Comments By Unholychaos

I hate taking selfies, but I'm bored and remembered this thread was here.

My babies! L-R: Bruno, Maya, Scamp

I've noticed that my automated transmission doesn't like to shift properly from the low to high range when it's cold (heavy loads make it even worse), so I idle about 10m before I actually get rolling. The little bit over over idling doesn't have much of an effect overall.

I hate the Tullo Truck Stop around Kearny NJ. Narrow fuel lanes, barely room to pull forward, sketchy area, bad traffic coming out. Also, Pilot in Montague NJ.

Power Steering

So if I understood that correctly, we would only get paid by CPM; no breakdown, layover, detention, sign-on bonus, safety bonus, or accessorials (hand unloading/assisting, tarping etc.)?

Call me ignorant, but I thought we weren't able to log On Duty Not Driving past our 70 without getting an HOS violation. Since the 70h clock ticks when on either line 3 or 4, it makes sense to me that we're unable to log line 4 if we're out of 70 hours. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I saw this one on one of the Facebook groups that regularly bash swift.

Pickup in Horicon WI from John Deere, 10,500lbs going to deep breath: Mediapolis IA, through the house for home time through Sunday, Macon MO, Kingfisher OK, Marble Falls TX, and Victoria TX. Total of 1583m miles, stop off pay, AND gets me home on time! He was ecstatic about this load coming together perfectly!

Schneider does have opportunities to go out west within the first year, but its mainly in the summer months when the Colorado chain law is lifted. I've been with Schneider for 1.5 years and made it out to southern California last August. By that time, all the snow on the Rockies was melted and I-70 was nice and dry; I was carrying 15k lbs, and I still climbed at 35mph! It definitely was a beautiful drive, but I wouldn't want to run it during the winter months personally.

Also, Schneider doesn't voluntarily teach you how to chain up as they'd rather you park it than have to run with chains.

Safest bet is to just call, or have CS contact, the customer to find out. Typically though, if a customer does allow overnight parking on their property, it's not allowed on a door, but in a separate section of the lot like outside the guard shack. As long as you're not one of the scumbags who keep ruining Wal-Marts for us (leaving trash and waste everywhere), you'd be fine.

He was saying that people start yelling and get frustrated...

I got frustrated and yelled all the time while in CDL school, however, all of the frustration and yelling was directed towards myself. I kept yelling things at myself like, "Dammit Unholy get that damn thing in the hole!" When I finally nailed the back on the first try, I was so ecstatic I was literally jumping for joy as I was walking to the end of the trailer. Every other failed attempt after that was something like, "Come on man... you did it yesterday, do it again!" Honestly, I still yell at myself everyday for not being able to hit an easy back, thinking I'm making myself look liked a damned fool (but I've got a Schneider trailer so people just expect me to suck anyway haha).

Point being, it is frustrating at the start; just remember to breathe and take a break from the driver's seat every so often to cool down if you're able.

Guessing the frame was askew.

I move tandems sometimes 4x in one day. I always use the Johnson Bar (jockey brake) to hold them as opposed to the spring brake (parking). I rock the trailer once or twice and the pins have always released. Many times when pulling the pin lock, they'll stick. Rocking the trailer slightly, forward then reverse will release them. I've (knock-on-wood) never had to resort to assaulting them with a mini-sledge.

Hope that helps.

I did try that multiple times. It got to the point where I was just dragging the trailer forward and back. My guess is it was just sitting too long exposed to the elements causing the mechanism to rust stuck and hitting the major potholes miraculously broke it loose.

Stupidly enough, I pulled out of the parking spot and out to the front of the property cause maintenance isn't allowed inside, as soon as he shows up and I pull the handle, the pins retract like normal... What the hell! Were they so rusted that the potholes I hit on the way out broke them free? 3h of my day wasted, now I have to go through Memphis during rush hour...

Pretty sure this is why. Can anyone confirm?

In my experience, creep mode engages when you start to left off the brake. Try feathering off the brake; if you start to feel the truck about to lurch too hard, apply very slight brake pressure to slow it down.

Personally, I hate creep mode. If there was a way to disable it permanently, I'd do it in a heart beat. I'd rather back using the throttle; creep mode goes too fast for my liking, especially when dealing with tight spots or rough lots. I do tend to see it activate more often on uneven or holey lots while under heavy loads.

Yesterday as I spent a very long day driving westbound across the FL panhandle towards Baton Rouge, I thought about the week I've had and where I've been to be able to accumulate 3500+ (actual) miles. I had the idea of plotting my week, city by city, on Google maps just to see what my week actually looked like; it's surprisingly pretty cool!

From the end of my 34 at the TA in Columbia, NJ, to the Made to Go truck stop on the north side of Baton Rouge, LA, I drove a total of 3547.7 miles using 68h of my 70.

Disclaimer: Had to remove a few short jaunts from the map due to Google maps only allowing so many waypoints, but they were virtually along the way.

Burnout is, in my opinion, one of the worst things that can happen, in trucking or your run of the mill 9-5. Something that we once loved to do every minute of every day becomes stale, the coolness factor wears off, it starts becoming a chore. As it relates to trucking, running off recap for weeks on end, or even months, without a day off can really drag someone down.

During the infancy of my career, I stayed out the entirety of December for an extra $200. It felt amazing! Now that I've been doing this for about 1.5 years, running 3 weeks off recap recently has been very mentally taxing! On this current tour, I've now been away from home since March 22nd or so, but I'm on my 2nd 34h reset. Having the ability to take a full day off gives me the chance to recharge my mental batteries, allowing me to focus on what I love to do during down time (laptop+MMORPGs). As Rainy said in the article, it's a break from the hustle and bustle of trucking in favor of something we enjoy. Yes, in a perfect world, it's ideal to be able to take a 34 at home with family/friends/fur babies, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Remember that you're not a robot; power down and recharge your mental batteries once in awhile so you can enjoy the long drive.

We could start a reality show called "Trucking Wars" involving "my company is better than your company" fights.

Allow me to start things off then!

My company is better because our trailers are easy to spot at a major DC! shots fired!!

I did one this morning at a toll plaza departing Ohio, heading west on I-90. I was too busy concentrating on not hitting my left side mirror, so I didn't. The right side one, though.....Heard a big "THUNK", as it folded up against the door glass. No cracked plastic or broken glass, thankfully, but that'll learn me! Dumb rookie!

Suck it In! Think thin! Think thin!!

Really hate those toll booths. This begs the question, is it legal for non oversize loads to use the, in some places, much wider oversize lanes way on the right?

A buddy of mine drives for coke and he has to unload his truck and stock shelves/coolers/vending machines. He's home every day.

I have another who drives for dr pepper. He does all drop n hooks, never touches freight, and is also home every day.

Try looking at dr pepper if there's one in your area if you're interested in home daily options.