Proper Pre-Trip For Newbies

A lot of the stuff to check you don't need to be a mechanic to find missing slack adjusters, bad steering linkage, leaking air lines and chambers, etc.. Besides...where's the mechanic going to be when you top that nice LIL mountain and your and everyone else's butt is on the line if your $!*% isn't squared away because you wanted to wait for a mechanic to check it at a later date?

And by the way...school bus drivers are hauling everyone's and MY kids. You'd better be more thorough on your checks than what you are suggesting in your statement. My aunt has been driving a school bus for 15+ years and 2 others I know personally for 10+. I guarantee you they check far more than you suggested.

Just saying.

 

Thanks American Trucker. I keep trying to explain to my husband how to do his pre-trip inspection but with not having a truck handy to show him he's not getting it. This will help him out a lot. Thanks again

 

If it holds fluid or air it has no leaks, ie. Reservoirs, hoses and lines. Fluid levels will be checked by doing what? If it has mounting bolts then it is securely mounted. Your mirrors and windshield have no broken or obstructed glass. This is just a few tips to hopefully help out. I was lucky enough to have 4 weeks to drill the pretrip into my skull. What really helped was that there was 3 of us in the class and every morning we would test eachother with an actual pre-trip score sheet. After 2 weeks we had it down to where we were missing no more than 2 or 3 things. Here in Ohio you can miss 23 and pass.

 

Thanks for posting that PDF. Its very helpful.

ddhhayes

 

Thank u so much for this info. I can tell it will be very helpful while Im training next week and on the 28th when I go to take me driving test at the DOT!

 

Greetings...I have been a trainer for many years now and have found one thing to be a constant. No matter what you do or what your system is if you do not follow the next two things you will fail.
1) Never be in a hurry. The list you have there is a good start but you need to understand what you are looking at. After the last couple of days I have been on the road I still learn new things each and every day and I always ask stupid questions. Remember its not the deep profound questions that will save a life, maybe yours, its the stupid ones that people are too afraid to ask because they may be laughed at. There are no stupid questions only stupid people too freighteded to ask.
2) Always work to learn new things each day. For example why should you care about tire inflation or glad-hand O-ring changeouts or how does the bridge law actually work. I walked into a port in Iowa and asked the creeper cop in there how it works and was met with a very surprising responce, respect and honestly. Never stop asking questions.

 

hmmm... I can't stop grinning imagining a truck stop full of drivers doing a full pretrip every time they woke up and took off, some of those guys would get too much exercise for the day and have to go take a nap.
I would type something else but I am afraid the pretrip police would come an arrest me while beating me down with a fresh pad of pretrip checklists. Can't we all just .... nevermind

 

I have been a school bus driver for 12 yrs and say to say there are drivers that cheat on the pretrip. I believe it is my responsibilty to do my job and driving a safe inspected bus was my job! I did my pretrip 100% every time. I will approach my driving and pretrip of a truck the same. Thanks AT for the list. I plan on using it to jelp study

 

When we started driving at Millers they gave us all a free Rand Mc Nelly A5 size Truckers Road Atlas in the front of the book it had a very detailed drivers inspection list.