Things to have when going solo

There was a few things I couldnt live without on the road.

1) my multiman tool. Gerber makes an excellent one. With it I was able to re-hang mudflap arms, rewire trailer lights. Change glad hand seals and fix landing gear arms.

2) rubber bungee cords. Get a few packs of them. Use them to help keep your doors open. Prevents them from getting caught on anything. I also used them to hold tandem release handles in place and the metal S hooks can double as the nut and bolt on the landing gear arm.

3) laminated truckers atlas. No gps for me. Okay to use both as long as the gps isnt your only means of guidance.

4) small sledge hammer. Used it as a tire thumper and to beat on things that needed loosened.

5) a basic tool kit with wrenchs, standard and metric, a socket set and a wire stripper with the wire nuts to hold wires together. Electrical tape and duct tape.

6) a head lamp for pretrips at night. A maglight or good sturdy flash light.

That is all I can think of now. If I think of anything else I will let you know. Good luck.

 

Gloves. Personally I have several types on the truck.

Driving gloves. Fingerless, padded palms (weightlifting gloves.) Frequent use.

Fueling / maintenance gloves. Rawhide or heavy leather. Throw them away when they turn black on most of the fingers and palms, because that's when they have stopped protecting your hands from diesel/oil/grease exposure. Frequent use.

Package handling gloves. Cloth with rubberized grip for friction. Rarely used but #### handy at times because pulling out greasy nasty work gloves will make receivers upset. Especially for produce or meat loads.

Cold/wet weather gloves. Thin cloth, used with windbreaker. Used occasionally.

Severe cold weather gloves. Sheepskin. Used with sheepskin coat. Almost never used.

 

A headlamp. Sometimes you may require both hands and a having a flashlight can be a PITA.

Can never overcompensate on cleanliness.

Talk with your mechanic while at a terminal and ask what all you can do to help them out. They may give you some spare headlight bulbs, fuel filters, hose clamps, etc.

Buy a pair of bibs or just a plain shirt and pants to do your pre-trips in so you don't get your regular clothes dirty.

You'll never regret keeping baby wipes and baby powder at hand.

 

For GPS I use android app Smart Truck Route 2. It's pretty decent, for a small subscription fee.

 

I keep a tube of dielectric (conductive) grease for the pigtail connectors. It helps a lot, especially in winter with all of the salty road spray.

 

Third party mechanics are unlikely to offer you much in the way of parts, but you might get some advice from them.

 

Airborne chewables or tablets and a big tub of Vicks Vaporub... been sick for 3 days and missing those items dearly.

 

i do not know if anyone has already mention this, but be careful how much you actually take with you.

if you get fired while away from home, how are you gonna get all that crap home?

gotta think what "might happen", as i know, i read it a lot right here on this site, of drivers getting fired while away from home.

 

You don't have to get fired to have a problem. As a new driver, chances are good you will start out in an older truck, and need to swap out of that truck within a month if it has issues.

You might also need to fly or take a bus to go get your first truck, if it isn't at a terminal.