Getting Our Trucks Running

This week we spent class dealing with a problem faced at the beginning of every semester: our trucks are dead. Sitting out during break without battery disconnects means we have to jump start our trucks to get them running, if we're lucky.

If we're not lucky, we have to drag them in with another truck and replace the batteries. That's exactly what we had to do with our Hino 185 this week. Our International truck had to be slow-charged overnight but we got it running. We have ordered battery disconnects which we will be installing.

International tandem-axle sleeper. It has an N14 Cummins.

Charging the old girl for the night.

My reflection:

Whether in our school shop or an actual truck shop, expect the unexpected. Things don't always go according to plan, and sometimes we have to do a little work just getting things ready to work on.

The lesson to be learned here? Textbooks and service literature serve as a guide, but we have to be prepared when things don't go according to plan. Textbook mechanics and others unable to adapt will have some difficulty in this field.