How do you know when to and when not to slide tandems?

Congratulations! A lot of cdl schools unfortunately don’t teach that type of stuff. They’ll teach you how to pass the test but not much else. A GOOD school will teach you about tandem sliding.

 

Yeah most cdl schools only teach you what you need to know to pass your tests and get your cdl. Everything else (including backing) they figure you'll learn from training with a company. That's why it's very important to pick a decent company for your first (obviously all the time but first is especially important). Also if your trainer is just using you for xtra income (not teaching you anything or letting you do important things like backing into docks) , you need to let company know so that they can get you a different trainer. A lot of the companies team dispatch for training and as a result most of the time you'll be driving while training is asleep in the back and vice versa. I'm very much against this and it's the reason I have not trained anyone.

Grats on passing those first tests and good luck on the rest. Truck driving isn't hard, it just looks like it is. But once you get the hang of it, it's like riding a bike.... With 18 wheels haha

 

I agree with almost everything you said, except that truck driving is not hard.

Truck driving can be hard, if you are not suited for it. A lot of people either:

1. Can't deal with the stress of being in such a large vehicle with so many blind spots, and drop out because they stress out.

2. Can't really understand how important it is to be careful, and get forced out because they are too dangerous to be allowed to continue driving.

If you are the sort of person who can accept both the risks AND responsibilities of rolling around in a giant vehicle, truck driving is a good living, and, yes, even easy.

But it's not for everyone. Some people simply can't do it.

 

Well I meant the actual driving aspect of it, it's really not hard. But on the mental side, yeah it can be very tough. Being away from home and family, tight appt times, lack of respect from.... Well from everyone it seems. But the actual driving part isn't that bad most of the time. There will be places where you just want to pull your hair out and have a nervous breakdown. Like Chicago. But most of the time it's no biggy... I don't think of myself an expert so I don't want to think it's just because I have been doing it for over 5 years. Maybe it's just because I like a challenge every now and then... Stir things up a bit y'know.

 

On my Hyundai van if you have a load that's spread evenly it's right at 400 a hole for me