Good and or great school in California?

I went to TDA in Sacramento. They are a branch of Central Refrigerated and do the training Central requires if a student isn't able to do all their training in Fontana. Class was 4 weeks. First week was in the classroom and the other 3 weeks was at the yard. Overall, it was a good experience for me and I learned a lot. My only complaint was that the truck we used for our behind the wheel training was a 10 speed and when I got to Fontana, they had us do our testing on a 9 speed then we used 13 speeds when we went out on the road with our trainers.

Scott

 

I went to Dootson so I'll give you some info on them.

If you're just looking to get your license, then go to Dootson. The trucks they use are old topkicks kind of trucks. Yeah you'll get your class A, but you won't know how to drive an ACTUAL tractor trailer that's used in the real world. The shifting in one of their trucks has a completely different feel than a full tractor.

Their "sessions" are 30 minute blocks.. (At least that's what they were when I went). So you pay for their 12 session blocks, you get 6 hours of actual driving.

In all honesty if you want to learn how to drive an actual tractor, check out other schools. Yeah you're going to spend more money, BUT you'll actually learn in trucks the majority of companies use.

 

Top kicks?

They use international day cabs with 28' trailers. The trucks have 10 speeds in them. The 10 speed is a very common trans that is in a lot of OTR trucks.

This combination is similar to the set up that us used by most LTL carriers.

I do not know of any trucking school that will actually send you out in a loaded 80k semi.

I do not know what you consider an ACTUAL tractor. The feel of a trucks shifting has a lot to due with the transmission, engine, axle gear ratio and load.

The handling of a truck also factors in the truck wheelbase, fifth wheel setting trailer length, axle setting and the list goes on.

Due to the number of variables resulting from the number of possible combinations it is impossible for a school to teach you to drive your actual truck unless you buy the truck first and hire a private instructor.

Personally I have not driven a 10 speed since I past the CDL in there truck.

I do miss the twin stick mack R600 that I learned on back in the 80's.

I was thinking that the next project should be a clone of rubber ducks truck from the movie convoy.

 

Good to know for me, i will be attending there pretty soon.

 

Just graduated from Dootson, Arcadia. Got my CDL with less than 30 hours of training, not knowing that a lot of companies want 160 hours of school to hire you.

 

Just did my "no obligation" first lesson with Charley. I don't know what to think. I haven't paid for any packages yet with Dootson. So are you completely screwed out of any jobs now?