How I know I'm an Inexperienced Truckdriver

[rorybellows]

radarrider, i just typed a bunch of tips for you, but i timed out i guess and i dont feel like retyping again. if you want some pionters, pm me and ill shoot em back to ya. happy trails.

[Gear Jammer]

I never use a GPS. I have a trucker map and a normal map. I don't even have a GPS in the truck. Do your self a favor and throw that GPS in the trash. Thats thing will get you into trouble.

Also about ripping down wires that ain't a big deal at all. If they are that low and you rip them down its not your fault. I think they have to be 14ft off the ground. I do heavy hauling. Not real heavy like around 100,000lbs. It gets even better when you have to follow a permit route.

[rorybellows]

gear jammer i think your right about the wires. but if your on a combo/weight restricted road, theyll getcha.

[JK23112]

You are not a "broken in" truck driver until you do some of the following things (which I have done) or have them happen to you:

1. Pull up under a trailer, get the fifth wheel lined up perfectly with the kingpin and forget that the trailer landing gear is cranked up too high. This is especially embarrasing when you get stuck behind the kingpin and can't pull free -- thus having to drop the air bags (tractor suspension) in order to get out for another crack at it. Doh!

2. Hook up the air lines backwards (not hard to do if both are red couplings - such as what happens with some rental trucks) and hear loud hissing when you try to 'charge' the emergency line. This is especially aggravating during a thunderstorm.

3. Picking up someone else's trailer and realizing that the rubber glad hand seal is missing -- or, with my company, seeing that the whole glad hand is missing!


4. Regularly driving 53-foot trailers and then on a rare occasion having to move or back up a 28-foot "pup" trailer. People will laugh and guffaw as you are doing a maneuver that resembles a sidewinder snake in the desert. Pup trailers will get crazy on you with even the slightest movement of the steering wheel. NOTE: This effect is exaggerated when a large sleeper tractor is hooked to a very short trailer.


5. Driving down the highway at night and notice how polite people are to you because they are flashing their lights at you when you pass - so that you can get back over in the right lane. An hour or so later, you stop for a snack and discover that your pigtail (electrical wire) has come unplugged; thus rendering your trailer totally dark and without any brake lights, running lights or turn signals. Doh!


6. With a rather heavy load in the trailer, you wonder why it is taking so long to stop and that it requires extra effort to slow down. As you glance out the rear window (daycabs only, of course), there lies your blue (service) line on the catwalk behind you; thus meaning you only have tractor brakes and no trailer brakes. Ack!


7. Another driver uses your tractor and forgets to hang up the air lines properly when running bobtail (no trailer). When you go to use your tractor, the red (emergency) air line is tangled in the driveshaft and rendered useless. Three hours later - after road service is dispatched on your boss's dime - you are back on the road again and the whole day is ruined.


8. Your company dispatches you to a "hot" load or pickup that has to be done immediately and you run over ten busloads of nuns to make it there before they close. When you enter the shipping department, you are told that "your other driver" picked up the load twenty minutes ago. If that scenario is not enough to make you go "postal" on somebody, I don't know what is!


9. Call a customer for directions and you ask if a big truck can get in there. "No problem!," they tell ya; "Fred brings in a big truck every day."

Once you arrive to the place, tear up their grassy area around the driveway, knock down a few tree branches and nearly take out a utility pole - you finally get into the dock. When you are visibly irritated about them telling you a big truck won't have any trouble, the lady with whom you spoke ealier points to a Ford cube van (18-foot box truck) and says that "Fred drives that 'big truck over there' all the time.


10. You get a dispatch that is 700 miles away and the allowable time to get there is ten hours. The boss tells you that you sure as heck better not be late and then the safety manager gives you a 'warning letter' about a speeding ticket you got last year.


The aforementioned are but a few that I can bring to mind. I know there are countless other things that can and do happen each and every day.

[StarDriver]

Originally Posted by Gear Jammer

I never use a GPS. I have a trucker map and a normal map. I don't even have a GPS in the truck. Do your self a favor and throw that GPS in the trash. Thats thing will get you into trouble.

Also about ripping down wires that ain't a big deal at all. If they are that low and you rip them down its not your fault. I think they have to be 14ft off the ground. I do heavy hauling. Not real heavy like around 100,000lbs. It gets even better when you have to follow a permit route.

I use the map and GPS, also a good source is Microsoft Streets and Trips.

The lines have to be 16ft at the lowest point of the droop, below that, your fine, above that, open your checkbook. ( I used to haul machinery and wide loads.)

[bundymon]

Ive had my CDL for about 6 months now, My father drove a semi for 36 years and taught at a truck driving school for 5 years. I went to the driving school he taught at when I got my CDL. I'm 38 so Ive been around trucks all my life, but it was like being with a drill Sargent trying to get my CDL cause he expected me to know how to drive a semi right off.

[ABOBB]

Originally Posted by CoalRollinRoosterCruiser

Ya gotta start somewherez


Once you get away from double-clutching, you will NEVER go back. i promise you that

But that all comes with time. You'll get the hang of it

I don't have a cdl, but have been thinking more and more about getting it.

Most of the driving doesn't scare me, but when I learned to drive larger trucks (mainly dumps, but also tractor-trailer rigs both with farm tags) I learned to power shift, or float the gears. I've never been good at double clutching, and am afraid that I'll fail the driving exam because of this.

[Hank]

Thanks for the laughs guys. I've never driven a big rig and, after reading these posts, don't plan to start!

You guys should send these in to BIG RIG QUARTERLY, 8X18 WHEELER, etc.

[6point0damn2004]

Originally Posted by RadarRider

]
2. One of the #1 rules of driving truck is never to get yourself into a situation where you have to back up......well......I get myself into one of them everyday.

i wish that applied to me, the deliveries I make I have to backup to a convenience store sidewalk 14-16 times a night, we get good at moving in reverse

[RadarRider]

The bottom line is; I love my job......I just wish I was better @ it. I went to my truck driving school this morning to talk to the instructor that I work with & got me my knew job because he had been on vacation all week. After I got through my 1st story, most of his time listening to me was spent with his head in his hands. Guess I'm still learning!