Gummiente's "Newbie" Blog

[Gummiente]

Day Two – Classroom
More movies and lessons from the book today, which is pretty much the routine for the rest of the week. We started off the day by reviewing the homework and then launched into the Hours of Service and Driver’s Logbook sessions. Still confusing as hell, but I’m beginning to understand it. Doesn’t help that there are so many sub-rules and exceptions to consider, like the one where you can extend your driving time when south of the 60th parallel to 16 hours if you have one foot in the sleeper bunk, the left turn signal is on, it’s Tuesday, you’re in Northern Manitoba during a ¾ moon phase and you’re wearing yellow socks. But starting tomorrow we’ll be filling out a logbook every day until the end of the course, so I should be proficient in at least the basic recording of a 24hr period.

Watched a video about the do’s and don’ts of train crossings, some promo stuff from the Eaton Fuller company about the proper way to treat their transmissions while driving, as well as another one highlighting the several different types and speeds you can get. Also did the lesson and watched a video on safe backing techniques, which I put into practice at break time. They made the mistake of leaving a radio controlled toy 18 wheeler in plain view out in the office area, so I fired it up (very realistic sounds, including air brakes and diesel clatter) and practiced straight backing, 45 degree angle backing and driver blindside backing. Did pretty good, too, until the batteries wore down and it couldn’t bump over the phone cord lying across the carpet to get to the “dock” under the desk.

Didn’t get any time on the simulator today but did find out that it can be set up to emulate pretty much any transmission manufacturer and speed combo you can think of, although it has the knob and switches for an Eaton Fuller 18-speed. Had a few in class tests throughout the day and did pretty good on them, it seems the Hours Of Service regs are the only ones that will give me trouble for a bit. Everything else, although new to me, is pretty easy to catch on to.

A bit more homework for tonight and then tomorrow we get deeper into the textbook. Our instructor so far has been decent, he’s been driving for 36 years and has many stories to spice up the dry lessons with. I’ve enjoyed the last two days and can’t wait until the class stuff is over with so we can get some seat time in the Freightliner training rig.

[Gummiente]

Day Three - Classroom
Started off with reviewing homework and then learned all about truck brakes. That began with an old Market Place video from the late 90's showing all the carnage caused by trucks on Ontario's highways. That was followed by another late 90's video starring a young Sgt Cam Wooley of the OPP in his early days as a traffic enforcement officer (those of you who live near Toronto know who he is) and it showed even more carnage caused by trucks. The recurring theme was "out of adjustment brakes" and "driver inexperience" and it really made an impact on the class. I actually remembered a couple of the accidents that they showed from over 10 years ago, they were so horrific.

Then it was on to another video, this time an in-depth look at a typical 18 wheeler's air brake system courtesy of the fine folks at Bendix. It went into way more depth than any driver needed to know - heck, I'm a Millwright and I found it a bit hard to keep up in some spots - but it did give a good idea of how things work when you hit the brakes. We followed that up with a "Z Brake" quiz and then watched a brief video about forklift safety, followed by a test on that.

At first break I had zipped into the simulator room before anyone else and grabbed some seat time. Upshifts were no problem at all, but I could not downshift to save my life. The instructor finally came in (must have got tired of hearing all the transmission grinding noises) and suggested that I might want to try downshifting from a higher gear and road speed than from 3rd to 2nd at a blistering 8mph. So I whacked it up to 10th at 68mph and damned if the downshifts didn't get a whole lot easier. The key was to have enough road speed and the rpm's at 1,000 before each downshift. Still felt like a total idiot, though... never occurred to me that at 8mph I could just put it in neutral and brake to a stop. I have GOT to stop thinking like a 4-wheeler.

Tomorrow morning we get to watch the course ahead of us do their pre-trips, backing, coupling and uncoupling exercises in the truck compound. Might even get my first chance to hop up and have a seat in a big rig, so I'll be taking the camera with me.

Now it's time for supper, homework, study, sleep and that'll be it for today.

[Gummiente]

Day Four - Truck Compound/Classroom
We all met at the TTC truck compound for 7:30am this morning. I had arrived a little earlier and took the opportunity to wander about the two rigs sitting there and take a good look at them. Much of what we'd learned in the past few days suddenly jelled as I peered in, around and under the tractor and trailer and saw things like the sliding tandem axles in real life instead of in a fuzzy textbook picture.

When the rest of the class and instructors arrived, a student named Karl from the class ahead of us did the pre-trip and we followed him around like a gaggle of puppies as he checked off and explained each key point of the inspection. Afterwards, we milled about and pestered the instructors with questions and some of us - led by me, of course - clambered up into one of the rigs for a first look at the inside of the cab. I sat in the driver's seat and couldn't help but break out into a big, dumbass grin as I sat there... it was a happy moment for me that has its roots way back to when I was a young stud muffin of 17. By the time I got someone to snap a photo with my camera, I had regained my composure (see attached pic).

The rig we were gathered around was a 1997 Freightliner and it was clear that it has seen a few miles. It was in good shape cosmetically, but you could tell that it has been well used - but also well maintained. The other rig was a 2000 Freightliner but we couldn't get inside because the instructor had forgotten the keys. After watching Karl perform the uncoupling and coupling of the trailer, three of us jumped at the chance to hop in the cab (with me calling out the shotgun position) to observe him demonstrate backing with a trailer. One of the things immediately apparent was that the truck seemed a lot easier to drive than the simulator. Karl confirmed this based on his own experiences, so I’m not going to bother too much with the simulator anymore. We’ll be in the trucks starting on Monday, anyways.

Afterwards back in the classroom, we carried on with reviewing homework and learning more about rules, regulations, truck mechanical systems and more. Just before lunch we received our schedules for next week and I am to be paired off with a young fella by the name of Ryan in the very same rig we sat in this morning. The other three students get to ride in the newer rig, but we found out that it has a few minor mechanical and comfort “issues” including A/C that isn’t working, so we probably ended up with the better truck.

Watched a few more videos, including a Defensive Driving lesson and quiz, as well as a gruesome series of photos detailing what happens when someone tries to load a D9 Cat without the blade and rollover protection cage onto a flatbed the wrong way. Not a pretty sight and one that will remain with me for some time.

More tests, more lessons, a homework assignment and we were done. Tomorrow afternoon was supposed to be our AZ written test, but as the nice and considerate Drive Test people are still on strike, we’re going to do a couple of practice tests in the class and maybe get out early for the weekend.

[bikerboy]

sounds like you are learning alot, you likely have dry van trailers with sliding axles to practice on.

but other things you might want to know
-alot of tractors have air ride suspension gauges in the cab, and once you get familiar with the truck you can judge your legal axle weights pretty close from just looking at the air suspension gauge

- i used to pull a 10 foot spread axle flatbed, that means the axles are 10 foot 1 inch from centre of hub to centre of hub apart. and with that spread you can legally carry 20 000 lbs per axle in usa, and ontario and quebec.
i also had a air suspension gauge on the ten foot spread flatbed, so by looking at tractor gauge and trailer gauge, i could usually tell if i was legal or not. and very rarely scaled the truck, unless i was worried about a scalehouse coming up.

so 40 000 total on the trailer axles, compared to 34 000 lbs on a regular closed tandem such as most dry van trailers have.

my trailer axles did not slide. although some spread axles do have one axle that slides, so it can be slid into closed position like a dry van. the reason for that is most of western canada does not like 10 foot spread axle trailers.

but a 10 foot spread is the normal setup in the usa for anyone running flatbeds.

you can't haul any extra weight, since the gross weight limit is still 80 000lbs, but it does make it a bit easier to load the trailer to legal axle weight.
with a load such as 40 foot steel bars or one big steel coil, just load in the centre of the trailer or about a foot behind centre and your axles weight should be good.
since USA flatbeds haul max weights of 48 000-50 000 lbs, the spread gives you more leeway on loading, since you have a 6000 lb of cushion room on the rear axles, so if in doubt load closer to the back.


i have also seen a closed tandem flatbed with non sliding axles,(Deck X) with those things you have to have the weight perfectly balanced between the drives and trailer axles, to haul max weights, since you have no axle sliding adjustment, and no 6000 lb cushion for the rear either.

12 000 lbs on the steers, 34 000 combined weight on the two drive axles and 34 000 combined weight on the trailer axles is the usual weight laws in the usa. equaling 80 000 max gross weight.
so you see how 40 000 allowable on the trailer axles with a ten foot spread, makes things easier.

some spread axles also have a air suspension dump switch in the cab to dump the air ride in one or both axles. if you dump one axle, it makes it alot easier to turn corners and back into tight spots, and reduces the tire wear, since all the weight is on the other axle, but alot of drivers will forget to flip the switch to fill the air bags again, so not many company have this, mostly only owner ops with their own trailer.

michigan is an exception, they allow way more weight with proper axles and spacing. and canada allows alot more weight too, on both gross and axles.

this is probably alot to learn, but someday you will want to know these things.

[bikerboy]

another peice of tidbit is not all truck have the normal 1-5 shift pattern, like i am sure your simulator has, some older trucks had eaton fullers transmissions with the two highest gears in opposite postions, they take awhile to get used to, since the shift pattern is totally different from a normal tranmission.

i have been driving one where i work right now. and some days i still forget its backwards.

[Gummiente]

this is probably alot to learn, but someday you will want to know these things.

Most definitely and it is much appreciated. Thank you.

Funny, though, because we spent a couple hours yesterday and today learning about axle weights and load distribution, so your post was well timed and I actually understood all of it!

[Mercenary]

Ooooh yea, I saw those pic's of the guy loading the cat. Those images are nasty. Poor fellow.

Speaking of big **** eatin grins you should see my license pic taken just after I got my class 1 last year. Grinnin from ear to ear

Coincidentally, the truck I trained in was also an 97 Freightliner. It had the C-15 cat with the 18 speed. Really easy to drive IMHO.

[Gummiente]

Day Five - Classroom
Well, that's it for the classroom portion of our training. We finished up by reviewing homework and then watching a film on HAZMAT procedures as they relate to trucking industry. Because Drive Test is still on strike we couldn't go write our AZ tests today, so we did a practice exam in class instead. Nailed it with only one wrong answer... I hope I do the same or better on the real one, whenever that may be.

We were done by 11am and said goodbye to our instructor, as his work with us is now finished. We'll meet our other instructor on Monday when we start the practical portion and will be on the truck until the end of the course. Yesss!!!

[hellcat_99]

Mike,
I'm happy to hear how you have thrown yourself into the course.
Remember, there are no stupid or dumb question's. Only the one's that aren't asked, are dumb.
Have a good weekend, & a great next week.
Holly

[Gummiente]

Thank you, Ma'am!