Back up camera on school trucks?

as far as CDL schools are concerned, evidently most suck. Our instructor was awesome and really taught us everything we needed to know to drive The truck forward. His theory was if you weren’t on tight back country Roads making sharp turns or downtown in traffic then you were with wasting your time on the highway. I still think of what he said every time I approach a traffic circle. Our eight weeks of company training really gave us what we needed for backing the trailer, load securement, clock management, dealing with shippers and receivers and the list goes on and on and on.

 

CDL school teaches just enough backing and other stuff to pass the state exam. You will learn the other 95% of the job working at your first employer while riding with a trainer for a few weeks (2-8 weeks).

 

Think you may have misunderstood what he meant by that answer, as backing up a truck is still the basics, what he would be referring to is all the extra stuff you won't and don't learn at driving school, like defensive driving, how to look ahead, all the common sense stuff that a school won't teach you, kinda like boot camp at the marines sure you'll learn how to drill and say "Yes Gunny Sargent" but until you go out in a proper war zone its never the same. So too with a CDL school, it's nothing like the real thing, it should be considering the amount of cash their asking to train you, but in the end it's not.

 

Those backup cameras have fake IP waterproof ratings, chinese batteries, chinese firmware, and usually require sketchy chinese apps that have sketchy permission requirements.. Also, if it's night they aren't going to have enough IR light projection to show you anything...

Go to the cheapest CDL school you can find... Unless driving busted up manual trucks for .58 a mile(cough cough B.A.H. Express cough cough duct tape fleets) is your goal, then use a private school or one of the few community colleges still doing it.. Nothing better than a dash full of check engine lights and a dump truck level interior as soon as you get in a assigned truck and one of the few megas with manuals... The windshield full of old shop papers and bols comes standard

 

Honest, after you get comfortable backing a trailer, you won’t be bothering with a backup camera. You’ll find yourself regretting spending the money.

There are currently 3.5 million truck drivers in the USA, and approximately 3.5 million of them don’t use backup cameras.

 

"Using the latest digital chip,V35 wireless backup camera for trailer boasts a 36ft digital wireless range within vehicle."

Trailer is 53 feet, so by the time you add in the tractor you're looking at about 64 feet - or just under twice the range of this camera.

And even if you get a decent signal, it's still not going to give you much USEFUL information that the mirrors don't.

There are times and places it would be useful - but just like a garlic press those times are going to be few and far between and its mostly just going to jam the utensil drawer.

 

Put the camera on the front of the trailer's blind side and face it backwards. That solves the signal range and shows you the entire blind side. Putting a camera on the back of the trailer isn't going to help as much.

 

I was so glad to hear the training manager was paying attention and went the distance for you. From some of the things I've heard from folks that had issue with a trainer it seems to be rare.

 

Day time where I have to blind side I'd use one if it didn't need an obscure Chinese app on the viewing device. I have one shipper where you have to blind side in to a end dock and its tight due to pallets

I've never used one and I already know they are useless in the dark. IR mode will be black and white with limited distance. Fog pr rain and you'll just see a white screen

 

I made a camera kit as I drove one of 2 trailers most all the time. The camera was of little help. A long long time ago my first trainer told me watch the tires. So many ignore the tires unless it is a real difficult backing. It shows too. I just left working at a TA stop. Most every truck we saw was a driver with less than 5 years. Also common were the rub marks on the tires. Some light rubs but mostly heavy long or repetitive rubs. A few even hit a curb so hard it tore or permanently damaged the sidewall. Tires cost an average of $600 installed up to $1200. A single Super single will cost $1200 plus install.

If you make a habit of watching the tires all the time you will notice the patterns. Backing hard vs soft. Backing a spread axle vs tandems forwad or tandems all the way back. Spread axles work different going forward than reverse. Fully loaded most low profile spreads will pop a bead or damage the hub if you do a hard 90 degree backing. I carried sand bags when I pulled a flatebed with 255s. Any turn fully loaded worked them tires. Adding some sand made it easier. It would also piss off most metal yards too. Wheelers in Loredo knows me well about this.

Watch and listen. Skip the high tech at first and just practice as much as you can. If you are done early in the day practice a few harder parking spots before chosing the one you want overnight. If someone steps out to guide you let them, but watch tires and trailer still. Skip the grumpy advise and comments.