

The great big connection between your truck’s function and your safe-loading efforts, is that a short stop could mean life or death. Ensure that your break fluid and general breaking system are up to par.





If your truck does in fact have a malfunction, and a concrete boulder is packed unstably to the back, the impact could be a hard-on crash to the cab from the shifted boulder and a goodbye to your life, or at best, your mobility.

 California, get your game on. 155 people who killed within a two year period from objects spilled onto the road from neglectful loaders. Also in California, improperly secured loads accounted for 140,000 cubic yards of debris sprinkling the roads. In Georgia, 66 percent of road debris is the result of junk flying off of vehicles.

According to AAA’s foundation for Traffic safety, poorly secured loads are responsible for more than annual 25,000 crashes. To avoid becoming a statistic, we highly encourage the newest on safety loading equipment because an unstable load leading to an accident will, in a best case scenario, require an outrageous mechanical bill to repair your almost totaled truck.

4. A Flex-Head Ratchet

The ultra-thin head of this practical flex-head ratchet lets you squeeze into tight places, while the flex feature conveniently allows you to pivot the handle and get maximum leverage for loosening fasteners and spark plugs. The large plastic handle provides a grip for more muscle strength put towards where its really needed – for the ‘break’. 

Once the bolt comes loose, the handle just needs a 360 degree swirling and the bolts or nuts are out in seconds. It’s a must have tool, there are always the smaller spaces and it’s a pity to pay someone else to get into those nooks when you can do it yourself with this tiny power-tool.

5. Spark plug pliers prevent boot and wire damage

Grab hold of plug wires with pliers and you’ll for sure damage the boot. But the padded jaws on this spark plug boot pliers let you get a firm grip on the spark plug boot without tearing it. Slide it onto the top portion of the boot near the wire and clamp down. 

That’ll apply force to the metal clip inside the boot. Then twist and pull. No more torn boots or wires. That’ll save you dough on gradual dilapidated wire replacements and more.

 

There is just so much to save money on, and so many means of doing so, that we couldn't fit it all in one article. We do hope though, that this helps you through a fraction of your money saving goals, gives you a confident, do-it-yourself feeling, and gets you back on the road safer, and better than before.

Generational Prejudices: Benji's Response Posted by DC Cargo Mall on October 14, 2013

My name is Benji.

I read your last blog article, about breaking generational prejudices in the trucking world and it struck a cord with me.

I grew up in Boise, Idaho on a farm until the age of 16. But by then, I had already learnt to maneuver the tractor and horses and lawn trimming tools and everything else, and familiarity was a huge part of my cozy bubbled in lifestyle. Except that although I don’t remember why, whatever children did know me, were not exactly friends with me. They said it was because I looked scary and big but all I wanted was to have a friend and I couldn't help the way I’d been built.

The bullying only worsened after we’d moved to LA. We called a small 2 bedroom on the 8^th floor of a tall building overlooking the highways home. I used to stare out the windows in wonder all summer long when my parents couldn't afford summer camp. I’ll never forget the moment I made a life changing decision.

It was a Tuesday, I was on my usual perch at the window. The light was green. Then I noticed something. There were two large interior van trucks driving side by side and after rolling down their windows and exchanging a laugh, they slapped five, ignoring the honks around them, and then proceeded on each with their respective duties and zoomed off.

That was when I decided I was going to become a Truck driver. The more I thought about it, the more realistic, and the more exciting it sounded. I did know how to run our tractor after all back in Boise. The Trucker that always came to pick up our potatoes let me have a ride around the farm once also. So I had experience, I reasoned.

Then, this moment of camaraderie between two truckers set it in stone in my mind. Truckers are friends with other truckers, so truckers have the magical key I’d always wished for: FRIENDS. My dreams weren't a phase and by the time I was 18, I was enrolled in the local CDL training course. It was much harder than I thought. Firstly, my parents were unsupportive, so I worked lugging equipment for a store and helped them load trucks to earn the money myself. I convinced myself it was an internship. When I’d finally earned enough to start school, I did. But then lessons were difficult and I failed. I didn't want to give up. So I did it all over again. Then I passed. It was the proudest moment of my life at that point.

I didn't know if I was going to have any friends to slap five down the road, or if any of the truckers would like me because I was younger but towering over them. But I wanted to be a trucker and it didn't matter because I’d gotten my wish. I showed all the older drivers that I was friendly and open to the sage advice they had to offer. I broke prejudices in my own world at least.

Eight years have passed since graduation. I’m almost thirty. I have a couple of close truck buddies and sometimes I drive to Idaho just to give a hitch to bored little farm boys, the kind I used to be. I was able to give lots of advice to a friend who’d been hauling around a tractor and he never forgot it. 

My ‘internship’ turned out to be the biggest advantage of my pre-career in my life. All that time spent pumping ratchets, affixing winches, tightening chains, bolting safety hardware and hooking up rings, not to mention all that muscle building exercise in lugging freight, brought me to the point I am today. That point? I have the safest truck in all of LA, or so I believe. I want to thank DCCargoMall.com. Because if it weren't for your specialty discounts and personal advisory phone calls where you took the time to help me out, I would not have been able to afford, or understand true safe-loading.

Oh, and my parents support me now.

Thank you. 

The Newly Modernized World of High Capacity Loading Posted by DC Cargo Mall on June 17, 2013

Shipping cargo overseas was not always so easy.

There were horses, there were buggies, and there were ships. Eventually, there were bikes, and better yet, tiny cars.

As time went on, and progressions took place, the truck and the plane and the modernized boat revolutionized what we now know as cargo loading and shipment.

Moving across the globe to Australia not only became a possibility, but hauling every armoire and car thousands of miles away suddenly did not seem so miraculous anymore. It’s quite ironic, that the easier it gets to do the seemingly impossible, the more we take it for granted.

In our days of old, farmers would transport their produce and hay via a small wagon, and business men their goods, by tying rope around each load at most, to keep from falling. When more freight needed moving, more than one wagon, or multiple trips, were the sorry solution.

Nowadays, a consistently growing capacity of shipment methods is taking place.

 Take a plane’s cargo hold, such as the world’s biggest transporter, the Antonov AN-225. This Russian developed plane was originally built to carry a space shuttle, and has been recently refurbished. It can now hold over 250 tons, about 4 military tanks, or 80 cars! Its wingspan is almost the length of a football field, which explains it, well, partly.

 Then there’s the CMA CGM Alexandor Von Humboldt. This grand wondrous cargo boat easily defines the word enormity.  And its capacity? A maximum of 16,020 TEU. (Twenty-foot-equivalent-unit)

 

As for trucks, there is the ‘Titan Terex’. This monster truck is a site to be seen. It is one-of-a-kind. Literally, only one of these grand things were ever built. It has been the world’s largest and highest capacity truck for over 25 years until the invention of the Caterpillar 797-F, an even larger version costing five million dollars just to construct. 

 

 You can only begin to imagine, that at this trucks capacity- a baffling 400 tons, the amount of heavy-duty straps, chains, or otherwise needed for safe loading. 

We are so lucky to have transportation of heavy items, sent in bulk, so quickly, efficiently, and at unlimited distances.

What we must take a moment to stop and remember, is that the only reason that tanks are not flying about in the belly of the transport plane, and why that enormous coil ring is not rolling off of the flatbed, why those boxes of chickens are not tossed about inside the truck’s interior van, and why the enormous shipload stays in place in spite of rocky waves, is due to cargo securing equipment, and is dependent on the expertise and carefulness of the loader- that’s you!

More specifically, straps, chains, hooks, and the like, hold more significance then we think. If safety is your priority, and loading your expertise, visit us at DCCargoMall.com to learn more safety tricks, and get any loading equipment you need, provided here only with the highest in caliber and quality.

Why is Everyone Afraid of Trucks? Posted by DC Cargo Mall on June 11, 2013

The burning question is often pondered, if not poised, or it is stated, and treated as the norm.

But the ones who are afraid are not exactly wondering why. 

They just want you off the road, and fast.

What they may not be considering is that every envelope of mail, box of food, and constructive material is hauled around via the truck, and they need us.

Ridding this fear off the roads can give the public a better appreciation for what trucking is really all about.

So what IS it about trucks that scare the rest of the vehicle population just so badly?

Is it the enormity of these truck bodies, that outweigh the proportion of the other, more petite cars on the road?

Is it that the materials carried sometimes weigh thousands of pounds, and the loads, on flatbeds, are sometimes open for the world to gawk at?

Or perhaps it is a fear factor for some, that the cargo carried is many a time hazardous material, or toxic waste?

We mustn’t forget that a healthy dose of warning is necessary for fellow drivers to keep a safer distance and keep out of the grand trucks way. 

Regardless, we need to revolutionize, and begin to form solutions and give off friendlier vibes to the surrounding traffic. 

Here are 5 of the things you can implement to lessen the prejudice:

1.       Make sure you know the measurements of your truck so that when reading signs that tell you which roads can be tread with exact measures, you know where you fit in. Realizing all too late that you are too tall to pass under a bridge, or too wide to fit through a tunnel, you can say goodbye to your little friend, called ‘Life.’

2.       Driving on the right of the other smaller vehicles is the way to go.  Unless there is traffic, other drivers getting on the right of you is dangerous on their part, and if avoided, more safety is ensured for all involved.

3.       Remember, the heavier your load is, the longer the braking time it takes to slow down speed. A substantial amount of extra space should be exercised between the vehicles on the road.  Trying to beat superman and get bumper to bumper with other cars to get to your destination faster, could end you up in a situation where you never made it to your destination at all, unless of course, you were on your way to deliver pizza to the angels in heaven.

4.      Loading and unloading your truck according to rules and regulations are probably one of the most vital tools to be taken ultra-seriously. This includes making sure that all straps are without tear, chains not bent/broken, hooks sharp and fully curved, tracks fastened sturdily, and all cargo secured tightly and on every side necessary.

5.       Checking to make sure that all lights, brakes and brake fluid, load securement items, tire air, and more are in superb condition before heading out is a must. This small portion of time set aside for checking will make your life a whole lot easier than the trucker in the lane next to you with a flat in the middle of the highway, or that other flatbed trucker on exit 92 whose cargo tumbled off to the side, leaving him with repair debt and a failed trucking mission.

All in all, assuming you now have at least a bit more of an idea of why the phobia of trucks is so rampant, let’s jump on this bandwagon (or Truck!) and make some change.

Luck to all. Safe driving!

Inspection is Hip Posted by DC Cargo Mall on June 03, 2013

The rules out there for truck securement are not there just to keep you on your toes. They exist to keep you alive and to keep your cargo in one piece.

 Let’s face it. Truckers would be out of business if not for the need to move the cargo that they haul.

  It all revolves around the cargo and its securement, but at the end of the day, it’s up to you to ensure that these standards placed by the FMCSA are adhered to in a no-kidding manner.

And it isn’t because inspections crop up on the roadside and you want to be prepared. Because whether the principal is watching the student or not, the school is there for his knowledge bank to inflate, and ultimately, for his own benefit. Trucking isn’t all that different.

Secure your load properly, and the value of hiring you to transport loads has just gone up one-hundred percent!  Similar to the graded student, your ranking is recorded with authority, and whatever decisions you make or don’t, will come back to bite you in the face, good or otherwise.

Take Y. Tager for example. He is out of the business before his time and is now working at a factory, screwing caps on bottles. He says he is qualified for the trucking industry and devastated to be removed of the privilege to continue. He was extremely knowledgeable in all the ins and outs, the rules, and the tricks.

“I knew how to pull the wool over various authorities’ eyes, as far as load securement goes.” He reminisces thoughtfully. “But,” He adds, “In the long run, I’m screwed.” Tager explained that on one of his routes, where he side stepped a couple violations, and got by without quite enough ratchet straps, it happened. He even remembers the song that blasted from his old radio as he swerved ‘round the bend and the contents of his trailer broke loose. The entire truck went on a mad frenzy and picked up momentum as it swirled into a circle, hitting an empty parked bus, and downing a tree.

“I got lucky,” he reminds us.  “I could have died in a few seconds flat. The bus could have been full. My cushioned seats happened to save my life but it was then that it hit me that it isn’t about whose watching and who isn’t. It’s about you making sure to watch yourself. I had a clean slated record of CSA compliance rankings like you wouldn’t believe, in spite of my violations, because hiding was my expertise. But in 20/20 hindsight, I obviously needed to inspect my truck's safety for my own benefit.”

He concludes that he is lucky today that he has not wound up in jail from killing someone in the accident, and that he has not wound up dead. His truck license though, is a thing of the past, and as he finishes capping on his last few bottles at the factory for the day, he shows us a beautiful picture on his now tiny mobile phone, of a shiny red truck with his smiling face in the window.

He advises to replace damaged parts instead of repairing them, or to at least spend well-worth amounts on proper repairs instead of doing it yourself, and to inspect details often.

“My truck is gone, and some of my dignity too, because that was my passion. I learnt the hard way, but I share my story so that others learn the easy way, and don’t follow my path.”

He learnt to think of inspections as a doctors’ visit for his child. “You want them to be okay, right? Even if you take care of them, you want the professionals to come and say yeah, that’s a guy we want hauling our stuff around, we feel safe around him on the road. That’s my dream.”

Tales of A Rusty Track Posted by DC Cargo Mall on May 13, 2013

 

       "The tracks that lined my interior van were getting rusty,” notes Joe L., a private truck owner in New Orleans.

Joe says he’s been in the trucking industry for more than a decade, but he is quite fed up with having to change his trucks ‘diaper’ as he likes to call it.

“I like to keep my truck a clean and shiny ride, and a healthy breathing environment.” Because of his proper upkeep, Joe complains that the rust and other easily damaged loading items he purchases require constant refurbishing or replacing.

His logistic tracks, for one, must be changed as soon as the rust begins crawling its way in. “My son Lucifer is a great helper and loves to be my loading partner, but he’s allergic to the bacteria that grows on these tracks and hooks, and I sometimes have to find a replacement helper so that he can stay home and sneeze!” Joe laughs. “But this is actually no joke!”

“Just the other day”, Joe told us, “I had to let my son off the hook, no pun intended, and let him rest off his allergies, while I did the lugging myself. At one point, I just really needed some help, couldn’t do it m’self, so I called my friend Abe who lives down the block, to lend me the hand that I so desperately needed.”

Joe adds that unfortunately, Abe’s usual capabilities were compromised, when he scraped his seemingly invincible huge arm across the sharp ends of his logistic track. “Abe needed stitches. My truck basically became an ambulance for the day, and I lost some business, and kinda’ lost some trust from my old friend too.”

Left on his own, with a huge truck to load, a friend in the hospital, and a son confined to his house with the sniffles, Joe was at a loss. “I was completely exhausted and just wanted to crawl into my sleeper and catch some shut-eye.”

In his sleeper though, more problems arose.  His handy trailer-hook ratchet straps that were now useless as they did not connect to the Logistic Track that covered the walls, were strewn across the floor haphazardly. Rust and dust and mold and every other microscopic creepy crawler had found a home in his sleeper. “I almost decided to sleep outdoors that night, if I could sleep at all, that is.”

“That’s when I came across Dccargomall. My son had been browsing the internet back at home, and had found a lovely site full of solutions to my saga.”

He was shocked at what he’d been missing all these years. “I could have saved myself a lot of trouble, but it’s never too late…” he adds. 

Joe hungrily selected a  zinc-plated logistic track that was rust resistant, a D ring that would connect his formerly useless strap to his new E-Track, an actual E Track Ratchet strap with spring E fittings for when he just wanted a quick click, and E Track Ratchet strap with spring E fittings that snugly covered the sharp edges of his tracks. 

“I’m excited to have my Lucifer back on the team, and Abe was excited about the new plastic end-fittings. He decided to give me another chance when I guaranteed him a safe experience with his new phobic no-scratch policy.”

Joe keeps coming back to get more. But it isn’t because his old parts need constant replacements. He now browses just for fun, and is enthusiastic about adding any measures he possibly can to ensure safe and secure loading in a host of innovative ways.

“I couldn’t recommend this site enough.  I think of it as the Doctor for my truck. If I want the security that I am guaranteeing to my trusty load helpers and if I want my load secured in the best possible fashion, to ensure no spillage, breakage, or uneven loading caused road accidents, then dccargomall.com is the go-to for me. Thank you.”

You’re very welcome, Joe L.