CRETE - A Year in Review

Alright, I finally made it through orientation and was sent to Atlanta to get my truck and am headed to get my 2nd load after I get this nail out of one of my duals. One thing I can't get used to is the 10 speed. What kind of RPM's should I be looking at in 9th and 10th? 55 seems to lug or revv too high no matter which gear i'm in! My wife told me to pick a gear and run 53 for 9th or 58 for 10th and that should help. I trained and have only driven 13's while she had 10's for quite a while. Thoughts?

On a side note, Ever... I think I had a student of yours in my orientation this past week. I can't remember his name for the life of me but he had a full beard.. younger guy? All 5 of us travelling by rental to get our trucks went to dinner (all 4 were students ironically.. i was the only experienced) and they got to talking about how each of their trainers ran.. as soon as he started talking about how his ran I immediately recognized your style. I asked about the Gary IN/Baseball 34hr restart story you told a while back in this thread (somewhere around page 50... i'm on 139 now and continue to read when I have time) and he said the trainer had mentioned it.. so I'm pretty sure it was you.

 

On the subject of the 10 speed, I have a Prostar with a Cummins engine. It depends on terrain of course, but you shouldn't lug the cummins below 1200 RPM at full throttle for more than 30 seconds regardless of road speed. Maximum HP on the cummins is at 1800 RPM and redline is 2100 RPM.

 

10 speeds suck to begin with, but a few years some idiot in management figured they can save a few drops of fuel by capping the RPMs. Makes downshifting a pain. You either have to wait longer to downshift or just ram it in the gear.

 

I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. I downshift around 12,5 to 1300 RPM's and don't have too much problem other than the fact my go pedal is touchy, not enough and its a slow revv, just a little too much and i'm up over 1900. I'm figurin' her out tho. I've been keeping 55mph in 9th and just shift to 10th as it tops over to 56. Still feels like its lugging but not near as much... or as bad.

 

My ninth will not pass 54. Then 10th really doesn't start really grabbing until 58 and 62 is tops. It is frustrating having that lag in the middle, but not much you can do.

 

Crete has a custom program for their company trucks...9th max's out at 54 mph instead of 60 like most trucks I've driven...These new EGR engines are made to operate at lower RPM's. Detroit's especially. They claim that it no longer does harm to these engines to lug them. But it would be easier to drive if they would turn up the torque a bit so they pulled better at those lower RPM's....But hey, what do we know...We iz gist stoopid truk dreyevers. Many times I lug it down to where I can go from 10th to 8th...Hey...they say lug it...so I lug it. 13's would be better, but there are a lot of newer drivers that wouldn't have a clue what to do with a 13 speed.

 

Is this the same in Marietta?

 

A few years back, I think they started having 'regional' orientation centers instead of everyone having to go through Lincoln. When I started here, you did a 2-3 day mini-orientation(depending on drug test delays) at your home terminal, you then were assigned a truck, and started driving(and making money) while headed towards Lincoln for the full 'info type' orientation(sign up for insurance, get your lock, get payroll set up the way you like it, get the 'how Crete does things' info, etc). But I think they started using Marietta and New Kingstown as orientation centers now as well instead of just Lincoln. I could be wrong...Oh wait, I'm never wrong, I meant to say, I could be mistaken...(I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken)

 

Is it just me, or does vacation time fly by faster than when you're on the road? Is this some sort of 'Twilight Zone' effect? It's already been another 7 days off and I get back on the road tomorrow (holy crap, no more honey-do's for a month - Yesssssssssss!)

I hope these last 2-weeks off has eased my temperament a bit(not too much, I mean, I have a reputation to uphold). It seemed as thought the last few months I was more anxious and ready to jump on dispatch then usual...