Comments By SkyGuy

How much data do ya'll use on your smartphone when you teather it for internet hotspot? Hope to be in company orientation in June and starting to think about internet life on the road.... Thanks!

Youtube has copies of a 70's (?) vintage film on shifting an Eaton Fuller 13 speed transmission. It's the manufacturers film, and in two parts.

Part One

Part Two

This is brilliant thank you!!

One quick site note -- very much appreciate the kind words! Even if nobody is reading this it's a good tool for me to see where I came from on day zero until now and hope it helps anyone thinking about going to school!

Side note #2 - Went to the DMV where I will be testing next weekend to get a lay of the land, see what the yard looks like etc. Saw my Bobtail instructor there and a few familiar student faces (nervous faces) -- Instructor gave some helpful tips about the yard and I stayed most of the morning... out of the 5 students - 1 never showed up, 1 passed, 2 failed pre-trip (one didn't have a second hand on his watch and did static leak test for :50 sec) other student failed pre-trip because they left the key in the truck when they went for outside pre-trip. Another student failed the road test by hitting the curb on the way out leaving the DMV... instructor had to go out and get the truck.

Was a cold slap of reality that getting my CDL license was not easy and this was no joke.... I plan to do my usual weekly day classes and got permission to stay for the weekly night classes as well for as much practice time as possible. (not something they usually allow, but I guess word got around that I wasn't one of the students complaining about not enough time in the truck, texting / goofing off so glad paying attention gave me 'bonus' of extra time.)

Also made a promise to myself to have student's and even better an instructor test me on my pre-trip daily-

Very hopeful and trying to stay positive that I will pass pre-trip, yard & road in one trip -- if it takes me two so be it but sure as hell don't want to fail for something stupid on the pre-trip...

Until next week!

Week 3 - Pre-trip and Alley Dock and Bobtail (oh my!)

Passed my Doubles / Triples over the weekend woot woot!

Day 1 - after a lackluster alley dock to end last week I started Monday determined do better -- after a weekend of watching how to videos and reading up on the how to diagrams (flashback to the old 1950's style 'how to dance' floor mats) I showed up early to the yard - did my pretrip in my trusty broken truck before the instructors got on the lot -- my "yelling" instructor saw me and now knows my name and gave me the keys to a working truck (hey it's the little things in life) to do pre-trip for him-- nailed it but still want to practice it every day. 7 AM an instructor I saw in the yard previous weeks waltzed over with the golden list to sign your name for your turn to drive and I made it to #1... Okay Sky don't blow this... ready to walk to the truck. In a stern voice the instructor tells everyone to walk over to the truck -- points to the box we are supposed to get the trailer into - pretend this is a loading dock..if you miss it, you just f*$#ed up your truck. points to the cones on each side of the parking spot - see these cones? if you go over it you just hit another trucker. Here is how you don't do that -- took 20 min. to explain how to set up properly, how to know when a pull up is needed, using your landing gear in your mirror as a guide and a plethora of other great information. In 20 min early on a Monday morning I learned more about the alley dock than I did all last week. In calm voice calls "#1" -- jump into the green monster - bring up my psi to 100, put the truck into gear and release my air brakes... start to turn to pull out of the dock... WTF?!? no power steering - they had swapped our usual green truck to the other side of the yard... with every ounce of strength in my skinny arms, I turned the wheel left and pulled out to my cone. Got a work out every inch I had to turn the wheel - saw I needed a pull up - and ever so slowly got it in that damned box that had defeated me days before- exit the truck with a smile on my face. My 'yelling' pre-trip instructor had been watching from across the lot and gave me a thumbs up - new instructor had the entire class gather round to inspect the job I did - I hate attention like that so apparently I turned red from embarrassment... I blamed it on the workout from not having power steering... Had my hits / misses the rest of the day at alley dock but those 20 min. of tips stuck with me for sure!

Day 2 - got a few straight line runs in, pre tripped with other classmates and more alley docking - after lunch I hear my name from the Manager of the school - raise my hand and he points to the bob tail... the idea of taking a truck to a gear other than 1st or reverse was thrilling! 3 other students go out on road with instructor driving - asked who had never bobtailed before - I raised my hand - one other student had done it once before and had 2 "4-8 month / know it all's" with me as well. Passed by many empty parking lots where I was expecting to go but pulls over on a industrial road and has know it all #1 get in -- grind, grind, grind -- instructor yells in half Spanish half English "use the clutch, hold the wheel, watch the road not me!" I have never been so happy to have a seat belt in my entire life... know it all #2 - even more grinding, a near miss with a passing truck and only Spanish yelling - even more thankful I had a seat belt... Student with 1 time bob tailing did better than both of the know it alls so there was hope. My turn... still hoping I would start in an empty parking lot but it was not to be... had me go thru the gears while stopped to get the feel of them - the spring on the gear shifter had broke from know it all #2 so 1st gear was now against the driver seat... started up in 3rd and smooth start - had to keep reminding myself to double clutch but got the hang of it - happy I drive stick so understand the basics of a clutch --I also had the benefit of knowing to look at the road and not the instructor while driving... upshifting was okay - downshifting was a disaster... Hear in a Spanish accent "GIVE IT FUEL!!! LET OUT THE CLUTCH!!! FUEL 1ST!!!" Me: grind grind grind slowly roll to a stop in neutral... Instructor explained did not give it enough fuel and needed to get RPMs up to 1500 -- never once looked at the tachometer in my Jeepers so it was basically looking at a new language for me... few more trips around the industrial block and I got one good downshift at the end but happy I made it to 7th gear - Instructor gave me a "good job for your 1st time - trust me I have seen a lot worse" as he gives a wink and a glance to my 'know it all' students texting in the back of the truck...

Day 3 - Read every TT article about 10 speed shifting.. more YouTube... More 1950's style diagrams for dancing.. I mean downshifting - back on the bobtail it made sense - finally figured out it was the fuel that was needed to get it in gear I was downshifting to - once it was in gear I could let the clutch out slowly to use the engine to slow down the truck as I was accustomed to in downshifting.

Day 4 - got my downshift and upshift much much smoother - now T bar savvy and know where on the gauges to locate the tachometer... got in me daily pre-trip, straight line & alley dock in and feeling better...

Next week's adventures includes a full trailer time on the road (yay)!

Eager for the 4th week to begin!!

Officially passed Doubles/ Triples, Hazmat and Tanker... permit is getting crowded...time to turn this paper into an official License - Road test June 7th!

Would be cool to see 'bonus' company offers - Fuel MPG, Clean DOT inspection -- know you have that for a few companies but if the info is available would be great to compare-

Appreciate your time and work on the site Brett!!

Week 2... Alley Dock, Alley dock, Alley Dock... Ugh!

Day 1 was do whatever instructor was yelling, go left, go right, hard left, look at your mirror, push the trailer, make a bend, get rid of the bend! Went to sleep on Monday having nightmares about forgetting my right from my left...

Woke up early on Day 2 - Did my research online - trying to be 'scientific' about it...frantically searching TT for that 'magic tip' to make it in every time.. Alas there is no magic formula but got some great tips from older posts to stand at the back of the box and watch the others do it (and it is LONG wait to get my turn back in the truck...more about this from my so far unnamed school once I graduate...) --BUT from watching others, I began to understand how the angle you have equals where the ass of the trailer is going to go. Saw that it takes a bit for trailer to react to steering input (thank you research coming to life) Had a new instructor take over after lunch - would yell "left" then made us stop, get out and look - "do you see how you got rid of the bend" get back in, "straight...now right -- now stop" get out - do you see how there is a bend..." now hard left - stop -- when I say pushing the trailer what do i mean? ehhhhhhhh.... meaning you are pushing the bend out..... then explained the end is mostly straight line backing if you are lined up correctly. Okay that makes a bit more sense... rest of the afternoon did pre-trip and straight line, got one last alley dock in before the day was over...with 4 pull ups (ugh)...

Day 3 - must have had some good coffee because as I watched folks ahead of me, I could see perfectly when I would turn if I were driving, when I would need to pull up, when it was on the money. Get in the cab... not so clear looking at it from my mirrors but instructor let us make mistakes, yelled out a direction after a bit... got it in the box on my own - not pretty but made it in... had my good ones, and very very bad ones. Decided I wanted to focus on this and skipped the straight line... practiced pre-trip with other students while waiting... Lots of time to kill before my time to drive was back and more watching was helping - could accurately mime where I would turn the wheel and decided it was much easier to alley dock when not actually driving but clearly a major flaw in that plan... I want to be a truck driver not truck watcher!!

Day 4 - understand the concept - my issue is getting the timing right -- have been coming in too early or too late -- finally before lunch i NAILED it - perfect - after lunch on a high from a great dock, F*#%ed up royally, pull up, missed, pull up missed... afternoon it started pouring so a lot of the students left... not me... rain was not going to take away from my time... a list of 20 students in the morning turned into a list of 3 students in the rain -- tried to learn from each one - some were good, some bad but forced myself to understand what I did wrong - last one of the day in teaming rain I botched it - instructor told us day was over. Drove home frustrated with myself I don't have it perfected but got home and took a deep breath... having only been in school for 8 days, alley docking for 4 of them I know I will get it... Wish they were full days of actually being in a truck vs waiting for my turn but got to make the most of it... Have off Monday for Memorial day but eager to get back on the pad and improve next week.

Next week get to learn double clutching in bobtail and more alley docking, pre trip and straight line... get excited!

Side note got approved TSA fingerprints, and passed my Hazmat and Tanker endorsements woot woot! - studying up for Doubles / Triples and hope to take them next week...

Here's to the adventures week 3 brings... stay tuned!

Appreciate the insight - many thanks as always! Now back to the CDL manual and High Road....

Well all, I've known this for a few days but I've been fighting the fact that my apartment got flooded during Monday's storms here in Northern Ohio. To top it off I've been Evac'ed until they can clean all the mess up.

Now on to the good news...

I've been approved to join Prime. As is stands the plan is to head out and start June 9th.

Huge congrats!! Wishing you all the best as you prepare for the adventure!

Have little desire to run doubles or triples but still have a few questions - (pardon my 'dumb' newbie q's)

1) Even with no desire, is it worth it to study up to have the endorsement just in case (while I am still in 'study' mode)? 2) All the doubles I see are run with day cabs - is that a law that they can't be run at night? is it a parking issue? Am I just in the wrong state to see doubles / triples with sleeper cabs?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

- Curious Skyguy