Just got approved for IL CDL grant

If I recall correctly, Southern Refrigerated Transport, (SRT), out of Texarkana Arkansas, hauls a lot of fingernail polish in both the lower 48 states and Canada, in their temperature controlled reefers.
From what I understand, the drivers who haul the fingernail polish must have hazmat endorsements.

Also, If I recall correctly, Contract Freight Inc. (CFI - previously Conway Truckload), out of Joplin Missouri, hauls paint to both the lower 48 states and Canada. I believe that all drivers working for CFI must have hazmat endorsements on their CDL's. CFI is all dry van.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

OTR & LTL - over the mountains - through the woods - coast to coast - sea to shining sea

The OTR & LTL truck drivers of America are positively the driving force of our economy.

 

Hi @DC818 I was wondering what was involved in getting approved for the grant. I've been thinking of getting my CDL license, and going to 160 as well.

 

If it doesn't work out for the grant, FFE (Frozen Food Express) will probably hire you and pay for cdl school at Prairie Community College in Chicago. They also have a terminal in Chicago which is good because you have a place to park the truck while on hometime.

 

im still fairly new but i still can add to the conversation. when i went to school i was amazed at how some people failed the permit test multiple times. if you get the practice test questions and study them repeatedly there is no way to fail. i think there was 3 sets of questions and answers. pay attention in the classroom and ask questions. i passed my written tests and my roadtest the first time around. i think having a tanker endorsement is a good thing to have. you might eventually find yourself driving a milk truck, fuel truck, or other tanker. hazmat is expensive to get and probably not something that you will be doing as a new driver. the job that i currently work actually requires a tanker endorsement and im driving a flatbed with poly tanks hauling water not an actual tanker truck. its not a bad thing to have for sure.

as far as the differences in shifting a CMV and a passenger vehicle (including a pickup truck) the transmissions themselves are vastly different. a CMV has a non-syncronized trans and a passenger vehicle is synchronized. can someone explain to me why they dont use syncros in CVM's? i dont know the answer. anyways you have to match road speed and rpm or wont go into gear. when you downshift the procedure is clutch in go to neutral, clutch out give it some throttle, clutch in and go into your lower gear. if you dont do it that way its just going to grind. when you up-shift its going to be around 1,600 rpm on most trucks with 10 speeds. usually you will start in 2nd gear. when you go from 5th to 6th, splitter up and pre-select once you are in 5th. it took me probably longer then most to get it down, did not help that when i got on trainer's trucks they were automatics. did not teach me proper shifting. your barely going to know how to do it after a few weeks of driving. leaving school your only going to know the very basics.

 

Nice, @DC818 Have they brought in recruiters yet?