Comments By Mark M.

Well not much to say about TNT other then you drive. Try to sleep on the bumpy roads, which is rough.

Learning macros, paperwork, real world backing. How to accept loads and talk to shippers and recievers

Pretty good stuff. So far picking up what I need to know.

Feeling good and still loving the job.

Thank you for the updates Mark! Could you clarify, are you doing TNT pulling a flatbed? I haven’t heard you talk about securement or other flatbed specific details. I am about a week away from testing for my CDL in Salt Lake City (they are incredibly backed up here!) and it sounds like I will be doing TNT on a reefer, then return to do bootcamp and some additional flatbed specific drive time after that. hearing all of the same talk about shortage of trainers that I am working on this thread. What is true? Who knows!

CDL test was pretty easy, dont sweat that!

No im reefer, decided to do this first and see what's what. Never have driven anything bigger then a humvee so I wanted my first timenti be easy.

And yeah they are short on trainers, that being said only took a week to get mine. And I got paid for that week.

Good luck man! Hope to see you out there!

Well not much to say about TNT other then you drive. Try to sleep on the bumpy roads, which is rough.

Learning macros, paperwork, real world backing. How to accept loads and talk to shippers and recievers

Pretty good stuff. So far picking up what I need to know.

Feeling good and still loving the job.

Bet you have a lease trainer, right?

Yeah, and I want to make him money and treat his equipment with respect.

But I also have to learn.

Well, most of these guys I've met don't know jack about anything except they believe they are running a successful business. Don't concern yourself "making him money!" If he wanted to make money he should have stayed as a company driver.

The RPMs are not going to hurt or damage anything under about 2400, so you're doing fine. These engines have safety features built in nowadays to prevent over revving the motors. The higher the RPMs, the more effective the engine breaking will be.

As for smoking any brakes, the way to prevent this is to control your descent ahead of time, keeping the speed lower. You're not using stab braking, either. That what you do when a deer jumps out in front of the hood. You're doing normal, controlled braking.

My method: When descending a long grade, start at the top about 20 mph below the speed limit while utilizing the Jacobs Brake feature. When you have noticed the speed climbing to about 7-10 mph faster, get on the brake pedal for a steady pressure for about 5 seconds, decreasing that speed. Repeat as needed to maintain a comfortable and controlled descent and adjust the engine braking as needed--low, medium, or high.

Speed kills, and overheating the brakes can kill you, too. If you can't get fully stopped in a quarter mile distance , while maintaining complete control of your rig, you're coming down the hill too fast.

All hills are different, just the same as all loads are different. This will take a bunch of driving experience to figure it out for yourself, so for now take it slow and safe.

Yeah I think my trainer is still stuck on I should have learned all this in phase 1. While everyone at Prime in phase 1 said I should learn it in TNT.

Bet you have a lease trainer, right?

Yeah, and I want to make him money and treat his equipment with respect.

But I also have to learn.

So been on my TNT truck for over a week. Put in at least 5k miles.

Today we are bringing a load from Los Angeles to Colorado. Trainer says nothing to me about how to use the Jake brake.

Now I know a little about it, but last week down a hill was using it and trainer got mad at me for going to 1.8 to 1.9k rpm.

Today I kept it at 1500 to 1700 but had to keep using stab brakes. Well they started smoking about when the downgrade ended.

He says I should have learned all this before tnt. I did tell him that I learned how to pass the cdl in PSD, and everything else i learned was verbal.

Luckily it looks like his truck brakes are good, but the trailers are wrecked. I think they were before. They didn't smoke at all, but I'm no expert.

Anyway, just thought I'd post an update.

Got a trainer, on his truck now at a truck stop. The top bunk area is sure tight! But all my stuff fits up here.

So far trainer is alright, nice guy, seems willing to train and also is a lease operator. So I will hopefully learn as much as I can about lease op.

Havent driven yet, but he says tomorrow will work on backing and maybe drive some!

Some trainers haver 4 or 5 students!! They have so many students, Im guessing because of high turnover and need. They showed us some financials and said Prime turns down thousands of loads a week because they dont have the drivers or trucks. Not sure whether that is true or not, but if its even partially true then they need all these students.

My fleet manager called me the end of last week asking me again to be a trainer. He said there are 40 students waiting for trainers just in the flatbed division.

By the way congratulations on passing the CDL test.

Now it's time for the real learning in the grueling TNT phase.

Keep your head up, stay safe, and don't let the *******s get you down.

Yeah I was told a week, week and a half or longer. But hey Im getting paid "ready to dispatch" at the house. So hopefully it happens quicker, Id like to get on the road and start getting those miles under my belt.

But patience is a virtue!

Now just the waiting game.

Day 13

Few hours on the pad, aced the alley dock, got the blind side parallel ok, screwed up the offset initially then got it on the second try.

Other then that was just talking through the PTI and getting high fives from the trainer for looking ready to pass the test.

Day 14 TEST DAY!!

My training partner got through PTI and Backing, then went out on his drive. Like he had done on all the times our trainer took us out on the road, did not pay attention to road signs. Sat at a yield sign for 5 minutes, 3 light changes. Examiner finally just had to fail him. I would be more sad for him...but...

I PASSED EVERYTHING! I got my CDL-A, examiner said I didnt miss a thing and that though my parallel was a little dirty, it was full passing dirty with no points. So Im done with PSD! Now just in my room waiting for a call from the trainer, or the call to go home and wait there.

Thanks everyone for helping me out here, this online training on this forum and your words of encouragement helped me alot!

Day 12

Alot of sitting around my room and memorizing my PTI. Didnt have pad time till 1700 hrs and then we spent maybe an hour an a half at most on the pad.

We did blind side parallel parking and though I got in the box twice, it was UGLY as hell. But ugly as hell passing is passing dangt!

More pad time tomorrow hopefully, and maybe we can get our trainer to bring us out on the road again on the path the examiners will take us.

Anyway, easy update!

Glad things are going well, Mark! And glad to hear that "drama" cleared up so you can just focus on your training. Thanks for the updates. I'm assuming once you get your CDL and move on to TNT, it'll just be you and the trainer (not 3 or 4 of you in the truck)?

Yes sir, just me and the TNT trainer. I cant wait, getting ready for that test on Friday!