Need A Class For Hills...
Topic 23036 | Page 1
Maybe he can see if his company can send someone out with him for a day or two to coach him on it. If not, perhaps watching a bunch of YouTube videos might help?
Of course, he could always contact a local trucking school to do a couple days of training with them, but that will be more expensive and he probably will have to share a truck with other students.
What company is he working for? Is he doing local P&D , line haul , regional or what? Is he going 77 or 40? The trick is go as slow as needed up and down. The first few times I drove I 40 from Tennessee to Charlotte, I was petrified and ****ed off everyone behind me. Slow and steady gets you home safe. As he gains experience it will become easier and easier. Good luck.
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
P&D:
Pickup & Delivery
Local drivers that stay around their area, usually within 100 mile radius of a terminal, picking up and delivering loads.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers for instance will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.
Line Haul:
Linehaul drivers will normally run loads from terminal to terminal for LTL (Less than Truckload) companies.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning them to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.
Charlotte is a bit of a different animal. If you leave space someone will jump into it. So leave a lot of it, don't get in a big hurry. If a car is coming down an on ramp and is near the tandems when they hit the road it's going to be a drag race. They don't know they have brakes or what yield means.
Going through the gorge on 40 you just take it as slow as you need. Downshifting before the hill is always helpful but a lot of drivers don't do it. Those are the brakes your smelling.
Also you don't have to take the gorge. A little time with a map and you'll see you can go I-40 to I-26 which is the faster of the two or I-77 to I-81 and back to I-40.
When it comes to descending a hill, if you have to use the brakes your in to high of a gear. If he knows how to downshift and drive he should be fine. He just needs to do it, and do it before he gets going fast enough to scare himself.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Hello, My husband and I just moved to Charlotte, NC from Florida. He has been driving for 15 years, but all in Florida. He has converted his license to NC already, book work is not the problem. Are there any driving classes that can help seasoned drivers learn to shift and adjust to the hills and mountains. I know this may sound odd, but driving is different in Florida. He has been frustrated with himself trying to adjust to the land difference all while having drivers jumping in front of him if he leaves a distance. He needs a hands on class with someone in a truck shifting, double clutching , all while going up and down hills. He doesn’t need the license or a job, he has all of that. Thank you so much for the time and help.
Hi. welcome to the forum.
The truth is... FL or NC makes no difference. You go slow. Period. Those curves are like 50 mph and he should be going slower in for and rain and weight of his freight. Someone who has been driving 15 years knows how to downshift and is used to people jumping in front of him. Charlotte is no different from Miami or Orlando. We have all done it. My guess is that there are other issues going on and he is coming home to vent, but blaming the area as being different. Is he unhappy woth other aspects of your move?
Please ask your husband to post his concerns so we can understand his issues. We cant help if we dont know the real problem.
Double Clutch:
To engage and then disengage the clutch twice for every gear change.
When double clutching you will push in the clutch, take the gearshift out of gear, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, shift the gearshift into the next gear, then release the clutch.
This is done on standard transmissions which do not have synchronizers in them, like those found in almost all Class A trucks.
Double Clutching:
To engage and then disengage the clutch twice for every gear change.
When double clutching you will push in the clutch, take the gearshift out of gear, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, shift the gearshift into the next gear, then release the clutch.
This is done on standard transmissions which do not have synchronizers in them, like those found in almost all Class A trucks.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
One week out yes that’s it one week driving this enormous machine started out in Chicago and then all the way across to North Carolina and South Carolina and then turned around and went back to Chicago. Now I’m a Georgia girl so far south I’m less than an hour from Florida line. I loved driving the mountains amazing beautiful and absolutely 150% attention on the road. I was totally blown away even the tunnels was cool.
One week out yes that’s it one week driving this enormous machine started out in Chicago and then all the way across to North Carolina and South Carolina and then turned around and went back to Chicago. Now I’m a Georgia girl so far south I’m less than an hour from Florida line. I loved driving the mountains amazing beautiful and absolutely 150% attention on the road. I was totally blown away even the tunnels was cool.
Whooo hooo!!! You are doing great Donna! wait until TnT and you go west lol
TNT:
Trainer-N-Trainee
Prime Inc has their own CDL training program and it's divided into two phases - PSD and TNT.
The PSD (Prime Student Driver) phase is where you'll get your permit and then go on the road for 10,000 miles with a trainer. When you come back you'll get your CDL license and enter the TNT phase.
The TNT phase is the second phase of training where you'll go on the road with an experienced driver for 30,000 miles of team driving. You'll receive 14¢ per mile ($700 per week guaranteed) during this phase. Once you're finished with TNT training you will be assigned a truck to run solo.
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Hello, My husband and I just moved to Charlotte, NC from Florida. He has been driving for 15 years, but all in Florida. He has converted his license to NC already, book work is not the problem. Are there any driving classes that can help seasoned drivers learn to shift and adjust to the hills and mountains. I know this may sound odd, but driving is different in Florida. He has been frustrated with himself trying to adjust to the land difference all while having drivers jumping in front of him if he leaves a distance. He needs a hands on class with someone in a truck shifting, double clutching , all while going up and down hills. He doesn’t need the license or a job, he has all of that. Thank you so much for the time and help.
Double Clutch:
To engage and then disengage the clutch twice for every gear change.
When double clutching you will push in the clutch, take the gearshift out of gear, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, shift the gearshift into the next gear, then release the clutch.
This is done on standard transmissions which do not have synchronizers in them, like those found in almost all Class A trucks.
Double Clutching:
To engage and then disengage the clutch twice for every gear change.
When double clutching you will push in the clutch, take the gearshift out of gear, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, shift the gearshift into the next gear, then release the clutch.
This is done on standard transmissions which do not have synchronizers in them, like those found in almost all Class A trucks.