Becoming a truck driver gentlemen any advise about trucking and cdl school?

[alleyoopmgv]

I used to drive truck locally and OTR when I was younger. I always thought it would be a good thing to get back into when I was older, which I am now, but I let my class A expire a long time ago. Never should have let that happen!
Anyways, I suppose I would have to go through all the b.s. again of getting my class A, I just don't know if I'm up for that. I did enjoy it when I was younger. 25 years later and still painting cars.

 

[fla 66 cuda]

Not a semi driver but i did own a hotshot boat hauler [1 ton dually & trailer] as a subcontractor made good money never had any intrest in getting a class A . However i do have friends that were otr drivers for Werner,schnider [who's trucks are governed at 60-65 mph]. I personally miss my hotshot days waking up in a different place every other day,but that was in 96/98 the D.O.T. has changed a lot of rules for those types of trucks now,if your a family man it'll be tough but with understanding you'll be fine it's a great job [with it's ups an downs]just like any other job just ask a lot of questions and pay attention you'll be fine have fun and enjoy the ride!!!

 

[Bruzilla]

I just developed six driver training lessons for trucking companies and I heard a lot of the issues that have been written about here. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the new rules being implemented by the Feds. It used to be if you were a foul up, you could go to work for a different company and your record started new each time you changed employers. Now your record stays with you, which should help get a lot of the problem children out of the industry. The downside of more Fed attention is they are keeping a much closer eye on the amount of time you spend on the road. Gone are the days that you could drive until you were on the verge of collapse so you could maximize the money you made and as long as you didn't wreck nobody cared. Now with in-cab devices and other tracking mechanisms it's getting harder to cheat the system.

Two things you really want to pay attention to are rollover hazards and progressive shifting. Rollovers are bad news and happen a lot, so learn how to avoid them. Progressive shifting will help you save on fuel costs if you have a manual trans. I had to go through ten or so trucking instructors before I found one who really knew how to progressive shift. They all knew about it, and all taught about it, but had no real idea of how to do it.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Ok, explain progressive shipfting.

 

[cr8crshr]

OK...First off this is probably going to set some here in a "Tizzy" and all for what I am about to say. More of a different point of view than an actual critique, or negativity towards the occupation of driving a truck. Those that do choose that job and direction, my hat's off to ya as it is probably one of the most stressful occupations around. Don't do it!!! We do not need any more trucks on the road. In fact we need to reduce the amount of them. Why? because of the cost involved both in human terms and business terms. My solution is to beef up the freight shipping via the Railroads to where we reduce the amount of truck traffic by 50% or better. We then construct terminals at various end points, i.e. City Terminals on the out skirts, rail heads, etc. where we than utilize trucks for the purpose of transporting goods to the various drop off locations within such as Grocery's, Manufacturing plants, Businesses, etc. These would be mostly short haul trucks. The drivers would be compensated well for an 8 hour day...overtime of course...and be home at the end of the day. There would be a lot less LTL and Bob Tail expense and Dead Head time for that matter. Fuel consumption would be reduced causing goods to be reduced in price, and overall costs of most goods and services. Costs in Health care would drop as well as most current Truckers are in ill health and physical condition...just take a look at the drivers at most Truck Stops and you can see what I mean. Roads would be less damaged from the weight carried over the roads thus reducing the costs to maintain the infrastructure of the US. But that is just Tuck's World here. I have the utmost respect for Truck Drivers as I myself was one and a card carrying Teamster to boot. But that was a long time ago and now things are different. Sure there is a need for long haul over the road as it is more accommodating than the Railroads when it comes to some Hazardous and oversized items. Just that in my view we don't need more Trucks..Just more Trains...My opinion and I am stuck with it...

 

[roadrunnerman]

Tuck, The solution is not more trains. Why? Because the sellers and buyers cannot afford to have their freight sit on a train for 1-2 weeks while the railroad logistic's tries to coordinate where the switching points are going to be to get the product going in the right direction. They tried something like that before. They have been talking about building warehouses like you mentioned for the last 10 years. One idea was outside L.A. We all know the railroad is funded by the government. Trucks get better fuel mileage than railroad engines but yet the driver has to shut his truck off in certain states and cannot idle because the EPA says we throw all these pollutants in the air but a train can run for days on end and nothing is done about that. As far as the health of drivers, that is also improving or will in the future as more companies put restrictions on the health and weight of new drivers. Minnesota tried to shut down drivers that had a neck size greater than 13 inches because the thought if you were overweight that you had sleep-apnea. I know skinny people that have that. The trucks are not the problem with bad roads. Tell the 50 states to drop the weight limit back down to 73,280 lbs, even though there is 5-6 times more cars on the roads than trucks at any given time. Or tell your state to not award the cheapest company to build the road using the cheapest material they can find. I am not bashing your opinion, just responding to your views.

 

[fla 66 cuda]

:happy1::happy1: Progressive shifting?

 

[roadrunnerman]

:happy1::happy1: Progressive shifting?

That is when you use the rolling momentum of the truck to shift 1rst to 3rd to 5th instead of going thru each gear. You basically have to match your road speed to the rpm's for it to work without grinding the gears. I usually just float the gears.

 

[shag766]

That is when you use the rolling momentum of the truck to shift 1rst to 3rd to 5th instead of going thru each gear. You basically have to match your road speed to the rpm's for it to work without grinding the gears. I usually just float the gears.

thats real close. a lot depends on the weight and the terrain also. 1st to 3rd to 5th on the flats light loaded or empty is practical. heavy loaded and rolling terrain would be hard. i drove for 20 plus years, canada/usa, and still have trucks on the road and train my own drivers.
8 speed trans for example; 1st g from a stop. clutch out slowly bring rpm up slowly and never to governor. shift slowly to 2nd when momentum is achieved. same routine all the way up to cruising speed. i don't want my guys skip gearing heavy loaded. in the old days with the 13-15-18 speed trans you could get away with it but today with the huge torque motors and fewer gears it puts a lot of stress on the power train, skipping.
i am not saying you can't or you shouldn't but get some mileage under your *** before fine tuning in my trucks. i just bought a new pete with an auto trans and gave it to one of my older drivers who never drove auto before. he was peeved about the auto but now he wouldn't give it up, loves the cruise control. go figure.

sorry r/r man but skipping comes with experience. no offence intended.
you see some of these guys today on the governor from the get go. dam near lifting the right front wheel off the ground. lol

as you will notice. the truck is new. i am not. lol

 

[RustyRatRod]

I have a good friend who is an OTR driver. All I'll add is, it CAN still be a good living if you stay away from the bad stuff. Just as it has always has been. That part has not changed.

 

[Bruzilla]

The basic concept of progressive shifting is you want to shift at the lowest RPM possible. Most drivers (of cars or trucks) have preferred shift points, and in most cases these shift points are at an RPM that's higher than what is needed to make the shift, so fuel spend turning those extra RPMs is wasted. It's basically the opposite of the way racer's shift.

Say for example the first three minimum shift points are 1,100 RPM, 1,000 RPM, and 1,200 RPM (I'm just making these up), there are a lot of drivers who will rev the engine up to 1,400 or 1,500 RPM before shifting. These are where they are used to making the shift and are comfortable making them, but the extra fuel spent in doing that is essentially wasted. Had they shifted to second at 1,100 RPM, third at 1,000 RPM, and fourth at 1,200 RPM, they would be getting the benefits of the larger gear without burning fuel they don't have to.

The problem with this, as has been mentioned, is that while you're saving fuel you're also shifting very close to the point where you'll grind the gears so it takes some practice and a good knowledge of your vehicle's characteristics, which are pretty static in nature, and the characteristics of the load your hauling and the road conditions you're in, which varies from day to day. But guys who master the technique can save some money on fuel when driving a truck with a manual trans.

 

[fatecaptured]

Tuck, The solution is not more trains. Why? Because the sellers and buyers cannot afford to have their freight sit on a train for 1-2 weeks while the railroad logistic's tries to coordinate where the switching points are going to be to get the product going in the right direction. They tried something like that before. They have been talking about building warehouses like you mentioned for the last 10 years. One idea was outside L.A. We all know the railroad is funded by the government. Trucks get better fuel mileage than railroad engines but yet the driver has to shut his truck off in certain states and cannot idle because the EPA says we throw all these pollutants in the air but a train can run for days on end and nothing is done about that. As far as the health of drivers, that is also improving or will in the future as more companies put restrictions on the health and weight of new drivers. Minnesota tried to shut down drivers that had a neck size greater than 13 inches because the thought if you were overweight that you had sleep-apnea. I know skinny people that have that. The trucks are not the problem with bad roads. Tell the 50 states to drop the weight limit back down to 73,280 lbs, even though there is 5-6 times more cars on the roads than trucks at any given time. Or tell your state to not award the cheapest company to build the road using the cheapest material they can find. I am not bashing your opinion, just responding to your views.

Like it or not high speed rail cars are coming to town.. A Chinese owned manufacturer is opening its doors in Rochelle, IL. They are gearing up production of high speed rail cars. One of the Robotic Programmers from my place of business just went to work for them last year. He was sent to China for a month to train on their Robots. Was kinda jealous since I have more experience with robotic programming then him by 4 years. But. I didn't hear of the position till he was already hired.

Anyways, for now the rail cars are going to be produced for China for now. But the U.S is going to join in eventually. They are going to be used for commuting to my knowledge. Its whats helped China be so economically successful. So we'll be on board soon I'm sure. So that will help clear the roads a bit.

To comment on the sleep apnea. I myself was diagnosed last November with a sever case of sleep apnea. I stop breathing in my sleep 35 times an hour. And I'm not obese. Anyone who snores should be tested for it. Long term effects are heart failure and other major issues.

Sorry for the book report.

 

[hammond472]

My friends complained about speeding tickets, load shifting and hitting the scales for a huge fines, waiting for another load or to unload, bad pay, working in bad weather, insurance drops/rate jumps and waiting for rig repairs, but at least you're behind the wheel. All of my friends that did this hated it and the ones that had the school paid for had to work it off before they quit. Nothing like being stuck in a job you hate for an extra year. This job is not for everyone. Think it out and good luck.

 

[pabster]

I never drove trucks, but I drove buses. The one thing I will add is keep you body limber. Get a hold of a good basic set of stretches on a piece of paper, laminate it, and stretch before every stint behind the wheel. Take a walk when you can. In 4.5 years of driving for a living, my back, legs and neck all started singing soprano, and I found staying limber and active outside the drivers seat helped keep me from major physical problems later. Good luck in your quest!

 

[roadrunnerman]

No problem shag, as an owner of a few trucks on the road I can understand your need to try and get the best mileage for your trucks. Diesel is the most expensive cost of operations that a trucking company has. As a company driver I use cruise control as much as possible so I can get my quarterly fuel bonus. Yes, there is a time, place, and weight of the load to use progressive shifting. The company I work for has trucks equipped with APU's which help considerably against idle time. I know all about progressive shifting (was just giving the basic points).
Staying active is part of staying healthy. I'm not one of those drivers that will 15-20 laps around the truck stop parking lot just to get a front row parking spot. I usually just head right to the back row cause I know there will be plenty of parking spots there (for the most part).
I hope dominic is reading all this to not only get the good/bad of the trucking industry, but also what life on the road is really like.

 

[GTX]

did it for a year, drove a volvo. Bad thing is you have a lot of time to think. (different senarios happening at home). break downs - your stuck in bfe for maybe days trying to find the parts you need, while your wife is home with an emergency. Did enjoy the experience but not being home every night sucked after a while. I liked sleeping at rest area's, no lot lizards. (also called a pickle park) Still have my CDL just in case

 

[Roadcuda]

a good many of them either can't speak English, or their acent is so thick you can't understand them. Don't bashing foriegn drivers, but you need to speak the lauange, and be understood. and the quilaty of driver has really dropped. I've seen drivers back into our docks on the first try, and others take 45 minutes. really scarey when I see trucks out on the road.

We've got those where I work too Dave. It gets to be a real pain sometimes trying to give some of these guys instructions because they don't understand the language. I got my license in '76 and while I drove only in the Northeast area I finally got fed up with the bs in '97 and got out taking a supervisors position at a recycler. I do still drive straight job or trailers on occasion and I am the main yard jocky. It is tight getting into one of our docks so it is fun watching one of these otr guys trying to back in to the dock. I've seen some struggle for a long time trying to figure it out. Just this past week we had 4 or 5 guys waiting for dock space and one guy couldn't figure out how to to it. I was in the yard horse making room and since we now had a line of trucks trying to get by I told the guy to drop his trailer right where he was and I took care of it. It's not the first one I had to do that for and it won't be the last. My boss and I like to make comments about these guys and my first one most all the time is that Cracker Jacks is giving out CDL's as prizes again. My other pet peeve is how they park at the docks. I've lost count on how many times I've had to tell a driver to straighten out his truck. Why? Because he as so crooked that he was taking up half of the space next to him, and he was ready to leave his truck that way. So one thing I would say is try and back into a spot as square to the dock as possible. I've not perfect all the time but I also don't take up space in the spots next to me. Don't use a dropped trailer as a guide when backing in, it may not be straight! Sorry, rant over!