Finally Gunna Get Started @ This New Chapter Of Life

Ok, down to just a couple days left at school to go, boy did time fly !!!.....I need to get smoother shifting in these 10 speeds..... Just enough to pass the DMV road test, which my appointment is not until July, 25th @ 7 a.m. due to their backlog, plus the 24th of July, ALL DMV offices will close until 1 pm, to retrain their staff on this new Real I.D. thing, seems some have not done it right.... I don't need 1, since I have a passport good til 2026 ;) The 2 newest trucks here that are used for the road and the dmv tests, 1 shifts smooth as butter (newest of 2) other not so smooth lol, and the splitter, when you flip while in neutral, before a shift, it makes this god awful grind noise, IN Neutral yikes, I drove that yesterday truck around city streets, hopefully not the 1 I get on test day!

Air brake part of test, I am working on the most, pretty much have that down.....Pre-trip inspection, well my prior truck experience is a great help, and that part won't be a problem.....Heard the DMV picks n chooses which part of the pre-trip they ask you to do A= nose of cab & engine bay only, B= firewall back to 5th wheel, C=5th wheel to back of trailer, and F= is the Whole Enchilada inspection......(We have the sheet the examiners will use) the governor cut-out part , will soon be eliminated from DMV tests

So a lot of guys and the gals have no clue on engine etc, so since I know more, I have been helping them, to learn the engine bay and such. Now that the newest class has finished 1st week inside, they too are out in the yard learning clutch work, and start on straight backs first. Newest class I seen has 2 or 3 over 40's females also in it.

Since DMV in Fontana is the ONLY 1 testing CDL people, from ALL over, has created a month plus backlog. So even when I finish the "class" I'll go in after lunch a few days a week, to work on my driving, and really nail down my air brake test part. My 90 degree alley docks, off-sets, & straight backs are pretty good, I just need some more work on the 2 parallel parking manuevers from both sides.....

These 28 ft pups used to train, the slop etc in the kingpins/5th wheel jaws seem wore the hell out , from all the banging back n forth lol 1 I can see daylight between the apron.......Of course in a dirt/gravel yard, a 53' can't be used..... A few the students I have been in truck with doing the 90 offset etc hold brake pedal as well as clutch, trying to break em of that as it just spins wheels digging more ruts and messes em up when the truck jumps around lol I use the clutch alone, only the brake if I really have to......they're getting it slowly but surely too....

Not to mention 1 trailers 2 inner tires, well not much tire left on em, treads gone, cord wire plies flop around, barely even touch the ground......At least none of these training units will never see a road again, just become another parked in the back of the lot with rest of the junk parts trucks / trailers.......

Ok pretty much sums it up , lol I just kept it all posted here, to not clutter forums ....... May trucking is "waiting" in the wings, soon as I get the CDL , I can be in Oregon for orientation, we'll see

P.S........Their starting cpm is now @.39, not .35 lol

.Of course in a dirt/gravel yard, a 53' can't be used..

what's their reasoning for it? The school i attended was dirt and gravel and we used 53's. If it rained we were out there spray painting lines before getting started for the day

Well, Rob, their lot has "maybe" 1 acre of use-able space, its long and narrow......very back of the lot is like 6 + tractors in different states of dismembered.....a few junk trailers. along the north fence sits old pete sleeper, attached to junk 48 ft trailer, truck is just used for air brake/in-cab practice, since it's not been licensed in 3 years (a junker too)......

So behind that they do straight back practice along the fence, the spot next to that, is the 2 coned lanes for offset practice.... Opposite side east side fence is spot for parallel practice, then closer up front is where 90 deg alley dock practice is.....when not used for alley docks, will bring a truck up in shade for outside pre-trip practice.........

So yeah lot size is goofy, long & narrow and the back half the lot is about 60-70% of open space, would be unsafe using 53' trailers....Sometimes, some students get so jackknifed in a 28' it's scary in itself!

Stevo Reno, there are a few good pre-trip videos online... I can suggest a couple. But as you know... everyone does them differently. Once you know the basics, videos seem less and less useful... pix and text more so. I find "checklists" very helpful personally.

The pre-trip inspection study guide here at Trucking Truth is as good as any resource you will find.

I also cut apart the "checklist" we got in class and made it into "cue cards", making changes/additions as I felt appropriate.

Admittedly I "drew" the easy one (front of cab to end ot tractor, and mandatory under hood and coupling device) but am confident I could have passed any/all of them.

Just don't touch those buttons once you start the brake system tests!