Preventive maintenance schedule generator for trucks

This preventive maintenance schedule generator returns the next due mileage and an estimated date for each PM service, sorted with the soonest first, plus your annual inspection.

A PM schedule only works if you know when each service will come due in real life, not just on the odometer. Five thousand miles means two weeks for one truck and five weeks for another. The generator turns your intervals into dates using your own weekly miles, so you can plan the shop visit before the truck is on the road three states away.

How it works

For each service:

• Due at = odometer at last service + interval
• Miles left = due at - odometer now
• Estimated date = today + (miles left / miles per week x 7 days)

Services that are already past their interval show as overdue. The annual inspection is date-based: federal rules require each commercial vehicle to pass a periodic inspection at least once every 12 months, so the generator counts months since the last one.

Source: 49 CFR 396.17, checked October 2026

Use your OEM spec intervals

The interval boxes start with EXAMPLE placeholders so the tool shows a result. They are not recommendations. Replace them with the intervals in your owner's manual or OEM spec for your engine and truck. Intervals vary widely by engine make, oil type, duty cycle and whether the truck runs a severe service schedule. A truck doing stop-and-go local work, idling a lot or running heavy may need shorter intervals than the same truck on the highway.

If your maker gives intervals in engine hours as well as miles, use whichever comes first. Idle time adds hours without adding miles.

A worked example

A truck reads 420,000 miles and runs about 2,200 miles a week. Its last oil change was at 410,000 and the owner's OEM spec interval is, in this EXAMPLE, 15,000 miles. The oil change is due at 425,000, so 5,000 miles are left: about 16 days at the current pace. The fuel filters, last changed at 410,000 on a 30,000 mile EXAMPLE interval, are due at 440,000, about nine weeks out.

That tells the owner two things. The oil change needs a shop slot in a little over two weeks. And booking the fuel filters at the same visit is only worth it if the maker allows doing them early; otherwise it is a separate stop to plan.

PM service for a truck: what a schedule should cover

• Engine oil and filters, and oil analysis if you use it.
• Fuel filters and water separator.
• Chassis lube and fifth wheel grease.
• Brake inspection and adjustment, suspension and steering.
• Coolant, belts and hoses.
• Aftertreatment: DPF cleaning, DEF filter, sensors.
• Transmission and axle fluids on their longer intervals.
• Body and trailer items: reefer unit, liftgate, hydraulics, tank tests where they apply.

Our guide to truck maintenance covers each of these in more detail, and the truck maintenance checklist is a printable list for the shop visit itself.

Grouping services into one visit

Shops often group services into levels, sometimes called A, B and C services. The A service is the frequent one, usually oil, filters, lube and a basic inspection. The B and C services add the longer interval items on top. If two services fall within a few thousand miles of each other, doing them at one visit can save a trip and a day of downtime, as long as your OEM spec allows the earlier one to be done early. Doing a service late to line it up with another is the trade to avoid.

What to do with the result

Print the card and keep it in the truck. Book the next service like a pickup appointment, with a shop and a time, rather than waiting for a slow week that may not come. Put the cost in your budget too: the maintenance reserve calculator shows how much to set aside per mile so the bill is covered when it arrives.

Daily checks still matter between services. The pre-trip inspection checklist runs through the items federal rules list for the driver vehicle inspection report.

How a dispatcher uses your schedule

When we dispatch a truck, we ask for the service dates this generator produces. We plan the last load or two before each service to deliver near home or near the shop you choose, and we pick up the next load from there. You still approve every load. Our page for owner-operators explains how that works for single trucks.