3 random questions from a new driver

Yea my first truck was an '03 shaker, it had a pedal left of the clutch to activate the jake.

 

Animal, vegetable, mineral?

 

earth, wind, and fire!

 

Give this a try, seem to work pretty well.
http://www.amazon.com/Colgate-Wisp-...1448567540&sr=8-10&keywords=travel+toothbrush

 

Just a few things on my mind..

1. besides per diem, is their any other tax deductions specific to this job that you can claim to have less taxable income?

I think you can claim any expense you incur that is a direct result of having to do your job the way it needs to be done. If you need to invest in special equipment such as load locks or the like, gloves, uniforms at your expense; these are all tax write offs.

2. when using an automatic, how does using the engine brake work? my company has all autos and my trainer is an L/P and did not get an engine brake on his truck.. so when downgrading, get to safe speed, then brake 10 below that, once it gets back to that, repeat... but im hoping someone can explain a little on how the engine brake would work with having an automatic and not putting it in one specific gear?

In all automatics I have driven, you would have a jake brake switch and a high/low switch just like in a manual transmission. You can leave this on all the time (usually) with no interference from the engine brake kicking in unless you let your foot off the throttle and stop accelerating; after which, the engine brake will come on and you will gradually slow down. At that time , the transmission would be downshifting accordingly, and at each downshift, you will notice that the jake gets stronger and stronger, and you slow down more and more.

In the scenario you described, your trainer is just using his service brakes to decelerate and the auto transmission is downshifting automatically into the gear he needs. Even without a 'jake brake', shifting into a lower gear will, by default, invoke an engine braking effect.

3. I see companies offering DirecTV in their trucks, so im wondering if anyone knows of any sort of satellite WiFi service that you can get for riding down the road? or something similar, something where once it was partners shift I could get on the laptop while they drove.
Sorry, I've never been an OTR driver and have never used a television in my truck, except for those times I wanted to distract myself with something other than a 'smart phone', qualcomm, changing the radio stations, reaching for my coffee, or daydreaming. You could just stream the internet off your 'smart phone' by tethering the connection and using a netflix subscription or something.

 

We run volvo automatics and have options of off auto or 1 2 3 manual Jake. For monteagle you just get to 9th put it in manual and alternate between level 2 and level 3 Jake. Never touch brakes.

 

Stand out side, brush as normal, rinse with bottled water. A little bit of toothpaste won't hurt the pee covered truckstop parking lot.

 

Engine brake works the same way, if it's on when you let off the gas theres usually a 2-3 second delay and then it comes on.

 

Typically on column mounted jake break (lever next to wipers) 1st click downwards (nothing really) 2nd click down is 1/2 a jake 3rd click 3/4 4th click Full jake.Hang On!! Typically drive down steep hills with 1/2 jake always on or in heavy traffic.Slow you down so you don't run up on stopping cars.If it's icy or rutty roads try to avoid having jake on.Some autos (most I've seen) can't be manually shifted. Going to Manual feature i's just for "holding a gear you are in at the present time" Example 12 gears total. You'really going slow up a steep mountain pass 40mph in 10thgear (before you get to the top of the pass (you push the button on top and shift to Manual) This holds it in 10th all the way down the pass (so you don't have to use the engine brake or the actual breaks. This creates a dragging force to help keep you slowed down .