If you drive a truck on a regular basis for work, it is important to do pre-trip truck inspections for a variety of reasons. These reasons include, but are not limited to:
· Prevents accidents
· Limits downtime
· Helps to ensure a driver will reach the desired destination on time
· Cuts down on truck repair expenses
· Increases truck safety and performance
As you can see, doing a pre-trip inspection on your truck has invaluable benefits.
Developing Your Checklist
When planning to do a pre-trip inspection on your truck, you will want to have a well thought out checklist handy. This will both help you to cover all your bases, and help you to get into a solid routine. Over time, this checklist will become second nature, and you will find you can get your pre-trip inspection done in around 30 to 50-minutes. In addition, this checklist will help you to become more familiar with your truck and its handling as well.
Check the Tires
One area to pay particular attention to is your truck’s tires. Tires can be the source of many truck-driving woes if not inspected on a regular basis. If you see damage, significantly worn treads or an object puncturing your tire, then chances are you will want to change compromised tires before putting any distance on them. Making sure the tire pressure is sufficient and that your tires are rotated frequently to encourage even wearing is something to be mindful of during your inspection.
Inspect Your Truck’s Windows
The last thing you want to do is drive down the road in a truck with dirty or damaged windows. When you drive, you want your windows to be in good shape, free of major cracks and with exceptional visibility. This is also a good time to check your mirrors and their placement too. You will even want to look at the windshield wipers and replace them if it is time. These measures will help to ensure you have a good view of what is going on when you are driving and will help to prevent accidents and expensive truck repair issues.
Checking Fluids
It is generally considered a critical step to check your truck’s oil, coolant, fuel and power steering levels. You want to make sure the levels are not low, and that there is no sign of leaks either. You may notice that your oil is getting a little dirty and needs to be changed soon also. You will want to be sure caps are tight and the dip stick is in its proper place.
Check Lights
Another step when making a regular truck inspection is to make sure your lights and signals work properly. Not only will this improve truck safety in general, but it could prevent you from getting pulled over and ticketed for an improperly maintained truck. You may even notice that you will need to set aside time to clean your headlights for better nighttime visibility if they are dirty.
Your Truck Is Your Responsibility
When you carefully think it over, the performance and reliability of your truck depends heavily on your willingness to carry out regular truck inspections. The more you take care of your truck, the better it will serve you on the road. A properly operational truck can mean the difference between a good driving experience and being stuck with various expensive truck repair problems.