Profile For Hobo

Lowering the seat helped me a lot. Also if you keep your wallet in your back pocket try driving without it there. That helped me a lot too.

Oh, I've got stuff, lots of stuff. It's not just the storage space, it's space in general I'm 6'2" and I bumped my head daily in my trainers cascadia but I can move around in this truck no problem at all.

I'm driving a 2017 International and today I did a reset and decided to finally put all my stuff away. I am amazed at the amount of space in this truck. I brought a lot with me and I wasn't looking forward to trying to make it all fit but not only did I get it all organized and put away I have room left over. The question for those of you familiar with this model and others is can I expect this much storage space in most trucks or is this truck just unusually roomy?

Doug, it's great to see you finally get to school. I know you've been looking forward to it for a while. Best wishes sir.

Just out of curiosity how many people here don't believe the OP is on a bus to orientation right now? I don't.

SS, those aren't truck stops, they're called malls.

He and his dispatcher are going to swap seats for the remainder of this month.

uh, yuck.

I just finished my first week as a solo driver. I posted about my training before...that didn't pass moderation and that's probably a good thing. I was a little frustrated then.

Here's how PAM training works, you have two weeks with a trainer and you have to drive 80 hours during those two weeks. If you have a safety incident you have to drive another week. After that you go to orientation and upgrade. The upgrade is so easy I don't feel the need to discuss it.

The first thing that will happen is you'll meet your trainer and you'll talk for a few minutes, this is important because your trainer is asking you questions and deciding whether or not to train you based upon your answers. Yes, sometimes trainers refuse to train some people.

If you get in the truck the trainer probably won't throw you to the wolves right away, your first wheel time will probably be highway time just to get you used to driving and also the trainer is watching your lane control. As you get better you'll get more wheel time.

Pay special attention to the paperwork...the macros and the Transflo stuff, this will be important later.

After 80 hours you go to a terminal to upgrade. Then you get your truck. Then the fun begins. Your first week will suck. Put in for hometime as soon as you get in your truck, you'll need the time away for many reasons.

Maybe I should tell you why you'll need the time but...I'm a sick ******* so I'm going to shut it and just wait to watch you vent here...

PAM has been good so far, they're a training company and are used to new drivers. I screwed up big many times in my first week and as much as I got yelled at they probably should have yelled at me even more, I would have. I'm happy with the company so far and just understand when you're out of training you're still not out of training.

I've seen drivers from companies with the 30K training take 30 minutes to set up a straight back...no lie. PAM doesn't require a lot from you other than effort...and don't hit anything, that's all. There are pros and cons to everything, some companies give you a lot of training and PAM doesn't but really from what I've seen the PAM way works. I recommend it.

Freightliner Pimpwagon is just ignorant. Everyone knows the Pimpwagon is an International.

Brian, I have some advice...don't believe the owner. You said in your other thread you had three drivers? That's a small company, I don't believe there's any way she didn't know about it and would be surprised if it wasn't her idea.

Susan, so is mine. My trainer would have had a fit had I shifted the way my AutoShift does on hills.

Chris, I just finished up my first week solo too. You weren't alone when it comes to flubs.

Ovaltine is a drug? I guess that explains why kids kept shooting their eye out.

On a totally unrelated note I suppose I have some shaving to do, good thing I haven't been hair tested yet.

SmartC, I forgot to ask...how are your slide rule and abacus skills? The trip planning portion of orientation will go much smoother if you bone up on those before you leave.

I had to get a new SS card. I did it over the internet, they mailed it to me in under 2 weeks. Forget about all that though, I mean proof of identity...who needs it am I right?

Here's what you're really going to need that no one is telling you about...your Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, I hope you didn't lose it because if you don't have it they'll send you home and won't pay for the bus ticket. They'll also make you solve the Rubiks Cube before handing you any truck keys.

Get an SS card slacker.

RealDiehl happy I could help out, lol

And, we have a winner, Matthew was right. Disabling the hill start assist got rid of the lurching. Truck still won't creep so I still have to be careful with the go pedal but at least it's not shaking the cargo now.

PAM no longer requires new drivers to team. They stopped doing that last summer.

Bobcat I completely agree. From now on if I'm losing air I'm parking it. Good thing I wasn't city driving.

Tractor Man it wasn't the gladhand. There was a small crack in the plastic service air hose right at the brass fitting that connects to the gladhand.

I found out later that this is a common problem. At least no one got hurt or worse

.

I was losing 15 psi when I applied the brakes which didn't happen before so I figured I had a leak.

Driving from Huntington WV to S. Carolina this morning. Brakes were good during the pre-trip but I noticed I was losing too much pressure when braking after I cleared the big hills. PSI never dropped below 120 but I was going to schedule service after my drop which was about 90 minutes away.

6 miles before my drop in BFE, SC a state trooper pulled me over for a random level 2.

Out of service, waiting for the mechanic. Pockets $150 lighter. Won't do that again.

Use the brake to come to dead stop but push the clutch in before the engine stalls. Brake, then clutch.