Truck/Equipment mechanic not sure what to do?

[Hallback]

I can't count how many times I put up ads looking for help and guys just want to complain or turn it into a joke session. Most of those seat covers could not do what I do 7 days a week for a month let alone for years on years on years

 

[Vetech63]

I know here in Oklahoma there is alot of competition in truck repairs....its the complete opposite end of the scale in heavy equipment. What little truck work I do gets billed at heavy equipment rates and have never had an issue. I was never trained in truck repair and its not my preference but I haven't run across anything I couldn't handle.

 

[AzIron]

Truck work is the most consistent work on the planet and fleet work is more so yea it gets repetitive but any job becomes work after a while

Do I enjoy working in a truck shop not for long because there is always half the shop that is in there opinion overqualified and under paid for their 8 hour contribution they cant juggle more than 2 repairs at a time and order the correct parts or diagnose correctly but they know better than the Forman

I guess my point is I enjoy operating more than being a truck wrench witch I do a lot of because the industry has a different attitude than any truck shoo I have been around and that is what runs it for me

 

[Truck Shop]

Az-it's a different world with different time frames working on fleet trucks. Construction equipment can set between jobs. A truck has to be moving, or the driver makes no income, the dispatcher has no truck
to dispatch, the office has no trip envelopes to process and so on. Trucks don't move no one needs to show up for work. Excavator or loader takes a dump those can be leased quickly. Two totally different
businesses.

The people who think they are over qualified and under paid are usually about half a pay check away from financial disaster and will never move away from their own desperate shadow. Followers not leaders.

 

[Hallback]

110% followers!
Always crying that they are getting phucked over by everybody & underpaid yet first to call in or leave early when there is work & the biggest clocksuckers when there is an empty shop.
Never understanding why they live in a moldy single wide puffin' on generic smokes eating at the same tavern every night.

 

[old-iron-habit]

I worked union for the entire 44 years and 7 months of my construction career. I started at 17 years old right out of high school. I always looked out for the welfare of the companies I worked for. I learned and craved to know all I could about the project and industry. The slugs did not last no more than they last in any other work environment. I can't speak for other industries, but there is no seniority in construction. Work, and do it right with efficiency, or or go home. It is that simple. Contrary to common thinking, union wage does not guarantee that all workers gets paid the same. It only sets the minimum level which is what most journeymen get. I managed large projects, negotiated my pay, and subsistence when it was warranted, at well over scale the last 18 years of my career. My pension and benefits have so far been secure. I busted my butt and my employer made dang good money off of me. I have always felt it would be damn hard to get a raise out of someone that was struggling just to stay in business. Its a lot easier to negotiate with a company if they are making a respectable and fair profit. I have 9 years of over 3,000 hours a year in the least 30 years of my pension. My non-union salaried counterparts did not get paid overtime, or often no extra at all when the project required lots of hours, I as a union employee did. Early on in my career I worked for a couple of contractors on projects that I was not happy at. I simply moved on and the nice thing was that my pension and healthcare was still intact and not lost, froze, or stolen. One of the best things about the unions was the fact that one could leave a unhappy place with out starting over. I will admit that for much of my career I was in a field where "learned" supervisors are very much in short supply, but not any more so than "learned" mechanics. Other companies often made offers, but I worked for only two employers in the last 30 years. I believe in taking care of each other. The one move I did made was only to get my base of operations back home to the north country. I never left the first company until the project I was building was complete. Your results may vary, but whatever one does in life, it takes dedication and hard work from both parties to be successful.
Sorry folks, Got a bit long.

 

[92U 3406]

For the most part I enjoy turning wrenches. I recently did a little automotive work on a relative's classic car and I actually had a lot of fun. Kind of debating maybe trying my hand at a car dealer once the virus settles down. I've worked on a little of everything from mining shovels down to leaf blowers but never really played much with automotive.

 

[JLarson]

A good number of the heavy's I come across in my travels and some of the guys I know came from the auto side, jumped ship cause they hated it, pay, BS with flat rate in some shops, customer BS, service writer/manager BS.

Not that there aren't come of those same things in heavy shops, specialty some dealers by they were way happier after switching.

 

[DMiller]

I will agree on fleet shop or a larger company as to better chances of economic bliss was union 26 of my 42 years employed and saw both ends of the sh!t stirrer stick in non and some union locations. Teamsters Iron Workers and Operating Engineers do well, Machinists(IAMAW), Transit Workers not so good unless working for the manufacturing end as almost no support from the local staffs.
Flat rate/chargeable hours worked both ways in the 70s then the actuaries figured out floor workers could make a killing and scaled back, then we figured out how to correct the scales with add ins as cleaning time, inspection/diagnosis, evaluation time, everything outside of pull and reinstall would garner a clock tag.
Then customers complained and the book keepers staring down over their bifocals cut that to shreds and the shops employees took the hit. Dealers made their money thru parts markups and selling many times unnecessary pieces to keep the profit line up, they also quit buying a great deal of special tooling requiring the techs had to as they were earning their pay by using them they should buy them another wage negative as tooling changes has gone to hyper drive by manufacturers.

Heavy trucks, heavy equipment was less expense in numbers of special tools but the heavy tools required were pricey enough. Presses, jigs we fashioned, inch drive and high volume air sources, cranes or lifting rigging was costly and heavy but usable for decades. Car tooling seldom lasted five years before obsoleted by some factor.

Enjoyed my days wrenching, if had not would not still be actively busting knuckles even on my own projects.

 

[Hallback]

I like to work on my own stuff & at my pace. I absolutely hate fixing someone else's phuck ups and hack jobs. I am far from the best, or even good but I can manage to make things run again.