Here in Ohio today, it was 75 degrees and sunny – a rare October day to be sure. Who’s thinking about winter? Nobody wants to talk about winterizing your truck right now.
Maybe you should be.
Winterize Your Truck
A month from now, it could be snowing. Who knows what the weather is going to be?
Right about now, I’m looking at my maintenance records. If you’ve ever had a breakdown on a snowy highway, I’ll bet you’re doing it too – because you never want that to happen again.
Avoiding the on-the-road service call in the middle of winter is a priority to me. I don’t want to be the one out there wondering what’s wrong and trying to figure out what to do in the sleet or snow.
Take it from me, you don’t want to be that person either. Especially if they find it’s something that should have been taken care of weeks ago or a mere thousand miles before. Winterize your truck before you discover how painful it can be.
Watching the Winter Clock
I know there are drivers out there who take the “last minute” approach to maintenance. Why pay for something before you have too? Maybe they think they’ll be lucky and get extra miles out of those tires or extra weeks on those hoses. It’s a mistake not to winterize your truck when it’s easy and warm – because it’s hard and cold in January.
Do you know when your truck needs its next maintenance check? Or is it “next week” or maybe “after the next invoice gets paid.” Trying to put together the money for a repair that may have been prevented has taken plenty of drivers off the road. (That’s why I made sure that TruckingOffice has a great maintenance module with record-keeping and scheduling options. I know what truckers need.)
Of course, even with regular maintenance, things can go wrong. But it’s a lot easier to do the regular maintenance that your rig requires now than it will be in January – regardless of how far south you live.
Winterizing Check List
I don’t really have a checklist of things to do to winterize your truck – I should probably make one, but these are the ones that I want to remember every year.
- New wiper blades. No matter how good they are in October, by January I’m wishing I’d bothered to replace them on a sunny day instead of in an Ohio sleet storm in January. I guess I’m thinking that they’re good enough and right now, they are. But in three months, they won’t be. I might as well do it now.
- Check my battery ground wires. Corrosion is a sneaky problem. Checking them before it gets too cold and they get too bad seems like a no-brainer to me.
- Buy fuel treatment now. I like to buy it early and keep it in my truck instead of buying it when I get to the truck stop. But that’s just me. If I were doing a north-south lane, then maybe having it on hand wouldn’t be as important, but buying by the case is cheaper.
- Check the block heater. Shorted out cables or just plain breaking down while on the road is a real pain. The weather can sneak up on you in November. It’s smart to be prepared.
- Check the tires. I’ll get a good set of tires locally at my favorite shop at a better price than I’ll get in an emergency on the road. It’s not just about wearing out the tread – with ice and snow, I want the best tires under me that I can find.
How do you want to winterize your truck before this year’s first snowflakes fall on your windshield?
It’s easy to get confused about when work was done or when it needs to be done in the future. Having an easily accessible record – and a reminder system – takes away a lot of the stress. That’s why we’ve got TruckingOffice’s maintenance module. It will help you keep your rig in the best possible shape and keep it that way. If you’re an owner-operator who is putting serious miles on a truck, then this software is for you. I’m so convinced that TruckingOffice is what you need that I’ll give it to you for free for 30 days. No charge. Take it out for a month and then come back and we’ll set you up for your trucking future. Sign up today and see how you can make this year’s winter profitable and safe.
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