Your technicians just performed a complete suspension rebuild of a customer’s road tractor. They replaced the king pins, springs, pins, and hangers. They replaced the bushings on the tandem air ride suspension. They aligned the tandems to the steer axle. They set the toe, caster and corrected the axle camber. All is good. You completed an expensive repair and now you are ready to send a happy customer out the door. He will make sure he tells all his friends of the great job you did.
Two miles down the road an enforcement officer pulls your customer over to perform a D.O.T. complete inspection. The officer finds the brakes are out of adjustment, the air lines are rubbing, the lights are not working, and there are leaks at the steering gear. These are all ‘out of service’ conditions, and things that the technicians should have been aware of and these problems could have avoided had a complete inspection been performed prior to completing the repairs to the vehicle. This also could have been increased revenue to your service shop.
ACOFAS, on September 5 and 6 in conjunction with Betts Heavy Duty, will conduct a technician education program at the Betts Training Center in Fresno, California.
ACOFAS will present Andy Blair, former Pennsylvania police/DOT enforcement officer and independent instructor. Blair will, in a day and a half presentation, demonstrate and educate attendees how to properly inspect a vehicle. He will concentrate on Federal DOT requirements, and will also cover the California BIT requirements.Upon completion, attendees will know how to look for the same things that an enforcement office will be looking for. Blair will combine classroom instruction with hands-on training using actual trucks, trailers and, if possible, school buses.
Shop owners can perform annual DOT inspections as a ‘stand-alone’ service or as a gratis service for customers following or preceding a major rebuild of their vehicle. Either way, this will make sure technicians are doing the job thoroughly and properly so that customers will not get an ‘out of service’ violation after leaving the facility.
The training program will be followed by a trip to Duncan Polytechnic High School. There attendees will see what can happen when an educational establishment and an industry join hands to help with the problem of the lack of quality trained technicians.
ACOFAS, is the American Council of Frame and Alignment Specialists. ACOFAS was formed by heavy duty independent repair shop owners to provide educational opportunities for technicians to enhance their repair skills and knowledge.
For more information and to register, visit acofas.com.
