Prime lightweight?

Just doin' our part to keep the freight moving, albeit slowly, but moving just the same! Hope you know how to pass.

 

Nobody is nice enough to give a push, they just pass on by.

 

I keep puttin' out a tow rope, but them supertrucker's just keep on keepin' on. What gives?

 

It does not have many miles on it yet and may not be broke in, had some damage to the airdams, etc from the previous driver so it is no telling how he drove it, if he shifted it right or not, etc. With the load he had today the best it was doing in mpg before dropping the trailer was about 6.7.

He is not a new driver so we shall see, everyone has a learning curve to learn. It is getting about 6.9 mty at the moment using the cruise control.

 

Prime.....this talk of the lightweights on the forum was the first I heard of this. I started researching this career field mid december and Prime was one of the companys I applied for to be a company driver. I was ultimately accepted by them but did not choose them. I think Prime was the only recruiter who I emailed with and talked to that did not disclose the full truth and thats not cool in my book.

Prime pushed their great paid training to get the CDL. Now I'm hearing from others that if you go with them and need your CDL you start out training (team version) driving to gain your experience. Then I hear that if you don't do the Lease you can have a regular tractor if you team. If you end up going solo you're stuck with a Lightweight. At this point the only big companies that use these Lightweights that I can figure out is Prime.

LOL, i wish they would have been more upfront. Seems like they want to hide these facts from those looking to get a start as a company driver.

Good thread, again I learned a lot via this forum.

 

Who uses "lightweight" tractors? I've seen CR England, Marten, NFI, US Xpress among others. If you're measure of where to start your career with is based only on this, I think you're going to have a difficult time in the industry. Perhaps the problem was more that you didn't ask the right questions.

 

You are probably right about not asking the right questions when I was recruited by Prime, but then being new to this business, how is one to know all the right questions? I am merely a student with no experience.

I do know that as a company driver you drive what they give you to drive and I have no problem with that. However, had I gone with Prime and after completing my initial training they told me that if you team drive or lease a truck you can have better or more desirable equipment as a sales pitch or means to get me to sign up for a lease or get into a team driving situation I think it would have been a big turn off for me. Maybe not a deal breaker but certainly a disappointment.

I feel confident in my choice to go with a company that does not push the lease and also does not have team driving. Prime discussed neither of these potential issues with me as a recruit.

I'm also planning on being out for while as a driver, not looking for any particular home time, I don't need it. With that in mind why would I be out looking for smaller living quarters? Sure, I will take what the company gives me, but why look to get into a lightweight tractor when there are companies where the odds are more favorable you won't be driving one of them?

Maybe you like teams or the leasing deal, I just don't find that to be a good option for me personally and I will avoid it. From what I understand that is part of the deal at Prime. Again, I'm not an expert on Prime but I have received enough information from others that I am confident that it is part of their program.

So I'm off next week to learn to drive truck in the arctic, investing $4-$5K of my own money and three weeks of my unpaid time. If I'm going to have a difficult time in this industry I have confidence that my experienced trainer who is sitting alert in the passenger seat of the tractor I'm driving will tell me that I'm not cut out for it. If that occurs...no harm, no foul. Better to get the bad news there than be a story in the Accident section of this forum or take a seven year hit on the credit report.

 

First, leases aren't "pushed" at Prime. I spent three years on the company side, and never heard a word about it. While you may consider a full condo sleeper as "more desirable" equipment, it's not held out as an inducement to team, train or lease. The "lightweight" tractor is simply part of the business here. The ability to pull more weight in our trailers gives us a competitive advantage. Training... I went to a third party driving school too, and they can't afford to give you the same behind-the-wheel time that Prime does. Third party schools give you just enough to get past a state road test, and that in no way means you are a truck driver.

 

I keep hearing about the standard cascadias, the roomy pro stars, the cramped Pete's, but not much about the kenworth t660 lightweights.

My current cdl trainer and i are in the condo cascadia of course, but he has driven all of the lightweights while a solo driver and he said the T660 is the best by a long mile. Showed my pics of his 2012 dark cherry red 660 with a paccar and he was praising it up and down for its utility, quietness, and quality.

Anyone else have exp in a t660?

Of course if prime really wanted to make me cream, T680 condos and T660 lightweights are where its at. Sexy as hell and great interior utility/quality design.
Though cost effectiveness is obviously not figured into that ;P