What would you change about your truck?

[gant]

I only have a 6 speed and mine does hills great.. these allisons are great lol..

[Mort]

I've been to Missouri. There aren't any hills there. We had one job where anything more than 7 yards would spill out the back, the hill was so steep. There are plenty of first gear hills around here.

[Slick]

What would I change? Get RID of the new Trimble system that automatically puts you on a "ready to load" statis as soon as you pull into the GPS "fence " around the plant! I pull in and dump my rinse water and before I'm done, they already have me a load turning in the drum......You must call dispatch and tell them before you hit the yard that you need to do somthing. It's extreamly irritating.

[gant]

our GPS does that to us as well.. as soon as I pull off of the road and go through our gate it throws in the screen.. and some of our older trucks dont have gps so if we have like 3 or 4 of them come in the yard at the same time and I'm the only one with gps I get put in first and next to load unless the batchman catches it..

[dwfnga]

Jan 14, 2008 9:13:31 GMT -5 oldsmith said:

I wish my conveyor truck had the button on the cordless remote that pulled the truck forward.

I hear that, I get tired climbing in and out of the truck to move it up, or back. , I guess I'd just have to keep raising my outriggers by hand, OOOO wait I got to do that anyway

[oldsmith]

Apr 24, 2008 18:25:52 GMT -5 dwfnga said:

Jan 14, 2008 9:13:31 GMT -5 oldsmith said:

I wish my conveyor truck had the button on the cordless remote that pulled the truck forward.

I hear that, I get tired climbing in and out of the truck to move it up, or back. , I guess I'd just have to keep raising my outriggers by hand, OOOO wait I got to do that anyway

Man, that would be the cats a@@!!! Outriggers? Well I dont have any on my conveyor.

[Yard Bird]

I would like a bigger water tank, a better ladder for winter type work. lets see a built in refrigerator, a non-skip CD player. a better heater with better defrost. How about a mixer designed by drivers not engineers. After all they don't have to drive them we do, so why don't we have a say as to its drawbacks and features.

[concretejoe]

Dec 23, 2008 13:51:39 GMT -5 Yard Bird said:

... How about a mixer designed by drivers not engineers. After all they don't have to drive them we do, so why don't we have a say as to its drawbacks and features.

Why? Because the truck isn't designed, sold or purchased with us in mind. We are not the reason for any "improvements". Faster delivery, larger loads and less downtime is all that producers care about. Manufacturers care about what producers care about not what drivers want or need. Until we sign the checks, nobody is going to give a hoot what we think.

[Mixer Driver 69]

^^^ Even though we're probably the most important part of the ready mix industry, we're looked down on by contractors & customers. No one cares what we think.

[concretejoe]

Don't forget the companies we work for MD69. The president of our company has been quoted as saying that we drivers are a dime a dozen.

[LEAD DOG]

WHAT WOULD I CHANGE?...IF I COULD..IT'S OWNERS .

[mauserman]

I would take the radiator cap off my Sterling and drive a Mack under it ;D!

Seriously, I would replace the discharge console with the joystick/pistol grip I had in the KW I drove for my previous employer.

[dolese203653]

All i want is self-canceling turn signals and 4-way flashers that will still blink when you put your foot on the brake

[gant]

I'd get rid of my boosters and just have a straight truck.. alot less to clean and it would ride better..I hauled 13 yards in my old truck 04 volvo with a set back axle.. rode great.. good thing It wasnt going offroad

[Crazy Mudder Trucker]

Finally at last I have an automatic hand me down of course, but an automatic is an automatic. well as of right now I'd like to get my truck sandblasted and repainted, self-canceling turn signals a camera at the back of the truck. power windows, power mirrors and a jake brake

[gant]

I just want an am/fm stereo lol

[Mixer Driver 69]

No way our mixers will ever have a Jake Brake.

Doesn't your automatic have a passenger side power window?

[Peterbilt]

Only the new 1000 series have passenger side power windows

[gant]

our 07 volvo's have a power passenger window, but my "crappy" 06 doesn't

[Crazy Mudder Trucker]

Feb 15, 2009 23:52:12 GMT -5 Mixer Driver 69 said:

No way our mixers will ever have a Jake Brake.

Doesn't your automatic have a passenger side power window?

I wish, but I would much rather have a jake brake

[gant]

you have an auto with no jake/engine brake?? I bet it stops "great", mine stops really good with the engine brake and the auto downshifts like crazy

[Crazy Mudder Trucker]

Feb 16, 2009 8:59:20 GMT -5 gant said:

you have an auto with no jake/engine brake?? I bet it stops "great", mine stops really good with the engine brake and the auto downshifts like crazy

It sucks having no jake/engine brake. Then they wonder why the mechanics are always adjusting brakes.

[Mort]

Dang, usually in automatics we just drive with the jake on all the time. Some of the trucks, its like throwing an anchor out when you let off the throttle.

[mt9931]

Being a bit Old School, I have absolutely HATED electronic controls on our mixer trucks since we started using them in 1997. What was wrong with a lever in the cab and couple at the back of the truck. The MTM's we have have all sorts of quirks about them that vary from truck to truck. Some respond slow, or have to reset if you've stopped the drum and tried to change drum direction before starting it again then you stand there a minute or two waiting for the drum to turn. Real Crap!

[BillyCement]

Mar 26, 2009 19:55:02 GMT -5 mt9931 said:

Being a bit Old School, I have absolutely HATED electronic controls on our mixer trucks since we started using them in 1997. What was wrong with a lever in the cab and couple at the back of the truck. The MTM's we have have all sorts of quirks about them that vary from truck to truck. Some respond slow, or have to reset if you've stopped the drum and tried to change drum direction before starting it again then you stand there a minute or two waiting for the drum to turn. Real Crap!

Yeah, I agree with you. The levers were never a problem. Now MTM has the buttons on a wired remote that looks very awkward to me. But, what do I know? I've only been doing this since 1974.

[gant]

Mar 26, 2009 19:55:02 GMT -5 mt9931 said:

The MTM's we have have all sorts of quirks about them that vary from truck to truck. Some respond slow, or have to reset if you've stopped the drum and tried to change drum direction before starting it again then you stand there a minute or two waiting for the drum to turn. Real Crap!

I know exactly what you are talking about.. we have one MTM like that.. It is TERRIBLE, 3 second delay on all drum controls.. but its perfect for the guy assigned to the truck, I drove it for 2 months and it drove me nuts.. plus I got alot of ass eatin's from customers over it..

[mt9931]

Here's one for Billy Cement. I see you work with Joel Tanis and have been there quite a while? Would you remember several years ago a guy that came down to your plant and took pictures of your mixer trucks? He probably did it a few times over a few years. Got shots of the old Fords with 8yd Challenge mixers that were still running 9 or 10 years ago. If by chance you may have seen him, he's a friend of mine. I've got a website www.allreadymix.com where I have hundreds of mixer shots from my collection and his. There are other contributors as well. I really have't scratched the surface of his or my collection of photos and may need to reorganize the site. I get up to NJ from time to time but he and I have never made it Tanis but have been to several other plants up your way. Allied, in Rockaway, County, in Kenville and have yet to post shots of Hinchman and Colonial's Pompton Lakes trucks.