Because the Pre-trip inspections are so ridiculous now, I finally had to buy into a CDL training course. Let me tell ya, owner operators, you guys are in the wrong profession!
I try to explain to all my truck driving friends. They cannot comprehend it. The extent of the ridiculousness is literally inexplicable. Today, you will absolutely not pass your pre-trip inspection unless you memorize a 9 page script. And you can be failed for not checking items in the correct order or from the wrong side of the truck.
When you fail your pre-trip, all you are told is to study chapter 11 (here in Texas). But chapter 11 says only that you must name & point to each item, tell what it is and why you are checking it.
Here is a typical description of the emergency & service air lines from the cab to the trailer: "...not cut, pinched, tangled, spliced, worn or chafed. I see no steel braids showing and they are not dragging against the trailer while turning."
You can't call a mud flap a mud flap. It's a splash guard or you lost a point. Can't call a dipstick a dipstick. It's an "oil level". The new requirement of flares in addition to triangles is not even in the manual but you'd better have it or it will cost you a point.
So I found 2 choices as an alternative to truck driving school. One furnished you with a video on how to do the pre-trip, an instructor met with you for 4 hours the day before your test. Then on test day they meet you with a short truck and a long stick. That one was $1,000.
The trucks both companies use are day cabs coupled to one of those short trailers that are normally for doubles. The tractors have only one set of duals, as do the trailers. So, 10 wheels in all.
I went ahead & paid $1,750 for a 4-day class with pre-trip practice from 7:30 - 11:30, then backing in the truck from noon to 5. It's straight line, off set & obstacle course for 1 1/2 days then 1 1/2 days of parallel parking practice. No school on Fridays. No driving except between the cones. You can pay more to hang out as long as you want to. If you fail you must rent the truck again for $650. If you or the DPS changes your test appointment, even if they are closing for bad weather, you must pay a rescheduling fee of $350.
This is not a school but in our class of 5, 2 people didn't trade the fine print & thought it was. And including the people who still don't feel ready to test so they paid extra to hang out, we had 17 people. There are several trucks here but they only make 2 available for use, for pre-trip & for 'track'- 1 standard, 1 automatic.
Signed up for a 1-week 'school'
Discussion in 'Trucking Schools and CDL Training Forum' started by Whatagal, Oct 15, 2020.
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Look on YouTube at the CRENGLAND pre-trip rap video.
Very beneficial for the memory challenged. -
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Boy am I glad they aren't a bunch of ###holes like that up here. When I got my license they didn't give a rat' ### how I did the pre-trip so long as I checked everything required.
austinmike and Dave_in_AZ Thank this. -
What new requirement for flares? Certainly not a Federal requirement as the FMCSA does not allow trucks with some types of loads to carry flares.
EuropeanTrucker, Cattleman84 and Dave_in_AZ Thank this. -
Not sure I think CRE has their own.
I went to school there about a 1000 years ago.
Guy I befriended from Baltimore couldn't remember the pre trip.
I suggested he turn it into a rap.
WAH LA!!! Everyone passed. -
WoW - glad i went to school when I did -2011 Hardest thing we had to do was memorize the stupid air brake fiasco.
EuropeanTrucker and Dave_in_AZ Thank this. -
Call me skeptical.... I don't believe the OP's assertion totally...but people have their own opinions. People trying to "train themselves" to pass CDL exams are not as successful as people who get training from people who's job it is to get people through the local DMV's tests.. its that simple. You can fight the system and "show them".... by failing several times and paying the costs... but its not wise.
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I studied the book. I watched videos. Its really all about having a script nowdays, and how well you stick to that script. At least its that way in Texas & judging by this video, Texas isn't the only place where its practically impossible to pass the pretest:
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