How I know I'm an Inexperienced Truckdriver

[RadarRider]

Originally Posted by 99Smokin73Stroker

How does driving pay?

Pretty good actually. I'm making less per hour than I was my last job, but with all the hours I'm getting, I make more per week! I love it! Getting paid to drive a truck & then going back to the barn & getting paid for driving a forklift!

Originally Posted by Rob

im staying away from your end of town for a long time.. let me know in 20 years when you finally have this down, and maybe ill come visit!

Oooof. It may be more than 20 years, Rob. I'm starting to earn the nickname "53". Not because I'm good with one, but because I'm not good with one. Matter of fact; today I had ran some deliveries with a pup & then had to come back to hook up to a 53' for a big Wally World delivery to one of their warehouses. I had to make a BIG left into a road under construction & a woman in a newer Pathfinder had just barely gone over the stop line on her side talking to the traffic cop. Just as I looked into my driver's mirror to check my tracking, the side of the trailer was about to go over her hood! She's laying on the horn & the cop directed her to pull up so I could make the cut. Further down the road there was more construction(no cops or traffic, though) & I cut a curve too tight & crushed a traffic barrel like a beer can!......they had too many out anyway.

Originally Posted by Rob

usually in the form of a paycheck, every two weeks i would guess. when you take the check to the bank, it turns into cash money. :

[99Smokin73Stroker]

I meant would you make 30-35k a year starting at least?

[RadarRider]

Originally Posted by 99Smokin73Stroker

I meant would you make 30-35k a year starting at least?

From what I'm told, I'll be making pretty close to $40K in one full year.

[BRS]

Originally Posted by RadarRider

...& I cut a curve too tight & crushed a traffic barrel like a beer can!......they had too many out anyway...

That's why all of us working on road projects switched from orange safety gear to yellow. Simple answer - cones and barrels are orange and everyone runs over those

[RadarRider]

Originally Posted by BRS

That's why all of us working on road projects switched from orange safety gear to yellow. Simple answer - cones and barrels are orange and everyone runs over those

I am getting better, though!

[jorlee]

53ft trailer

Here's a real 53 footer I pulled this SOB most of the summer. You think your turns have to be wide. I'm planning a turn as soon as I can see where I have to turn, or I have someone from the crew up front telling me how tight it is, since I have one shot at making it.

[adfields]

I ran heavy wrecker in Arizona for 23 years, 53' is nothing till you stick a 42' long wrecker in front of its tractor.

I used to use the wheelchair crosswalk ramps cut in the sidewalks to keep from killing the customer’s trailer tires. If you do it right the tires go up the first ramp, follow the bend in the sidewalk, and down the next ramp onto the street. So one day I have a W900 KW Arrow cab and a 53’ van I’m taking to the KW dealer in Phoenix. The owner is all spooked about me curbing his high buck trailer rubber so I tell him about my ramp trick. He then sits there quietly watching for about 5 or 6 terns never saying a word and I’m thinking he’s gonna want me to buy him tires. All at once he turns to me all surprised looking and says “I’ll be dammed . . . maybe congress did know what they were doing when they passed the Americans with Disabilities act.” I was laughing so hard I had to pull over!!

Think a 42’ wrecker, 300” road tractor, and a 53’ trailer is a PITA to drive? The crane companies around Phoenix liked my work for some reason and called me about twice a week, mostly for recovery work like stuck cranes. But about once every 90 days they would want a crane towed in and nothing sucks more than towing a crane!! Hook a huge wrecker to a 300ton hydro crane and it looks and acts like a Tonka toy. It was one of my first crane tows that gave me one of my best mishaps. The thing had been stolen by kids and high centered on a R/R track and the owners could not produce paperwork that convinced the cops they were the owners. The cops want me to tow it to their evidence impound and I say sure if you escort me. So I get all hooked up and take off with a cop in front and a cop behind me. About half a mile into this is a R/R crossing with a set of lights for each of the 3 north bound lanes and I found out the hard way the crane boom was now 17’ or more as the wrecker went up on the tracks. Boom hits the light post arm, rips the whole thing down, and guess where it lands . . . yup, on top of the cop car!! I thought I killed the cop since he never got out as I was running back to him, but he was just laughing so hard at me that he could not breathe. It was all very embarrassing to say the least!

[6point0damn2004]

Originally Posted by adfields

I ran heavy wrecker in Arizona for 23 years, 53' is nothing till you stick a 42' long wrecker in front of its tractor.

I used to use the wheelchair crosswalk ramps cut in the sidewalks to keep from killing the customer’s trailer tires. If you do it right the tires go up the first ramp, follow the bend in the sidewalk, and down the next ramp onto the street. So one day I have a W900 KW Arrow cab and a 53’ van I’m taking to the KW dealer in Phoenix. The owner is all spooked about me curbing his high buck trailer rubber so I tell him about my ramp trick. He then sits there quietly watching for about 5 or 6 terns never saying a word and I’m thinking he’s gonna want me to buy him tires. All at once he turns to me all surprised looking and says “I’ll be dammed . . . maybe congress did know what they were doing when they passed the Americans with Disabilities act.” I was laughing so hard I had to pull over!!

Think a 42’ wrecker, 300” road tractor, and a 53’ trailer is a PITA to drive? The crane companies around Phoenix liked my work for some reason and called me about twice a week, mostly for recovery work like stuck cranes. But about once every 90 days they would want a crane towed in and nothing sucks more than towing a crane!! Hook a huge wrecker to a 300ton hydro crane and it looks and acts like a Tonka toy. It was one of my first crane tows that gave me one of my best mishaps. The thing had been stolen by kids and high centered on a R/R track and the owners could not produce paperwork that convinced the cops they were the owners. The cops want me to tow it to their evidence impound and I say sure if you escort me. So I get all hooked up and take off with a cop in front and a cop behind me. About half a mile into this is a R/R crossing with a set of lights for each of the 3 north bound lanes and I found out the hard way the crane boom was now 17’ or more as the wrecker went up on the tracks. Boom hits the light post arm, rips the whole thing down, and guess where it lands . . . yup, on top of the cop car!! I thought I killed the cop since he never got out as I was running back to him, but he was just laughing so hard at me that he could not breathe. It was all very embarrassing to say the least!

[They call me Pete]

I can remember my first time out in the lowbed. Took me forever to get that SOB lined up right to hook it back up. The other time that sticks out in my mind is the first time I moved a D8N dozer. That's one big azz blade

[adfields]

Originally Posted by They call me Pete

The other time that sticks out in my mind is the first time I moved a D8N dozer. That's one big azz blade

Ya I know what you mean. Got a call from the Police to a tractor trailer wreck on I-10 in Phoenix. Once there it turned out to be a 9 axle Cozad with a D9 on it. It had rear ended a dry van and it was all I wanted just to drag it over to the E-lane to open the road till I could get a tractor with ramps on it to pull that huge thing.