New To Trucking And Swift
Topic 28178 | Page 1
Hey Bubbles, welcome to our forum!
I honesty don't think people should be concerned with getting the "automatic only" restriction on their new CDL. I seem to be in the minority on this, but here's my reasoning...
You are going to be issued an automatic truck to drive.
You're new at this. There's a lot to learn. You can eliminate some of the stress by not having to learn double clutching , down shifting, and matching those RPMs and road speeds for the proper timing of shifting.
Anytime you want you can learn shifting later. If you decide it's important, all you have to do is take a driving test in a manual truck to have the restriction removed. That's way easy because you will already be a competent driver for the test.
Okay, now let's address "the elephant in the room." You said this...
I attended Roadmaster, but it didn't work out to well as I have hoped.
You also made this statement...
I plan on testing for my permit a month before I attend the Academy.
What happened at Roadmaster, and why is it that you don't already have your permit if you attended Roadmaster?
We've got an excellent training program here that you can use to study for your permit. It's our High Road CDL Training Program. That's the most effective study tool you can use. It will have you over prepared. It's awesome, and it's free!
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
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.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Hi Old School! And thanks so much for the warm-hearted welcome. To be honest I was afraid of having that restriction on my CDL. But after you explained everything about having to test in a manual later,you definitely lifted tons off my shoulders.
What happened at Roadmaster, and why is it that you don't already have your permit if you attended Roadmaster?
Yes the only I had with Roadmaster is that my SUV quit on me (transmission died) and I have no means of transportation to get there. It's a 35min drive vs Swift Academy 8min drive. So I can literally walk to the Academy. Before my transmission died it was doing fine. Call my recruiter, scheduled a date to come in,got paperwork done, did a small test and passed (completely forgot what the test was about) and did my physical to get my medical DOT card.
Ok everything is fine now all I had to do was pay a small fee upfront to get started. No problem! Afew later my truck makes this jerking between gears (when I'm trying to switch from reverse to drive). So I pay no mind (like an idot) and go on by my day to my destination. Later on that evening after coming from where I went. My SUV struggled to go up my driveway,but made it. I get a email from On-Star that my transmission and more components are going bad and if I continue to drive...basically I'm gonna F' it up more. So right now my truck is sitting in my driveway. It can now only go in reverse but putting it in drive will not move an inch. So that's basically why I can not attend Roadmaster. Oh! The reason I have to wait til October to go to Swift is because my license will be fully reinstated (1 year) in October. Had an accident (no fault,head on collision) back in 2016 and they gave me a ticket for no insurance. Payed the ticket, but didn't know my license was suspended til I tried to apply for FedEx last October (yeah stupid me). But thanks Old School for your response and for the heads up about the training program. Definitely taking advantage of this.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.New Reply:
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Hi y'all !! My name's Jessica but you can call me Bubbles. I'm fairly new to the trucking industry and would like some advice on transitioning to the very large industry. I'm looking into starting Swift Academy in October of this year. I never had any training on the road before. I attended Roadmaster, but it didn't work out to well as I have hoped. With Swift Academy,what should I expect? And will they have manual & automatic trucks. I wanted to just drive the automatic but I really dont want to get a restriction on my CDL.
Oh I have forgot to mention that I plan on testing for my permit a month before I attend the Academy.
Thank you those who is helpful.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.