Learning the truck

That's awfully expensive. Swift is a couple thou cheaper and the instructors in Corsicana make sure you know engine parts and other stuff to do a good pretrip. Stevens will too.
My b.f. drove for Stevens 20 years ago. Pay is still crappy.
Dont worry, you'll learn enuf about trucks to pass the exam and get your cdl.
Real learning comes later (after going on the road with a mentor) when you get your own truck.
Best thing to remember is.... GOAL!
Good luck.

 

You'll do fine which ever school you choose.

 

Do you know how to drive a 5 speed if you do that's all a 10 speed is and hope you do good buddy but you'll learn a lot

 

Eventually your truck will break down. When they send you to the shop, ask the mechanic what is wrong with the truck and details about the problem. Most of the time they will he happy to give you some pointers and tips.

 

Hi Yk, I agree with Krashdragon, that does sound a little steep, as I've heard of more like $3500-$4000, but sounds like you've already paid it. 10 speed is probably the easiest transmission to shift, as it's just 5 low, 5 high, and remember, the gears are only a few hundred rpm's apart, not like a car, where they could be a few thousand rpm's apart. (Maybe an automatic is more your style) I wouldn't worry so much about inspections and breakdowns, as there is more help out there now than there ever was. The thing that concerns me, is you haven't been out on the road much, even in your car. Remember, you drive ALL day(or night), EVERY day( or night), and some people just aren't ready for that. If you go with Stevens, to get your money back, you have to stay with them for a year, and they may screw you out of pay, so they get THEIR money back, and that could be trying. Ask a lot of questions, as there are some of the best people in the business here, and truly want to help you succeed. Best of luck.

 

Pre trucking school I didn't even know what a shock looked like. Unless you own it you don't neeeeddd to know anything but eventually you will waaaannnnnttttt to so you ain't sitting around for stupid stuff that takes 10 minutes.

Two months of driving truck and two visits to petro with long wait times...I was cracking lights with my hammer applying new changing the harness putting back in tandem lever springs changing pigtails and the like.

My advice is when you go out with your trainer or at school is.
ask them.

How do I change this...
How does this come off?

Chances are your trainer...he might not know!
You'll get some cheezy response like call road service or I'm not a mechanic I just drive....get a new one.

You'll find doing things like changing headlights on a big truck much more enjoyable. Got A lot more room especially in an older peterbuilt. You can practically do yoga inside the fender and tire.

 

learning the truck will come with time spent in the truck. that said, hows hour bladder? get used to holding it.

you could do worse than stevens, imho, but you could maybe do better. the 6 grand seems quite steep, esp if things change and you don't stay with them the entire year. steven's used to have a bad rep @ sleep studies, don't know if that's still true or not. yes they will more than likely be able to get you your cdl, just be ready to team drive for a while and get ready to see new york city quite often.

don't have anything listed in your profile, but ya mentioned austin so if your there, a plus is it's close incase you have to go home. ( i did twice with ffe, once due to the flu and a second time due to kidney stones.) have ya looked @ millis transfer? they train in the same area and don't believe they are nearly 90% reefer like steven's is. just a thought. even though steven's will train ya to haul water or sand for the oil fields if you interested in that.

good luck future Driver.

 

Literally millions of not-mental-giants have learned to drive a truck. You can do it, too.

My school was ~1 mile from a truck stop. The instructors were fond of telling students whose confidence was slipping to go there for lunch, look around, then come back and tell them those guys can do it, but they can't.

 

I think your going to struggle with the navigation with getting to point A to point B. This is obvious but its not. Streets, highways, interstates, truck stops all have a pattern. A ebb and flow. A thousand ways to get to where your going. Only one or two are good. The short way isn't always the fastest. Street numbers generally work the same way. Then again they may not.
Then with time you acquire the mystical ability to know you made the wrong turn and going the wrong way.Some know 3/4 of the way through the wrong turn they are making.Some have it within a block or two others have it when they've gone several miles out to their way. Many never are blessed with this super trucker power.
Several things may make it easier.
1. Most companies send you routing with the load. Your job is to grab a road atlas and trace out the route. Right it down and place it somewhere you can see it.Then follow it.
2. Some companies are already getting your motor information. They will alert you if your truck is acting up. They can also know your rpms, speed, breaking info, how fast your taking the turns and other information.
3. Majority of companies have a hands off the motor policy. You can't work on it yourself. You're going to be limited by what they tell you you can do. Besides in todays motors you don't have the ability to fix it. Other than the odd fuse, trailer lights, or something else thats minor you're just going to send in a macro and wait for road break down. Your only job is to get it to a safe or as safe a parking place as you can, place triangles out, or anything that makes it more safe to sit there.Experience will tell you how fast you need to get it parked. Communicate what the truck is doing. Sit and wait. With time your going to learn what a bad fuel filter feels like or other issues. Then again its only helpful to know this so you can communicate more effectively with road break down or a mechanic. Mechanic is still going to plug it in and get a computer read out anyway so what your telling them may be of use or not.