Company road test tomorrow

In my day we had bags equipped with a pin built in that dropped onto the spring plate I guess is what they called it when deflated after you dropped a trailer in the dock. You could eyeball that trailer and see the box bottom resting about a inch above the wheels if that. That kept the bags from being mashed all the way flat. (Were they ever?)

If you are going on that test and pointing out the bags while dropping at the dock, you probably are going to get the job. Minor details is what makes the deevil dance on your soul if you forget them. Heck, I have a hard time remembering sometimes.

The 5th wheel... you gotta make sure you are centered before your plate below the kingpin hole slot reaches the lip under the front of that trailer you are aiming to pickup. Stop right there and get out. Under the trailer you go, eye ball the entire kingpin plate above you and make sure that the whole thing is just lower than the middle of the 5th wheel when looked at from the side. That way you will be lifting the trailer as you get under slowly... and then there will be a PLATP!!! as the 5th wheel lays down and CLANK! You have it.

After the clank, before raising that ####### gear ***Slaps... remember this... do a light tug to make sure you have her. Then connect thy lines and eye ball that 5th wheel to make sure there is a large peice of jaw across that nice king pin of yours. I slapped you here so you remember this...

Then you may crank up the landing gear. But you are not finished yet. If your reefer requires going, kick it. Then check thy tires, springs, bags, lines to the air tanks back there for leaks, ABS wiring etc etc etc

I know my post may be reduntant and half of your eyes glazed over on the net, but it bears remembering. God should have written hook up after finishing Genesis so that we all should write these little details of trucking on our hearts so we dont ef it up and really ruin the day.

 

Once you get out on the road don't be afraid to ask someone for advise or help. I had two team guys ask me for help once. They couldn't move the 5th wheel no matter how hard they tried. They didn't know you had to crank down the landing gear to take the weight off.

 

Asking for help is always a good thing. But... there is a immense percentages of ######## out there who will give you hard time and break your nuts on the radio. I'll help you, there is nothing I aint seen yet... *knock on wood...

But my solutions or ideas will probably step on a few of the young ones not used to a time where men were men and women were women as it were... there are no safe spaces or what do you call that today?

 

Usually it's just another driver that happens to be there and he has you drive down the road, take a left, a left then back to the yard.

 

You are welcome.

I once did a road test in a high precip super cell in a place called Joppa Md where we were a tiny wild cat container outfit. Bossman put me into a little international daycab (One reason I don't drive internationals anymore it's forces me to take prozac and xanax to forget those days... or that Astro cabover GMC where the turbo scream in your dreams at night...)

Anyhow.. there is this rain he says to take this box to the old A&P and dock it (It was a dollar store now in those days) and I could not see the end of that box with the rain so hard. You want it where? HA let's go then.

I docked it a few minutes later and got the job. But I went home wondering what in the world i got into...

To this day I don't know what happend to that company.. they sort of stopped work and then closed up. It was a mystery.

 

Sorry - you're right. I ran my sentences together.

You're probably acing the test as I type

 

Exactly what I experienced last week starting with a new company. Except I had to find the trailer and connect before we left and drop it back in the slot when we got back.