Emergency Roadside Repair

By yojimbo (***)

Date 01-09-2013 17:58

Any of you guys doing mobile roadside emergency repairs for semi-truck haulers? I ask because there is a large, deep water port close to home with a great deal of shipping and trucking that goes on and I am looking into it for additional sources of work. The LWS keeps my card available for anyone coming in looking for a mobile welder and it's produced some good income for me over the years but all that work has been more in line with my backround/experience: construction. I am not well versed or informed regarding the vehicle/trucking/transportation industry so I've steered away from a couple of those calls and would like to reconsider that.

I'd like to find out what are the more common repairs you get called out to do [if they are common occurences at all], if the work is usually uncommon and random breakage/failures what did they involve, did you have a strong automotive backround to begin with and do you think it a pre-requisite to this kind of work, is most of the work pretty light gauge material or heavier section repairs, steel/aluminum/stainless, your more common weldng proccesses, was it SMAW or more FCAW. I keep my rig set up for general fabrication on construction and plant work and don't carry a compressor because I rarely do any scarfing but I suspect this line of work would require it and there's room on the bed to set a skid unit to handle it.

I've done my share of shade tree wrenching and swapped 350s in motel parking lots and transmissions out in the boonies but don't consider myself a professional industry grade transportation mechanic by any means so there is the concern that solutions I would bring to a problem would deviate from industry standards. Being accustomed to working from drawings whether structural or piping, the steps to the solution are usually pretty straightforward, and of course working off of napkin sketches has often gotten the job done succesfully as well, but in those departments I'm confident I know what I'm doing after a couple of decades. Looking here to not show up unprepared and wasting anybodys time, I know these truckers need to get back up and running and expect a professional result.

This is intended as a small sideline cash flow to the shop and field work already going but I'd like your input, suggestions, stories and any particulars you could share.

Thanks.

By Superflux (****)

Date 01-09-2013 19:22

I would have them sign a waiver before touching it that designates this work to be an emergency repair intended only to get the truck immediately to the nearest authorized repair shop.
Sounds like a question for our forum legal department.... just kiddin'.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 01-09-2013 22:06

I do them when the calls come in...usually after hours so the rate is double. I have a waiver on the ticket they must sign explaining in detail basically that the repair is "entirely at the owner/clients risk" and the repair is intended to facilitate getting the vehicle off the road for towing to a repair facility. I am sure nothing is bulletproof when enough lawyers get involved. I also make them pay in cash because they are almost always an out of state company. If they will meet those conditions ok, if not, good luck to em. There is a big trailer company nearby that operates 24/7 and they can handle major work on the fly, I always point them in that direction...I have followed a few to the place as well.

You might want to try hooking up with those 24/7 road service companies that handle big rigs, very few of them weld...there are two of them in this area that call me occasionally to help out. It is really few and far between as far as a source of income but it all adds up right?

By yojimbo (***)

Date 01-10-2013 00:11

Superflux, Tommy,

Both good points and considerations I didn't want to address in the original post. Liability is the main reason I don't mess with transport/vehicles. I've got a tree service/logger guy lives next door. He tears his stuff up daily, jury rigs everything he's got, ignores basic maintenance as a basic operating principle and then drags stuff up to the shop, hangin off a chain and always sure I know it's repair is critical to his operation and needs to be done now. I humored him for a few years, bartered some equipment usage when I was expanding the facility with earthworks and concrete and did my best to be a good neighbor. Last time he showed up with his 16' high sided dump trailer, the two main box frames it was built on [2 X 4 X .120 HSS] were both broken all the way through except for the last 2" acros the top of the rectangular tubing. Needs it fixed first thing in the morning, "Big Job. Gotta get out to cut them trees down, just stick some angle on it and weld it up, LISTEN! I been doin this a long time and know what I'm talkng about!" Had to pass, told him you cut trees for a living, if you want this fixed you need to let me do what I do for a living. He was fuming and drove out cussin. Glad to let that one get away.

Good heads up on qualifying the repair as emergency fix only. Cash only is probably the way to go, don't see settng up a CC pay service and attendant electronics/headaches. Most of the work I do is all contract anyway so pay schedule is set and done by check. Got on this idea recently after seeing a local guy, pickup tub bed, miller bobcat, rat's nest of hoses and leads dumped in piled on what looked to a small pile of rusty handtools and non working grinders parked next to a couple of different rigs and working on them. Saw him twice in one week in my neck of the woods. Makin money apparantly. Figured he's have to be pretty talented to get much done with that setup and have been thinking to look into it further if the work that need to generally get done is something I am already familiar with or could accomplish adequately enough to get the unit to a repair facility.

So that's the question. Like, an ironworker is expected to know this, this and this and be able to do this, this and this, and a pipefitter is expected to know ect.ect.ect. What skill set, knowledge base, experience and anticipated types of work might be expected. Thanks again guys.

By strother (***)

Date 01-10-2013 01:46

I do some repairs on trucks and trailers, emergency and non emergency. The quick fix stuff is pretty simple . Usually just welding at little crack the probably is not ever going to cause a problem but the DOT or Public Safety has gigged them on it. Or fixing a busted airline or tail light. I know thats not welding but They are simple repairs that you may be expected to do. I try to just work on trailers because every thing is pretty simple on them and the is only a handful of things that can go wrong with them. When it comes to the trucks if its not something that I can fix with the same tools I would need to work on a trailer I tell them to call a diesel mechanic. Your welding tools, a few wrenches ,screwdrivers, a test light some butt connectors and 1/8" -3/4" NTA connectors (for airlines). That should cover any emergency repair that you would want to get involved in.

As far getting paid sometimes the drivers don't carry cash or credit cards. They have the "Checks" that can only be cashed at certain retailers usually truck stops. I got one once and the bank wouldn't cash it . I had to call the truck line and find out where to get it cashed.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 01-10-2013 02:08

Like strother said already. Most of it is cracks and fishplate type repairs.... When I get a call for one I always carry some lengths of reasonably heavy tube and bar stock with me. Sometimes welding up the crack wont be enough because the metal is so fatigued it is at the point of being useless.