"I had a newbie ask me this one day.....and my jaw dropped!"

Most of this not knowing what part is for what is lack of training. Most companys only teach what is required to pass the test. They don't care if you don't know what a brake chamber is for. Some of the people in managment may not know/care either. I don't think that makes a man dumb.

 

No, not dumb just ignorant.

ig·no·rant (gnr-nt)
adj.
1. Lacking education or knowledge.
2. Showing or arising from a lack of education or knowledge: an ignorant mistake.
3. Unaware or uninformed.

 

can't argue with that one

 

The puppy-mill I went to always used the trailer brakes for the "Type 30 brake chamber." and measuring the slack.
The trailer was in a large puddle on test day, so the examiner said we were to check the brakes on the steer axle.
A few people never left the yard that morning.
No idea what things are for, just memorize for the test.

 

He understood they had to be under 34k, but he also thought they had to be almost exactly the same. He also didn't know how to pull the tandem pins. This particular trailer had the lever you had to pull up on to release the pins. He'd only pulled them on trailers with the easy slider type of lever. Pull it straight out. He wouldn't take my word on the weight though. He must have scaled that thing 6 times. He refused to believe me that the weights didn't have to be exactly the same.

 

PA's pretrip test was like that back in the '90s. And we had to know the proper terms for every part of the truck that we inspected. And had to have a rough idea of how they worked together. The reason I was given was so that if we were stuck at the side of a road in breakdown, we could give the rescue driver a decent idea of what was wrong so they could bring the right equipment out for repair.

 

Too funny guy's. To #### funny.

I took mine there also and it was done the same way. Forgot my bottle of water I sat on the top bunk (instructors truck) and forgot about which I needed because it was hot and knew I would dry up before I could get done. I named off the part's, what they do and what I was looking for so fast that before I reached the second drive axle he said ok, just name the part's (to get through it faster sense I knew it well) By the time I reached the tandem's on the trailer I was starting to dry up and having a hard time talking through the rest because I was so thirsty.

Got in the truck after for the road test. Right as I stopped before leaving off the pad to get on the street that #### bottle of water flew off the top bunk and hit him in the head. He looked at me with a nasty ### look but said proceed. All the while during the test I saw him writting on the test sheet out of the corner of my eye and was getting nervous and thought to myself I know #### well I'm not screwing up that bad.

Come to find out he was just doodling smilely face's on the sheet to make me nervous on purpose. Passed at the top of the class and got hit with forgetting to mention the part's on one axle instead of saying do this one the same as that one after naming off the first. Instructor treated me out to Red Lobster and drink's afterward's which he promised if I had passed. He about had a cow and then laughed after I told him about the water bottle issue.

 

Saw a newbie at a t/s that had just parked and another driver told him he had an "eyeball" out. He pulled down the visor and started looking at his face. Priceless!

 

Eons ago when I was a newbie, I asked an oldtimer what to do if the trailer started to jack-knife while on snow and ice. I never forgot his answer "You do what ever you do, and 9 times out of 10 it was the wrong thing!"
Fortunately my batting average has been much better!

 

This is priceless.

I had a newbie ask me if I actually drove the truck or was just riding passenger seat.

I told him: I eat, drink, and sleep while driving. The look on his face was just priceless and the other truckers listening laughed.

KH