Comments By Larry K.

No matter what you will need to adjust to a new truck. Each clutch shifter and even steering wheel can be different. Pete's are usually longer in snout and in my opinion are harder to back....meaning if you can dock that Pete then you can dock that FL.

I trained in not a cascadia and Pete. Miss Myoshi got an international. What if you train in FL and get one of them?

You sound like you are getting some good driving experience. Those mountains will help you when you go solo. There are plenty of trainers who won't take students over such terrain for fear of truck damage.

Also not all company prime trucks are cascadia....many are.... But it seems that the new solo drivers are given trucks that were leased by others but still are new enough to keep. I've driven like four or five cascadia and two pete..... They can all be different. You will have time to take your new truck bobtail around Springfield and get used to it.

👍 Good deal, and thanks for the response, expect the road test will be a walk in the park as a result of the mo8ntains, traffic in sacremento an LV, and too many to count construction zones in these first weeks.

☺

And it is THAT kind of road experience of why IMO the company sponsored schools are better.

Be sure to ask about the point system... Ask the examiner to confirm... He WILL ask you each time if you have questions.

For example.... On backing you fail at 13 points. Leaving the door open will give you TEN! No one told my classmate that and he failed the first time.

If when parallel parking you are on the white line then its 5 pts.

You are allowed TWO get out and looks. Do NOT take a third. Its an auto fail. I was told by a trainer they would just add one point... This is not true.

When looking out the window to back... Do NOT let your butt off the seat or it will count as a GOAL. If you need to do it, its better to GOAL than butt hop lol

Stalling in the street with traffic is an auto fail for impeding traffic. Prevent this by becoming really familiar with the clutch and knowing which gears to be in. I took a turn in sixth but slowed down too much and stalked. Auto fail.

And good luck ;)

Wowz, great info Rainy, and yep my trainer said extra GOAL was only 1 point, no mention of butt hopping.

And.... so that was Donner pass we went through today, almost as much fun as the Sacremento traffic, and Reno traffic.

Followed by long boaring drive across Nv.

Finished for the night, finish the run tomorrow.

Greatly appreciate the feed back and info

No matter what you will need to adjust to a new truck. Each clutch shifter and even steering wheel can be different. Pete's are usually longer in snout and in my opinion are harder to back....meaning if you can dock that Pete then you can dock that FL.

I trained in not a cascadia and Pete. Miss Myoshi got an international. What if you train in FL and get one of them?

You sound like you are getting some good driving experience. Those mountains will help you when you go solo. There are plenty of trainers who won't take students over such terrain for fear of truck damage.

Also not all company prime trucks are cascadia....many are.... But it seems that the new solo drivers are given trucks that were leased by others but still are new enough to keep. I've driven like four or five cascadia and two pete..... They can all be different. You will have time to take your new truck bobtail around Springfield and get used to it.

👍 Good deal, and thanks for the response, expect the road test will be a walk in the park as a result of the mo8ntains, traffic in sacremento an LV, and too many to count construction zones in these first weeks.

☺

Well week 2 of PSD nearly complete, have been across the plains on I80 in Wyoming, crossed the rockies from Salt Lake City, about to cross back headed to American Falls Id. Mountian driving at night as a tad stressing ( watched a guy set his trailer brakes on fire 😨 ) Rush hour in I15 in Vegas was a real joy also.

But all good experience, and loved every minute of it. No problems sleeping at the end of the day.

So now i have a new question that has been knawing on me.... Currently my trainer is an O/O, this is mainly all about the money to him, that is not that big of a concern to me. What is a concern is, I plan on being a company driver, Primes trucks are FL Cascadias with 10sp trans. Tra8ners truck is an older Peterbuilt with an 18sp trans. I can only assume vehicle dash controls will be differant ( locations/layout etc) also between the two vehicles. So my question is, what do you all think, opinion wise, of TNT training on current trainers truck, then shifting to new layout and trans when I go solo, and acclimate by myself OR, shift to a differant trainer for the TNT phasw that is operating a much more similar truck to what I will start solo driving in? And reduce the sudden need to get used to new truck, new trans, new controls layout while starting solo.

So question, dispatched miles, combination of empty and loaded. As a company driver, are you paid on all dispatched miles, loaded or empty

Not true, you het the DOT and permit in Mo. With temp residence

Wish I knew how to post links. I am in Northern Colorado right now. Crazy High Winds. Fortunately I do not leave for Salt Lake City til tomorrow morning. Warnings in CO, WY, and UT that I have looked up. Maybe Anchorman or someone with more computer savvy than me can post some links. BE SAFE DRIVERS!

Just went through on I80w, loaded was not to bad, was getting pushed around a bit, 65mph gusts, but did see a 4 wheel and empty trailer get flipped.

Haha, while responding to your other post you ask a safety question. Sounds to me like you were aware of a following distance you weren't comfortable with. You can have a discussion with your trainer about this. You can let him know that you need to back off a little to feel safe.

Once again this sounds like advice from a lease operator. I don't know why some of these guys would rather die in a truck crash than have to replace some brake linings one day. Trust me, I had a crazy trainer that was always in a huge hurry. He tried to explain about the proper following distances to me while going 65 miles per hour and so close to the vehicle in front of us that I couldn't see their bumper! Whenever I was driving, I drove the way I felt safe. If he didn't like it he would yell and scream. I kept ignoring him until he would threaten to take me back to a terminal. My response would be, "Good, they need to know about this stuff you're trying to teach people."

I'm not advocating being disrespectful with your trainer, but rather driving safely. What I would have done in your situation is slow down enough with the brakes to get some more distance between yourself and the other truck and then get back off the brakes. You sure don't want to ride the brakes down a hill. You might want to verbally explain to him what your doing when you put the brakes on like that. Just say "I'm slowing down a bit to establish a safer following distance, then I'll be off the brakes in a few seconds." I'm talking about saying that as you start doing it. Don't even give him time to jump in there with his advice. That may help trigger a conversation from him rather than him just jumping in with a reprimand.

Good points, and kind of my line of thought as well, but, being new, thought well maybe there was a reason.

Will bring it up in a tactful discussion over the next day or so.

He has never done anythi g unsafe, and cringes ( rightfully so ) when i pull a bone head move 😨

My trainer insists i do nothing but concentrate on the driving portion, no paperwork, bo helping with fueling etc. Just learn to drive. Like you my first week was a bear, grinding, missing shifts etc, just shake it off, watch your trainer comment as he does things, it will work out.

Think he does some of this like letting fuel get down to empty and say no big deal, just to either pull my leg, or see if i notice.

Larry, don't even concern yourself with your trainers idiosyncrasies like this. You focus on learning the driving and safety aspects of this experience. From several things you said, it sounds like you're with a lease operator. He's going to have reasons in his own mind as to why he does stuff like this that he thinks make sense. He could be just trying to fill up on the least expensive fuel he can get, or he may be stretching it out to improve one week's settlement. Don't concern yourself with it, his reasoning behind it has nothing to do with you or your training.

Yep, he owns the truck, so yep i just shrug, and go with the flow....☺

Question.... While coming over the I80 pass in Wyoming, in downhill side at one point I was within a 3 to 4 second following distance of truck in front of me, I applied brakes to increase follow distance, was told to get off the brakes. A few minutes later the truck in front applied his brakes, and I applied as well, was told again, get off the brakes ( we where doing 55 -60 on a downhill grade )

So question should i have pushed back on the " get off the brakes" request due to following to close, or just did as told and remained super aware.

Thoughts ! ! !