07-01-2014, 02:14 PM
I come to this thread having spent 24 years working on the big rigs (Kenworths, Freightliners, Internationals, etc) in the Seattle/Tacoma area of Washington State. The annual Wa. State inspection on these big trucks took about an hour. I was authorized by the Canadian DOT to inspect US based trucks that entered Canada. The Canadians had an inspection that made ours look like a cakewalk. The sent me a very fat book with the parameters, tolerances, etc. To do every item as specified took me about 6 hours. They even had a mathematical formula for the amount of play that a steering wheel could have. First, you measured the diameter of the steering wheel. Then you measured the amount of free play when turning the wheel back and forth. Then you looked up in the charts, and it either passed or failed. These were, of course, commercial vehicles, and it was vital to make sure they were up to specs. I think our shop rate was about $85 an hour back then. But, you can learn a lot about a vehicle in much less time.
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP