How was the condition of your first truck?

My first truck was a 1977 International 1700 series. Not the best truck in the world but,it was safe and a begining.
You should expect a safe truck. It does not have to be new. It should be safe and you should do your best to keep it a safe truck. Do your pre trips and report problems as you find them.

 

my first truck was 5 years old with 600K+ miles on it. after training, you'll get the oldest truck they have available. they're not going to give a student a new $150K truck to flip over on an exit ramp. but yes, the truck should be well maintained, everything functional and safe. this is required by law (well, the AC doesn't have to work, but that'd be nice.)

 

my first truck (schneider) had nearly bald tires, the interior was sticky with nicotine, there was wads of hair under the bed, and had not been washed in an apparent 100,000 miles, inside or out. It ran good, but not alot of power. Safe though. but on the good side, it was only about 30,k miles and they upgraded me to a nice new(er) truck!

I was not there much longer though before I moved on to greener pastures. From then on it was hit and miss.

In the next coming weeks, I will be driving a SUPER nice truck (by my fleet experience, at least)
2006 mid roof freightshaker with a moose bumper and dual chrome stacks behind doors, polished 150 gallon tanks, polished wheels, all new tires, 475 cat, straight ten pulling double flat bed hauling steel coils.

 

My first OTR truck....
####, that was a long time ago.
Actually it was my cousins truck, since I teamed with him for a few months after driving school.
It was a nice pretty new White Cabover. Set back axles and the whole nine yards. That was in 1991. Almost the end of the cabover era.
My second truck was local. It was a 1970 B Mack. Twin stick. Not alot of power but could pull anything nice and slow.

OTR my next truck was only a few years ago.
It was a 1994 Volvo. It was in ok condition. I picked it up at a dealer where it had been for a few months for a recovery. I had to have a few minor things fixed on it when I went to the terminal the first time but it was safe and ran ok. Traided that up 6 months later, I was supposed to hold it for 2 more months and get a brand new one. But my fleet manager wanted all on his fleet to have underbunk heaters. Since the new ones were not in yet I moved up to a 2005 that had the heater.

 

Volvo 670 with 178k on it, was a good truck except that it had a sensor for the anti-roll mechanism that went off a little too happily. The only other issue I ever had with it was the clutch spring wearing out and having to replace it to get my cruise and jakes to work again.

 

I think I saw a new driver post somewhere that his cruise and jake were not working right and I suggested to have the spring checked. That is kind of funny.
It is an easy fix though. Only other thing that usually can cause that is dirt and mud around the throttle pedal. But most road trucks do not get that dirty.

 

It's a common issue with a Volvo, always good to know how to fix it. Or at least how to make them work until you can, which is to pick up on the clutch pedal with your foot.

 

My first truck was a piece of junk. It was an old cabover and I think it was in the shop more than on the road.