MDJ & Son'sTRUCK & TRAILER REPAIR

PM Service

Preventive maintenance is the cheapest work you will ever buy from us, because it is the work that stops the expensive kind. A wheel seal caught on a PM is an hour in the bay. The same seal found on the shoulder of I-10 is a tow, a missed load, and a driver sitting.

The interval is set to your trucks, not to a chart

A truck running plant gates in Port Neches and a truck running I-10 to Baton Rouge do not wear the same way. Short runs and long idle hours are hard on aftertreatment, batteries, and brakes in a way highway miles are not, and highway miles are hard on tires and cooling in a way yard work is not. Tell us what your trucks actually do — miles, hours, idle time, what they haul, where they run — and we will set an interval against that and put it in writing so your dispatch can schedule around it instead of reacting to it.

What a PM covers

Oil and filters, fuel and air filtration, and a full fluid check. Then the walk that actually finds things: brakes measured rather than glanced at, air system tested for leaks, tires read for depth and wear pattern, steering and suspension checked for play, driveline and U-joints, wheel seals and hub condition, belts and hoses, cooling system, charging system and batteries under load, every lamp and the wiring behind it, and a scan for stored and pending faults before they set a light. On a trailer, add landing gear, king pin, air lines, and the running gear.

You get told what we found, not just what we did

Every PM comes back with three lists: what we corrected, what is legal now but will not be at the next interval, and what is fine. The middle list is the one that matters — it is how you plan a repair into a scheduled slot instead of taking it as a breakdown. Nothing gets fixed beyond the service without you agreeing to it first.

Pair it with the DOT inspection

The annual federal periodic inspection covers a lot of the same ground, so running them together saves you a trip and a day of downtime. Two certified DOT inspectors work here, Luke Dugas and Mark Dugas Jr., which means the inspection happens on our schedule and yours rather than a third party's. For a fleet we work through your units a few at a time so you are never grounding half the fleet in the same week.

Drop it and leave it

PM does not need a driver waiting. Drop the unit in the gated yard, leave a number, and pick it up when it is done. That is the whole point of scheduling it — it comes out of a slow slot in your week instead of out of a load.

What gets checked on a PM

  • Engine oil and filter, fuel filters, air filter
  • All fluid levels and condition — coolant, steering, transmission, differentials
  • Brakes measured: lining thickness, pushrod travel, drums and rotors
  • Air system tested for leaks; chambers, S-cams and slack adjusters
  • Tires — tread depth, pressure, and wear pattern read for what is causing it
  • Steering and front end checked for play; suspension, air bags and bushings
  • Driveline and U-joints
  • Wheel seals and hub condition
  • Belts, hoses, and the cooling system
  • Batteries under load, charging system output
  • Every lamp, plus the grounds and wiring behind them
  • Scan for stored and pending faults before they set a dash light
  • Trailer: landing gear, king pin, air lines, running gear

Where we run this

Port Arthur, Nederland, Port Neches, Groves, Beaumont, Orange, Vidor, Winnie, Mont Belvieu, Baytown, Sulphur, Lake Charles — and the rest of the 75-mile service area.

Questions we get

What interval should we be on?

That depends on how the trucks run, and we would rather set it against your actual duty cycle than quote you a number that fits somebody else. Send us what you run and how you run it and we will put a written program together.

How many trucks do we need for a PM program?

There is no minimum. If you run two trucks and want them on an interval instead of on surprises, that is a PM program.

Can we do the DOT inspection at the same time?

Yes, and most fleets should. The inspection covers a lot of the same ground, so pairing them saves a second trip and a second day of downtime. Luke Dugas runs the inspection here in the shop.

Will you fix what you find?

Only what you agree to. A PM comes back with what we corrected, what is marginal and worth planning for, and what is fine. Anything beyond the service gets quoted before it gets done.

Do you do PM at our yard?

Ask when you call. Some of it travels; the parts that need a lift and a proper brake measurement do not. And a DOT inspection is shop-only regardless.

Call the shop — (409) 460-5040