Awesome Big Rigs 1994 (VHS RIP)

So, good friend, I want to learn about big trucks. Look at this. Have you ever wondered about all the big trucks rolling down the road? How much do they transport? Where are you going? Why are they called semis? Well, we're going to answer these questions and show you a lot more about big trucks. We'll talk to a real trucker about his truck and see what it looks like inside and out. Then we will visit a truck stop and talk to a man who works on trucks and helps. keep them on the road, so sit back and keep your eyes and ears open as we look at the peterbilts and the Max and Kenworth Freightliners and all the other trucks that we call big trucks, so trucks come in different shapes and sizes, and big trucks are really two different. parts the front part where the driver sits is called the tractor and the tractor pulls the rear section which is called the trailer and the trailer is where the load is carried most of the time the trailer does not have front wheels its wheels are on the back is why they are called semi-trailers or semi-trailers for large and short trucks, they are often called 18-wheelers.

Count the wheels sometime and you will see why they have 10 wheels on the tractor part and eight wheels on the trailer when you see a big On the road, you will notice that there are two types of tractors: The conventional tractor has the driver sitting behind the engine . The conventional is sometimes called a long nose because of the appearance of the front. The other type of tractor is called a cab over or snub nose with this type of tractor the driver's position is above the engine one advantage with a snub nose is that the driver can see an increasingly larger area in front of him and if he needs get to the engine, the entire cabin can be tilted One thing you'll notice right away if you look at many trucks is how owners like to customize them and add their own personal touch, emblems, custom paint, special lights, are just a few of the things that a trucker will add.

Make your rig unique, there are only two internationals in the United States that have chrome front bumpers and this is one of them. Big

rigs

are powered by huge diesel engines and are typically made by companies like Cat and Cummins. These motors must be powerful and reliable. If you are going to pull a large truck, we talk to a professional truck mechanic. I'm the service manager at this truck stop. When all these trucks come in and need repairs with flat tires, I talk to the truck driver and see what their situation is. are the needs and then I write a work order and explain exactly what's wrong with the truck or what needs to be done and then I ask the driver to sign it and then he can get in his taxi, sometimes he goes to sleep and other times he goes to have a cup of coffee and then we take care of the driver's needs, we put them in the pit over there, the driver goes through that big hole and we stop him in the right position and then we grease the truck completely from From the front bumper To the rear there are many accessories and all the guys in the workshop know from the different brands of trucks where to look for those accessories.

We drain all the oil from the engine, change the fillers and put in new oil. and we do that to the truck about every 10,000 max. These trucks have no spaces, they use diesel which is a petroleum product not as refined as gasoline and most of these trucks have a maximum capacity or as much diesel as they can. The load capacity is about 190 gallons, the guys at the pump island usually put in between 100 and 150 gallons when they go into the pillow pit. These trucks, some of them are getting about six miles per gallon of fuel and most of them are getting down to about four. so they don't go as far as you think they go your car your mom's car your dad's car probably gets in the neighborhood of 20 miles per gallon and these trucks get between four and some of them like the newer ones are about six miles and a half from the gallows alone in the shop in a 24 hour period, the shop is open 24 hours a day because these drivers drive all night, some of them and some days we write up to 45 and 50 work orders that could range from a complete repair or just a trailer wash to maybe a full service which is grease work and oil change and maybe even some brake checks when we do the full grease job and oil change and all the inspection.

For oil leaks and all, it takes a man about an hour to do the job very thoroughly. We look for a lot of different things when we are there. We're trying to make it safe for you and mom on the road with these. trucks like we can because we possibly have an oil leak or a worn brake that the driver doesn't see he's tired in the middle of the night check his truck and he could miss those things we do a thorough job of inspecting the trucks underneath or we'll look for worn parts only so they don't fall apart, break down on the road or have an accident, we try to be as safe as possible and make it as safe for you, mom and the truck driver as we can, if you see large trucks driving on the road, a One thing you will see right away is that there are many different types of trailers and loads.

Let's look at some of the most common ones: It's called a trailer behind a trailer. a double trailer, the smallest in the rear, is called a cub. Now here we see a platform. Flatbed semi-trailers are used to transport oddly shaped products, they have no sides and the load is tied with chains or cables. Platform platforms are very common because they are very versatile. A semi-reefer is used to transport agricultural products and other perishable products. If you look at the front of a semireefer, you will see the cooling unit that is used to keep the charge cold.

Another common sight on the road is a semi-trailer loaded with cars, the trailer. It is specially designed so that the cars can go up the back and be loaded in a double-decker style when the semi-trailer approaches the car dealership, the ramp is lowered and the cars just go out the back, there are almost as many types of trailers like there are products we use next time you are on the road see if you can spot a gas semi trailer or a livestock hauler or a reefer, then look for a flatbed, a lowboy or a car trailer, you will see that the variety of trailers is almost endless.

The men and women who drive trucks for a living are a very special breed: they have to be on the road for many hours and are often away from home for days and sometimes weeks at a time, but they love their work and the freedom that comes with it. driving on open roads and they wouldn't trade that lifestyle for anything. We talked to some truckers. How long have you been driving? Chat for about 12 years professionally. What kind of things do you carry? Oh, food, paper, clothing, pesticides, just a little bit of everything. Whatever you can find in the store, where do you go?

We were in all 48 states, major cities, New York, Atlanta, Miami and then parts of Canada as well, so pretty much everywhere you travel alone, you pretty much run alone, once in For a while I take a friend with me who is on vacation, so, but most of the time I'm alone, how well does your truck run fully loaded, it weighs about 80,000 pounds, which is equivalent to about 40 cars and empty it weighs 35,000 pounds, which would be about 17 and a half cars. It goes very fast? Oh, if I want to go really fast, I'll do 70 75, but as a professional, you stay at the speed limit and it's safer for everyone.

That way, is it difficult to drive? in some ways it's easy in some ways it's hard it takes a lot longer to stop you have to turn a quarter more when you enter traffic but you have to keep a much safer distance I would say overall Is it a very stressful job? I sleep right in this big compartment right behind you. I have a bed, a TV, closets and everything that is my house, my little bachelor pad, what's the funniest thing you've seen on the road? Oh, several years. A while ago I was teaching a friend of mine named Bill Van Er driving another driver by asking him what he looked like over his shoulder, which in trucker speak means you know where the police are and what the traffic is like.

Bill, not knowing this, looked over his shoulder. window said all I see is a mountain and you had to laugh if you were there to see it because he was so innocent, what does that do? All these switches, these four for my lights, this one is for what they call it, Jacob's engine breakdown. which helps you slow down on steep mountains so you don't because if you don't have one of these or you go down a hill you can set your brakes on fire because you're so heavy, this one is for the heated mirrors. I have heated mirrors, so in the winter, when there is ice on the mirrors in Wyoming and Colorado and where it is very cold, you can turn it on and it defrosts the mirror so you can see it safely.

This is what they call air. suspension I have eight airbags under my axles and by pressing this switch, if I need to hitch up to a trailer, I can press this switch and it will lower the rear frame of my truck about four inches and it will be easier to get under the trailer. This is what we call a fifth wheel slider. It's the part that my trailer hooks up to on my truck. I need to move it to get the right weight because I'm only allowed 12,000 pounds on my front axle. So if I'm a little overweight, I can move the fifth wheel and adjust my weight, and this one here is like a four-wheel drive button that I have.

If I press this switch, all eight tires in the back give me traction. in the snow or mud or those types of conditions down here you have the buttons for the brakes, then there are a few more buttons here, but that's just one for the engine fan, so if the engine starts to heat up, you can turn it on. The motor fan turns on automatically, okay, where do you sleep well? I sleep back here. Would you like to see it? Okay, come on, as you can see, this is kind of home up here. Now you want to have a home without alarm. clock to get out of bed on time at that time we have a black and white TV for us poor people so if you are stuck in the city and you sit and know how to watch TV like you do at home you have a closet here like that You hang your clothes so you don't look like a bum like me.

You have a lot of shelves here for all kinds. It's like a studio, you know? and then you sit on the bed. You have a door on each side, so if you're in bed and something happens, you have a fire or something you can get out of. Emergency exit that covers it. Can we go for a walk? Sure, how long have you been? Driving well I have been driving for about 15 years. Do you like it? Yes I like it. I like it a lot. I'm with my husband all the time. We don't have kids and we've been doing this for a long time.

For a long time we've hauled a lot of different types of things that have a refrigerated van, bulk mail, like you see here, flatbed vans, but I won't haul tankers, I don't like gas explosions, there's a lot of women that lead there. Now there never used to be when I started, there were just a few here and there, but now you're starting to see a lot more men's and white teams than before. Is it a good occupation for a woman? It is a great occupation. occupation for a woman you have to be a little gypsy but it is a great occupation, are there bad signs?

Yeah there are, at night it's hard to stop anywhere to go to a rest area or some truck stops in some parts of the nation it's not the best to go to, you know, chicago, new york, um, even l.a, in some places like that, how much time do you spend on the road here a year? My husband and I probably drive together about 240,000 miles a year, which is about six days on the road a week at least where are you from originally I'm from bellingham washington and now live in denver colorado thank you very much you're welcome now Let's take a look at a lot of pickup trucks and big trucks on the road and in action maybe so