Professional drivers may experience "sticky" truck curtains in the trucks they drive; that is, the connections inside the track don't slide as easily as they should. We have encountered this situation in both newer and older trucks. This page shows how we remedied it in a Freightliner Columbia and Freightliner Cascadia.

First of all, the curtain connector installed in the track looks like this.

When we speak of sticking, we're not talking about resistance resulting from the connectors meeting one of the screws that holds the track against the truck's interior, like the one shown. What we mean is that the connectors just seem reluctant to move down the track at all or in certain spots.

To solve this problem, we use a hemostat (or pair of needle-nosed pliers), a cotton ball and our trusty can of WD-40. (We prefer using the can with the "smart straw.")

Here, professional driver Mike Simons runs a cotton ball sprayed with WD-40 inside the track on the driver's side of his truck to help lubricate the area where the truck curtains will run. This relieves the tendency for the curtains to be sticky.

Money saving tip: This is one of those handy tips that indirectly provides savings. Consider this: the better your truck curtains work, the better your chances of blocking out light and getting a good rest break worth of sleep. The better you sleep, the more rested you feel. The more rested you feel, the more clearly you think and the better you are able to perform your job. The more clearly you think or are able to perform your job, the better your chances are for saving money.