Company pre-trip/road test.

You are examined on pretrip walking around the rig pointing out essentially everything on it or attached to it. Example if you check your pre-trip manual you will learn that the radiator fluid, oil levels and engine area checked for obvious leaking, wiring damage or other sounds such as air compressor leaking air perhaps (And even touching the air line from compressor which should be nice and warm and absent leaks) Then you will examine the steering column and firewall for electrical problems and defects, you will make sure tha the springs are in good order, the hangers on the ends of those springs inside the steer tires are in good repair and not missing any bolts. You will examine the airlines to the brakes for flaws, leaks or damage and work your way around the front, looking for license plates, stickers on them and so forth.

And develop the pre-trip on the other steer tire, wheel, hub, tire tread, sidewall etc etc etc It becomes a intimidating monster when you first try to learn how to pretrip a truck.

But there is nothing on, attached to or built into a big truck that is not that important. Everything on that truck IS IMPORTANT. check it all.

Road test is about your shifting, your body and face langauge as you drive, do you display stable behavior and not overstress or go into hysterics in a bit of traffic or dealing with the instructor's requests? (Actually commands... turn right here in a block....) do you shift well? Do you check both mirriors? Do you drive well? Taking into account your newbish or most espeically your 50 years experience?

There are a loose set of standards applied to road test. I'll share one. I had one with me in FFE during 1999 who failed the road test we were on (4 of us...) very badly. The three of us tested did well on the I-35 and back. Construction and all. The 3rd being tested thought he will show boat and RAM the trailer back into the parking spot backwards at top speed in front of us two and instructor giving the test outside.

He was told to get off that truck, gather up his stuff and ask for a van to the bus station to go straight home. No job, no hire, no more orientation no nothing. HOME.

But...

What part of go home don't you understand? You do NOT RAM MY TRAILERS INTO THIS *&%$ spot.

oh.

I suppose the two of us left felt happy that we passed. I guess it was a good day that we weeded out that really bad showboat before he had a chance to really make a mess....

 

I don't think they'll be as picky as the DMV but you have to look like you know what you're doing.Xheavy pretty much is on target.

 

If you do a backing exercise, GET OUT AND LOOK.

 

ooo is that bad?

I would not be back there with you hooking on. (No offense.... please kind sir, it is not about you.. let me explain...)

I had a milk trailer. On it is no parking brakes for the love of god or money, It does have functional service brakes and the tractor was a 70's unit with THREE seperate brake toggle buttons. Without detail.. if you dropped the trailer or tried to hook on too hard? It will roll over anything and anyone at the rear of it.

Does that make sense? (Don't ask me about that 60's era milk tanker, you will cause me to do some reaserch and hurt myself here trying to describe a system that no longer exists for you.

SMILE. You are giving some nice people a drive today with that semi truck. You do enjoy GIVING RIDES dontcha?

 

As someone who does road tests, I can tell you it will highly depend on the company and your experience level. Me personally, I'm looking for confidence in one's ability, and not just regurgitating the testing standards on the pre-trip. Granted, we take inexperienced drivers, but if you come in and tell me you have 20 years of experience, I'm hoping to see you open the hood and actually be able to check things under there.

As for the driving part, I can usually tell within the first 3-5 minutes whether someone is going to pass or fail the road test. We run manuals only, and I've had a few come through that say "I have manual experience" and then are shifting it like a car (the poor poor truck).

To answer your question, I'm looking for your ability to control the truck confidently, do a proper pre-trip (hit the high points at the very least) and show enough skill to be given a set of keys to $150,000-200,000 of equipment and be able to do your job without micromanagement.