Haven't used cdl since I got it 2 years ago. Need advice.

Western Express uses automatic transmissions and hires drivers in your situation.
Home - Western Express
www.westernexp.com

 

This company might hire you and put you through a refresher.
Training is in West Valley, UT
Swift Refrigerated – Sign On for the Trucking Career of a ...
https://driveswiftreefer.com
swift refrigerated takes you where you want to go. More Hometime. ... Large Retail Customer Base. Academy Opportunities – Earn your CDL in as little as 3 weeks! Full Benefits and 401k. Earn more per mile as Reefer OTR Driver (compared to Dry Van) TOP OF THE LINE EQUIPMENT.

 

The rig control problem is pretty basic.

When I get into a T/T and drive a manual transmission, being a deaf person I rely on the vehicle to tell me that it wants a gear up or down depending on the situation.

If you noticed the front bumper leaning a little, your seat of the pants is telling you that She is pulling it's behind off and you cannot go any faster in a gear, its' time to shift up. But do it the same way every time you change gears. I use my heart beat as a timer to seperate and give the transmission a chance to match it's main shaft to the engine shaft and so on. There is alot going on down there.

I learn to hold the wheel with the left hand to where if I commit to a shift, I sort of statue that hand and arm for a moment, Its not swerving anywhere.

Locking your airride drivers seat in place against back and forth movement helps you make a shift without having to involve the muscles that cause you to swerve.

Wearing square toe boots (With steel toe and fuel/oil resistant anti slip soles. Particularly about a one inch heel give or take according to your taste will allow you to shift the clutch and fuel pedal with a very good finesse.

When you drive a manual transmission, at some point you will discover that given the correct torque RPM on a tach, say 1250 and given the perfect high horse power end of the curve power at about 1600 (Before redline but above sweet spot for cruising) you will discover floating. A form of changing gears quickly without clutch because your input shaft and the inner gear inside the one you intend to take is already waiting for you.

If you are on a downgrade and your tractor's nose bucks downward you have too much jacobs braking, take the next gear up and she should settle near the sweetspot on jacobs braking downgrade on a mountain. At some point you will find the balance you are seeking. So you can run the entire mountain top to bottom in one gear on jacobs all the way down without touching your brakes. (Keeping them cold for when you really need them.)

Ive said enough for now.

 

Stevens Transport - Official Site
https://www.stevenstransport.com

 

Since you have zero real world driving experience using your Class A, for insurance liability reasons you will basically need to take a refresher course and than go OTR with a trainer.

Even if you were to apply for a local job, with no real world driving experience or any experience on your resume, your application will be thrown in the round filing cabinet.

The bottom line is, you need to find a company that will retrain you and you need experience.

Once you have experience and have a flawless driving record, your chances of getting a job are endless.

 

Schneider has a yard in SLC, not sure if they offer the training there for free or not, I was there 3 years ago and it didn't look like it. Knight has a yard in West Valley City also, as do most of the big carriers. CR England, Pride.

 

FFE is out of SLC. They have a refresher CDL program.

 

FFE > Home
https://www.ffeinc.com
Salt Lake City Utah
5787 W Harold Gatty Dr.
Salt lake City, UT 84116

 

I'm new to the forum and kind of in the same boat. I had my CDL from 2001-2009 drove for a couple of years and gave it up. In 2017 got it back and have only used it for about 3 months out of the last 3 years. I was able to get on starting in a couple of weeks with Schneider just to get back to real world experience. Recruiter said they will evaluate me at orientation to see if it will be 8 days or 18 days of training.