Am I in over my head?

yes it is much easier to crank down than up. Especially a full trailer!

Mikeeee

 

We can't drop our bags. In that case just quit cranking that thing up when you hear the air hissing.

 

what i did i was bit lazy, i just use the frame of the tractor tail, and go under the nose of trl after dropping the air bags and just pumped up the air bags, hence sorta a air jack too get those heavy trls up and then crank it down the dollys and then lower the air bags pull out and make sure its right height , and back in and raise air bags hook up, hate people who drop there trls too low but then again mayby no fault of there own, due too dropping on mud, soft payment ect.mayby i'm doing it ll wroung , but dang some those trls are heavy, like when i go in to wis paper mill and get a full trl of paper rolls , even had one time use there fork lift , it sank so much .

 

My experience driving a stick shift car only hurt me. First in a truck is lower left while in a car upper left. You can't power into gears like you can in a car (flooring it before the clutch is even out). You need to double clutch. Really its a different ball game. It took me a while to get used tot he first gear position compared to a normal 5 speed car.

 

I had many of the same thoughts before starting.
The wife divorced me and I was laid off from work...while on unemployment, I figured, heck....why not? I've always wanted to drive for a living, but stayed home for the Mrs....and couldn't afford to go to take time off from work to go to school.

Since that's no longer a concern I figured worse case scenerio...I would be right back where I started, on unemployment and looking for work.
So far...I've found it to be a very rewarding, be often humbleing, experience.
No shame in trying. If you fail, don't let it be from lack of effort...and don't quit.
It's better to try and fail than to never try at all or to try and then quit.
That's what I think.

 

i dont what truck you had but i had a 1998 century long in the tooth , but over in la cross wi , i just got empty, i never use the low side, being lazy, it had the detroit 60, i took off from the light and if you know how to float and throttle , it can be down, but by 5th light i was up 40 in a 35 mph oops, then i had pretty blue lights pull me over, a city smokiee, well i was kinda hurry too get my next load as the last load put me behind, he ask how i got up thru the gears so fast, i told him and he told me too slow down and let me go, no ticket, that was a good day.

 

Lotsa people have 0 truck experience. I was a computer tech. Not even car-savy with my personal vehicle. But I have an apt for learning things.. so that was in my favor. I also have an inquisitive mind.. and if something is broke, I don't just... give up, I wonder why? and investigate what's wrong, how does this work?... and often. fix it on my own.

Its not that hard, generally speaking. Some like to make it seem harder than it is. The worst of it is, when bad things happen, they can happen FAST and be... REALLY bad.

 

Thanks, nice answer, but what do you mean by when things happen, they can happen fast and be really bad?