My Millis Experience -

Throttle control....if u learn to feather the throttle without stabbing it and hold the rpm you'll find shifting a whole lot easier in school. Actually if u learn to float double clutching is a lot easier. By that I mean every gear has a certain speed at a given rpm, the clutch gives u about 150 rpm forgiveness. So. Figure out what the speed of each gear at say 1100 rpm and then u will always know where to go to recover. When u get out of Millis 500 and yard u may want to note speeds at 1500 rpm then u will know where to go and be in the power band. And don't rev it in low gear through parking lots, it just shows how new u are.lol not that I did that. actually u could idle around in any gear up to 8 empty. Hope this helps.

 

Well....it happened tonight. Headed north on 95 around DC with a load of beer and some jerk in front of me sees brake lights coming on 1/2 mile up and with nothing in front of him and me a truck length and 1/2 behind him he decides to lock em up like there was a child in the road. I didn't lock em up to bring it down but I was on them pretty hard. Funny thing was this was the first time I ALMOST didn't strap the bulk head..see they had flimsy card board in trlr for corner protection instead of the hard plastic which made climbing over more difficult. But I said to myself if u don't this will be the time u wish u did. So I put a strap above the load to pull myself up. As usual I added 5 straps to bulk head using 2 in e track with bulk head and 3 long ones I got at pilot in track behind bulkhead. Would of used six but needed the other one to climb down again. So I stop to check load though I didn't feel it move. The two straps I had tight to the back of load are now 8 inches away. The load shifted forward to the next e track. All uniform so I wont have a problem. Whew! Im guessing my straps are a little longer now cause I had them as tight as I could ratchet them. Can't imagine trying to stretch them 8 to 1p inches. Anyway. Its definitely worth the effort it took to strap it. I can go to sleep now and deliver in am instead of calling dispatch. Did I mention i only have 2 days left of my probation period. Whew! If anyone can tell me how to upload pic to thread ill take pictures of this load and how its strapped.

 

Sully - Yah, that's sounds like good info; I was reading something about rev limiting to find gears without the clutch, and I'm sure some where along the way I'll be shown double clutching and what not. I know this isn't a comparison, but I picked up driving my first standard five speed after only six months of driving an automatic and it only took me about four days to get it down. After that, I was bounding around on I-75 and I-285 in rush hour traffic. I think I'm understanding about having enough rpm's (by throttling up the rpm in neutral) to downshift. I guess that's what class is for, no?

 

Delivered ld no prob except pulling straps out of plywood bulk head. One was stuck about 3 1/2 in in. Inserted in that 3/4 wood like a knife in a loaf of bread. Bottom load bar was bent a little more than it was. Don't think I mentioned it was bowed when I strapped it down which is typical when they load the first two pallets they're pushing way to hard on bulk heads most times. Anyways straps in good shape still. They sure saved my ars. Got pics but not sure how to share on here.

 

So this typical pushing on the bulkheads as they're loading, does this tend to leave the brace bars bent after a normal course of their life? Who replaces these at what and who's expense?

 

338, I can see your being proactive and trying to get ahead in preparing for driving. A lot of what you are concerned with you don't need be. Greg is gonna give you plenty to focus on for 3 weeks and your trainer will cover the rest as it comes along. The basics first and to me, just adjusting to this way of life are most important.

 

Ok, while I feel like I'm hijacking here, I have to ask.

Can you run a beer load thru the mountains? Or will you ruin the load?! I've been told the pressure change can ruin the load.

 

yes you can, and no it will not ruin it, the only thing you have to do with beer is keep it from freezing. And to do that all you have to do it idle the truck. Or if your near a terminal you can open your doors and back up to a open dock.




American Trucker