Commercial vehicles experience far more hardship and abuse than any other vehicle. Whether it is lifting awkwardly shaped loads with a crane truck or transporting heavy plant equipment on a beavertail, you need effective truck maintenance to ensure your fleet doesn’t let you down, or worse still, cause a crash.
So, what truck maintenance should fleet operators ensure take place?
Common Failures & Issues
While you should leave truck maintenance on electronics to a professional commercial truck maintenance firm, there are things you can do to prevent common failures.
Brakes
The driver is legally required to check the brakes each day to ensure they are in good working order. Listen for air leaks in the brake chamber and carry out an inspection to sport loose parts such as springs, bushings, and pins. You should also check the brake shoe wear indicators.
Tyre wear
Keeping heavy loads safely on the road requires you to check the air pressure, which is also critical for fuel-efficiency. Not overinflating tyres is important because this can increase tread wear and cause blowouts. Your drivers should evenly distribute the weight of the load, check for sidewall damage, listen for air leaks, check tread wear, and ensure that radial and bias tyres are not mixed on the same axle.
Engine problem
Excessive smoking, decreased power, and loss of oil pressure are signs that truck maintenance is urgently required. Your drivers should check exhaust temperature and coolant levels regularly.
General Wear & Tear
Changing the oil every few thousand miles will prevent many potential truck issues. Truck manufacturers recommend every five to seven thousand miles, but if your truck is hauling heavy loads, it pays to change the oil more often.
Check all belts to reduce the chance of breakages while the vehicle is in motion, which can cause serious harm that is expensive to fix. If you have trucks that are more than a few years old, it may pay dividends to search for and buy items that wear now. These items include brake pads, starters, alternators, and oil seals.
Truck maintenance should always be at the top of your agenda, and you should always carry out truck repairs straight away.