Partial pretrip inspection CDL test

I’m guessing by your name and avatar you’re a fellow St. Louisian. Are you taking it at the testing site at the bottom of the 255 loop off Koch Rd., or are the examiners coming to your school?

 

Usually they will give you a break on hubs and suspension if you have done the first one correctly. He will ask, " Would you do the other hub, wheel, axle, etc., the same way?" The same applies to the drive axles.

 

Ok that’s what I assumed but I wasn’t sure. I will warn you this location used to be notorious for failing people the first time. So much so in fact that I just avoided it and went to Rolla when I got mine. But that was 13 years ago so things might be better.
When I did mine during the pre trip i just ran my hand over everything and whatever it touched I would name and just say I was “looking for cracks, abrasions” and that everything was in good repair. You’ll walk to the other side and they’ll just tell you to inspect anything you haven’t on the previous side. I will say,and you probably already know this, the air brake test is part of the pre trip. I almost failed because of this. But I’m an idiot. I did my pre trip, did the in cab stuff, she said I’m missing something but I didn’t know what. She said “well we can do the driving part maybe you’ll think of it.” When I got back I still didn’t know and as we were walking inside to my doom, I asked “so when do we do the brake test?” She told me that was it and if I could explain it that’d be good enough. I thought she’d say “ok pre trip is done now let’s move on to the brake test” I thought it was a seperate portion like A) road test B) Pre trip C) Backing maneuvers D) brake test. It ain’t.
The road test she just took me around Rolla and under a viaduct and asked me “what was the posted clearance?” There wasn’t a sign so I said “I didn’t see a sign where was it?!” She just laughed and said nope there isn’t. Apparently sometimes guys make up something and that will mark against you. How and on what grounds idk. Be mindful not to shift in an intersection or over a railroad track.
Other than that you’ll be fine. The good news is it’s gonna be freezing this week in the Lou so if you pop that hood open and are confident naming stuff and going through you’ll pre trip, they’ll know you know what you’re doing and want to get in the cab and on with it. Best of luck keep us posted!

 

The first part of a pretrip and the first thing you should do before you start driving is open the hood and check the oil and water.I pull the stick, wipe it off and put it back in, pull it and read it.Then I climb up on the tire and look in the radiator.It's a good habit to get into.I bet if you pull the stick and show it to the examiner they'll look favorably at you.Also check the power steering oil.I would also grab the steering shaft and twist it to check front end play.Everything else under there just eyeball.That's what I do before every trip,but I'm just silly like that.