king of the road

got my new truck on Friday. Since then I've been wrangling with Werner to get my truck "online" in their system. Things finally came together this morning and after sitting here for the past three days, I finally have a load to Michigan. So here's my truck. For the auto/truck enthusiasts among you, here are the specs:

2001 Freightliner Century
Cummins engine, governed at 70mph
Meritor straight 10-speed transmission
630,000 miles

Aside from a rather shoddy windshield replacement that left a bunch of the sealant goop sticking out around the glass and some minor scruffs in the paint job, the exterior is in pretty decent shape. I've driven her a little around Omaha in the past few days and she runs great. There are some things I don't like about the truck (like unpowered windows/mirrors), but they're minor and I can live without them.

In the past, I've driven company trucks. Now that I have one that will eventually become my own, I think she should have a name. Hopefully one will materialize which suits her. I suppose I need to get to know her first.

As an accompaniment to this entry, I made a movie. It's a narrated, virtual tour of my truck: inside and out. I've been meaning to make one of these for a long time and I figured now was as good a time as any.

Truck tour (8.2MB, wmv)

Tags: home_video, truckgeek

62 comments — :

( 62 comments — Leave a comment )

hairy_canary

2006-03-19 01:10 am (UTC)

Congratulations!

The video is great, but I can only see up to about 3.12 or so and then it grinds to a halt. Interesting though!

soopageek

2006-03-19 01:12 am (UTC)

've had two other people donwload and watch it without consequence. Are you watching it locally or trying to stream it?

(no subject) —

hairy_canary — Expand

soopageek — Expand

tpbrcombo

2006-03-19 01:14 am (UTC)

Thanks a lot, man! That was awesome. I've always wondered what the interior of a truck looked like.

2006-03-19 04:30 pm (UTC)

nd now you know. You've had the gift of having a wonderfully and appropriately named vehicle. Any thoughts?

tpbrcombo — Expand

14_months

2006-03-19 01:58 am (UTC)

Congrats on the new truck. It looks pretty spiffy. =)

2006-03-19 04:31 pm (UTC)

hanks!

hockeyfag

2006-03-19 02:58 am (UTC)

wow.. that is the exact model truck I drove.. well, mine had an autoshift 10 speed, but otherwise.. it looks like my baby..

2006-03-19 03:24 pm (UTC)

his truck is eerily similar to my very first company truck. Personally I prefer the older Century to the newer ones. The metal bodies on these as opposed to all the fiberglass on the newer ones just seems more durable. I also like that it doesn't have the skirting that covers the tanks. I like being able to step between the trailer and tractor to hook/unhook the pigtails without having the clamber up on the catwalk like I do on the newer ones.

It amazes me that U.S. Express continues to buy those autoshift transmissions. I mean I realize it's their recruiting "angle" (much like Werner's is the electronic logs) but I would imagine resale of them has to be difficult outside of leasing them to their current company drivers who go O/O.

hockeyfag — Expand

no_identy2000

2006-03-19 04:37 am (UTC)

Uhh, I feel kind of bad now. My truck is a mess. Granted I keep all my leather, and leather working stuff with me, but it is still a mess.

2006-03-19 03:26 pm (UTC)

hen I drove strictly solo, my truck was a lot more cluttered and messy, but with having two people in the truck constantly, it necessitates better organization.

Also, I just. moved. in. Everything is "put away" at the moment anyway. :)

mxpwr

2006-03-19 07:07 am (UTC)

That was so freaking awesome.
I love Roger Miller and that song in particular. My mom and dad used to listen to his records when I was a kid.

The tour was also very helpful. Now I have a better idea of what I need to bring on the road and how much room I am going to have.

So with a million blue trucks in the Werner fleet, how did you end up with a red truck?

2006-03-19 03:36 pm (UTC)

y truck wasn't part of the Werner fleet, it's part of an independent fleet owner called McMullen Truck Lines. When I went to pick-up the truck I went to their shop/truck yard and all their trucks were this same color.

That's not to say that there aren't plenty of Werner fleet truck that are different from the baby blue. I've actually driven two company trucks that weren't blue, the red Pete you see in my icon here and this black Pete.

3weasel

2006-03-19 07:13 am (UTC)

So that's where that little door on the side goes to. I've always wondered about that. You'd think I'd've figured it out by now, being the son of a former trucker and son-in-law of a current trucker, but it never ocurred to me to ask.

2006-03-19 04:09 pm (UTC)

t's a fairly universal truck design whether it be Freightliner, Peterbilt, Volvo, or whoever, that the side-doors reach into a space beneath the bunk which is also accessible from the inside by raising it.

discreet_chaos

2006-03-19 11:41 am (UTC)

I guess "Lady" and "Big Red" are too overused, but when I first saw this post, it's what popped into my mind. (Of course, I also flashed onto "Big Ben this is Rubber Duck and I'm about to put the hammer down", but as you probably know, they're another story) Also, I just did a quick google and didn't find it through any topmost trivia sites, but "Bear" could also be a good name, but that's just my own personal prejudice.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the video tour and shared it with both my kids. My only experience with big rigs was from my days as a hitchhiker and as you might imagine, I tried to avoid the back bunk.

2006-03-19 11:43 am (UTC)

PS) The first time my wife and I visited Nebraska, she broke down in tears and made me promise to never let her spend the night there, ever again.

discreet_chaos — Expand

stormodacentury

2006-03-19 12:30 pm (UTC)

Not too shabby, man. How's the HP?

2006-03-19 04:24 pm (UTC)

have't taken the time yet to crawl up on the motor and grab the model number off of it. Anecdotally, it's rather responsive and holds its own on hills and such no better or worse than the other Century's I've driven. Of course, I haven't had a real mountain drive yet, or a real load for that matter. This one is only 25,000 lbs.

stormodacentury — Expand

welfy — Expand

Sweet Jesus!

wendy_sue

2006-03-19 01:43 pm (UTC)

Congrats on your new rig and thank you so much for sharing with us. I watched you video, and it was very informative allthough in some parts a little dark, i've never ever seen the inside of a truck cab before. I guess a virtual tour is the next best thing. I look forward to hearing more about how she's treating you. Did you name her yet? is she gonna be called "king of the road?"

This is so exciting!

Re: Sweet Jesus!

2006-03-19 04:26 pm (UTC)

don't know what I'm gonna name her yet. I'm open to suggestions. :)

welfy

2006-03-19 03:58 pm (UTC)

Will I have the chance to ~~christen~~ meet this truck, or will you be getting a new one soon?

nless I change my mind about her, I''ll likely keep her. So there will be an opportunity to break her in, so to speak.

stemware

2006-03-19 05:46 pm (UTC)

That was a nice little preview! I especially like the blooper at the end!

kerouacgirl

2006-03-19 06:31 pm (UTC)

I like the Freightliner- but I guess I am a Pete girl by default- looks good- :)

2006-03-20 03:37 am (UTC)

on't get me wrong, I love the Petes. I like the way they look, I like the way they drive. But there're two reasons why I'm interested in the Freightliner Century that the Petes I've driven can't compare: 1) space and 2) fuel economy. Being that I'm a trainer with a second person on-board all the time and becoming an owner/operator where the costs are going to ALL MINE - I thought it best to go for something which was practical in both those aspects.

goingincirclez

2006-03-20 04:41 am (UTC)

suh-weeet. What's the typical mileage you can expect out of this one? Does Werner have any porgrams to assist with maintenace?

As for names... it's the dawn of a new era in Soopageekism, and the truck is red. Red Dawn or Red Sun? Bleah... typed out loud it lacks panache. Nevermind.

2006-03-20 08:54 am (UTC)

hey don't really have any assistance with maintenance, but they will hold back a portion of my settlement and put it in escrow for me if I choose.

McMullen is going to do this for me, however, for the length of the rental agreement.

dragoneletra

2006-03-20 07:21 am (UTC)

*big grin*

Just watched the truck tour. Awesome ! Though you sound like you are dying.

I like the fleshy, webby, curtain things.....
lol

Dr pepper will rot your teeth.

On a serious note though. Kitted out pretty well huh.

Jc

2006-03-20 08:57 am (UTC)

n retrospect, the word "netting" would've probably been the best term for describing it. But that whole thing was totally unscripted obviously and those were the adjectives which came to mind.

My teeth are indeed already in awful condition, but I'm a hopeless Dr. Pepper addict.

dragoneletra — Expand

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soopageek

famous like Meadowlark Lemon

Sweet Jesus!

Re: Sweet Jesus!