Dry van to tanker? Opinions?

Check out Nomadic-Brit on youtube. He is leased on to Schneider and runs tanker. A lot of good info in his videos.

 

Good plan. I would start looking at employers when you have 1 year of experience. Just drive like the state trooper is riding in the passenger seat with you. ALWAYS be at or below the advisory speed for on/off ramp curves and the surge is nothing to be afraid of. The surge feels like getting kicked by Godzilla when you first start moving if you slam the throttle. It's not dangerous then. As you gain speed the surge feels less frightening but becomes more dangerous. You can only make a panic stop going straight ahead and you have to keep applying brakes even after you stop because the product stops a few seconds after you do.

The surge is nothing to be afraid of, if you drive properly, and it is nothing to be ignored. Few people regret pulling tankers, it's much better than dry van. Better customers are the best part as far as I'm concerned. They are easier to back and park than a van or reefer.

 

Not all tanks are smooth bore . Multi compartments and baffling cut down on the surge. Plus being able to fill the tank helps too………

 

Tank Yanking requires a smooth driving style. You need the ability to stay focused on
(1) getting the load [sometimes harder than one would think] then
(2) hauling the load. Surge is always there but is controllable to the point where it is just part of life going down the highway. and
(3) getting the tank empty without contaminations, spills, etc..
Gotta be a little bit a plumber, little chemist and just all around ready to do stuff you never connected to trucking.
You also need to understand what PPE is and how it protects you from some gruesome damages when you do haul that load of Bad Stuff [PC/PG13 version]

 

KT, you've got the right idea. You definitely need more following distance with a tanker, and you need to go slower around curves and corners too. And if you can become experienced shifting a manual transmission before you make the jump to tankers, it'll probably be an easier transition for you, that way you don't have to learn manual shifting and surge control at the same time.

 

The surge is sometimes that becomes a part of you once you get used to it. If I pull anything but a tanker I feel lost because I don't get that bang starting out from a red light. Definitely want a manual to pull any smooth bore tank, autos suck. I usually start in 2nd, skip 3rd, by the time I'm going into 4th the surge is coming forward so it goes right in gear. Skip 5th to 6th then the other 4 gears shift normal. That's on a basic 10 speed. Once you pull a tanker you won't want to pull anything else, they're easy and unless you're hauling specialty/food grade there's really no waiting around like with vans.

 

Western international gas