Automatic or Manual for the Road Test?

Auto is the way to go. I had such a hard time with my manual shift that when I first started trucking i would avoid pulling off the freeway for any reason at all...even if it meant "holdin it" for another hundred miles. Anybody can learn to double clutch and drive a stick, but if you have the choice and want to make things easier on yourself, go with the auto. There's enough BS out there you gotta deal with to worry about stalling out and grinding gears too...

 

I see a truck in Dallas that has plastered all over the side of it "rent this truck and trailer get your cdl gauranteed... $300...

It is an automatic connected to a 28' pup... not sure ir there is a restriction in Texas... but good luck finding a job with thay as your experience.

 

You still have to dock the #### thing though, right? Just saying...i'd take a 53' over a pup anyday for my test. Noobz tend to Jack Knife, and the smaller the trailer the more likely it'll happen. Shifting is pretty universal, and it ain't so bad with a little nervous practice either...

 

No, you don't have to back into docks, but this week every load I've done has involved backing. First load back on the scale, pull off, back into the building, unload, back back onto the scale. Second load I backed into the loading rack, and when I delivered I had to back between the front of a van trailer and a stack of pallets, and then continue backing around a corner (pallets on one side, wall on the other) to the unloading line.

Just because we don't usually back into a loading dock doesn't mean we don't have to back up. A lot of days I would kill to only have to back into a loading dock.

Also, add GA to the list of states that put a manual restriction on your license if you test in an automatic.

 

I have to admit that I am intrigued by the original OP's statement. Can one take his statement to imply that there are such things as CDL "schools" (pardon my sarcasm) that actually allow one to choose what types of transmissions one trains on? Even if that is true, how can one be assured that the road test one would be required to take at a prospective employer could be guaranteed to be in an automatic? Seems like a lot of assumptions being made just to avoid having to deal with the learning curve manual transmissions impose.

 

Tankers do back inside buildings quite a bit, which is harder then hitting a dock, and doubtful any tanker company will hire a new driver anyway.

 

No, in Texas you don't do a dock... a straight line back and a parallel park that consists of a straight line back at an angle to the curb, then a pull up straight with the curb.

The test does however require you to manuever around numerous turns and not run up on curbs... quite a difference when pulling a 28 vs a 53... also trailer swing is eliminated... think road signs...

Like I said, good luck if that is your experience...

 

Pulling a tanker isn't going to get you out of backing (unless you find a job at some kind of specialty co.). At times, you may have to back even more than a van driver (excluding local/LTL, lol).

Sometimes i hook to at least 5 trailers in a day, all into tight spots.

truck stops, tank washes, oddball configurations at shippers/consignees.. (They can get rather creative with where they locate their storage tanks!). All you got going is a smaller trailer that you can see around a little bit better. But personally, i think a van is easier to back, just because you have that box as a nice solid reference. Don't sweat the backing. Take your time, think,, and don't let the pressure get to you. Everyone has to learn.

as for automatics, I took my CDL test with one. It was nice for the test, as I was able to concentrate more on the other stuff.

 

LIKE the above says check with your state, I went for my test in an auto. Sysco is phasing out manual and going fully auto and semi auto. Autos are way easier to manuever in. Massachusetts does not put a restriction on you lisence for using auto. but like the above says check with your state