Questions about TMC Training

The two weeks I've got in have definitely flown by, but I still feel like I'm getting a good feel for the truck. Coming from heavy straight trucks the only thing I knew I really needed to get a feel for was turning with a trailer. In straight trucks you have to watch the outside corner because it swings wide and will knock cars out of the next lane, with trailers you have to watch the inside corner. So far though, it's been real good and I've gotten used to watching the appropriate corner. A lot of things translate from straight to trailer though, I'm already in the habit of watching clearances, looking for posted roads and just the mechanics of driving a large truck (shifting, guages etc.). I think my trainer is content with how I'm driving and I expect to get through the next three weeks without incident. I really enjoy this job, I'm hoping that once I've got my own truck I can settle in a bit.

 

We left from my trainers location at 5pm, I'm now sitting about 45 minutes from the consignee for the night(KCMO). Was a quick 300 mile hop over here, hopefully once we are unloaded we will get another load quick. We are going to try and get a load out west again this week, hopefully with more success than last time. At this rate we won't be doing any team driving, all the loads are somewhat close and not close enough together to really team drive. At any rate, it's humpweek and I'm pretty happy with how well things are going so far. Starting to pick up on procedure and policy for the company which is a good thing to have your head wrapped around before you are on the road by yourself. Tomorrow is call in day with my training coordinator, I'll post up tomorrow on the days events.

 

Forgot to mention in my last post that the trailer we got when we swapped was a 53' with no sideboxes. That blows as I'm sure most of you know, there is not enough room for all of your tarps in the headache rack.

We unloaded this morning in KCMO, and were sent about 20 minutes away to pick up a load of pavers (no tarp, twice now!) bound for OK city suburban Lowes. We are sitting for the night about a half hour out from the consignee. I'm hoping as always that we get another load quick or a big bounce. While this load was a short one we didn't have to wait for it which was nice. See you tomorrow!

PS-Training wheel time is sitting at 3999 right now.

 

Crazy couple of days...
Well from OK city we picked up a load of steel tension bars bound for Goshen IN area. We team drove the 900 miles and made it by morning. Off with the steel and then bounced to Muncie to pick up a load of plastic pipe which was amazingly our third load with no tarp although we did have to smoke tarp it. This was the largest load in dimension I"ve taken yet at 13'3". Drove that up to Appleton WI through the tail of rush hour in Chicago with rain and snow and construction, fun fun. I picked up 1100 miles between yesterday and today so I'm pretty happy about that, and I got a couple more blind side backs in. My trainer has been very cool about letting me back in just about anywhere I want blind, 45 or otherwise. Real happy about that, I've been getting a lot of backs of all shapes and sizes. It is cold here today, single digits anyhow so the motor is running and I'm looking forward to a nice warm nights sleep. See you all tomorrow.

2 weeks 3 days wheel time 5200 miles.

 

After waiting 6 hours in Appleton for a load, we finally got bounced to Chicago for an "urgent" load of steel bound for Deere in Ankeny (TMC's second home). Coming out of Milwaukee I heard a squeal under the hood and started smelling the tell tale signs of something cooking. The volt guage was dropping fast so we headed into the nearest Pete dealer. Turns out the Alt belt shredded and wound up wrapped around the main drive pulley. Looks like it took another belt with it. We asked the service department in Des Moines to try and fix the alternater which has been running low voltage for weeks now and they didn't address it, I can't help but think if they took the time to look it over they would have noticed the idler pulley was goofy. At any rate, the Pete service department is looking it over and we'll see from here. My guess is we are probably going to lose that load we waited for in Chicago. On the plus side, maybe we get proper voltage now on our electrical system? Kind of a bummer, we were on pace for a real good week mileage wise. I'm glad all this crap is happening while I'm in training, it's good to know how the company wants you to handle these kinds of things before you are out on your own.

 

We are out of the shop all fixed up and ready to go. It's a little after midnight and we lost that load so we are camping out and waiting to catch another load. The idler pulley seized up which smoked the alternator belt which got wound up in the main drive pulley and wrecked the main drive belt. After about six hours at the Pete dealer they got everything replaced, then we went downstairs (the Pete dealer has a drivers lounge, a pretty nice one at that) to get the paperwork finished and get back to the truck.

When we got downstairs the manager was on the phone with road repair getting settled up for the Comcheck. We were standing close enough to actually hear road repair ask the manager if this was caused by driver error. Now I realize TMC has a vested interest in making sure their drivers take care of TMC's expensive equipment, but I've gotta tell you as a former mechanic on big trucks this is one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard. I can honestly say I can't think of a way that a driver could cause an idler pulley to seize up through negligence, in fact I can't think of a way for a driver to cause an idler pulley to seize up intentionally. Those things are solid steel except for the bearings which are fully encased and there is no procedure for lubing those bearings, they are lifetime lubed on manufacture. It really seems like the road repair department could use a couple of mechanics on staff.

Apparently the manager was asked to photograph the pulley for road repair, he took three pictures of the pulley to send to Des Moines for what I can only hope is part of a lesson plan to teach basic mechanics to the road repair department. This is the kind of breakdown that while unfortunate, does occur from time to time, particularly with a fleet numbering in the thousands.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully it brings another load and less drama. I'm glad the truck is up and running, not so glad that the system voltage is still reading low. With any luck it's just a bad voltage guage and not an actual problem with the alternator but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. We can't leave any electrical devices on overnite if the engine is not running or it will kill the batteries, batteries which were checked just a few months ago. Something is not functioning properly and my money is still on the alternator or the voltage regulator. At any rate, I'll chime in tomorrow with the days events, drive safe and take care of your gear!

Todays wheel time was only good for 146 miles putting the training total at 5346.

 

Today started with a message on the QC to pick up a load of shingles on the southwest side of Chicago. We bounced down to pick up the shingles and headed out to the trainers home for a weekend layover. There were some tight situations with the truck today, the shipper was a pretty tight fit for a 53' and the Pilot we stopped to fuel at was jam packed 3 trucks deep for all of the fuel pumps in a small Pilot. All in all an uneventful but good day, the tight quarters was excellent experience to put under the belt. I'm still hoping that they route us through Des Moines or Ankeny to ditch this trailer, I can live with it being 53', but no sideboxes is a real hinderance. We leave Monday morning at 0730 for the consignee in MO.

Todays wheel time 222 miles for a training total of 5568.

 

Cplmac2, your posts have been very interesting to read. It sounds as if the situations you're encountering are providing a good education that will be a benefit to you once you're on your own. Good luck and be safe.

 

Every time this thread pops up in the new posts section, I can't help but to sing it to the tune of "off to see the wizard". Syllables aren't perfect, but it works in my head lol

 

i had the same thought when i saw it!!!