CDL School starts on Monday!

Texas lets 14 year olds get driving permits. It doesn't surprise me. I had to do combination, air brakes and general knowledge before Florida would give me my permit, and get my DOT medical card before school would allow me in the classroom.

Texas has slightly lower fees than Florida anyway. i.e., I paid 91 for my Hazmat endorsement and because I didn't apply for it when I got my CDL, I had to pay an additional $25.00 for the re-issuance of the license and another $7.00 for the endorsement. So I also got doubles/triples when I took the written for Hazmat. Total paid that time, $130.00.

Now I have Tanker, Hazmat and Doubles/Triples endorsements. May not mean much now, but I'm sure it will very soon.

 

Freightliners are cool trucks to learn in. My school has three Internationals, three FLs (two 10 spd & 1 semi-auto) and 1 Peterbuilt Super 10. Loved that one!!! Hated the Internationals, but loved their 9 & 13 speed transmissions. Asides from the Super 10, the 9 and 13 speeds are my favorite.

Don't care at all for autos.

 

Do they have manual transmissions? I hope so.

 

And congratulations.

 

"I got my CDL permit today!!!"

Good Deal DRIVER!!!

 

I'm the type to like to get my knowledge from hands-on viewing/experience, and use the book only as a 'guide'.
Every chance you get, try to get hands-on experience. By that, I mean, actually pull on slack adjusters,, look at actual brake rod travel,, and physically check the brake fluid level in each brake chamber ( kiddin' on the last one).

On the tire blowout / equipment malfunction stories... I have one that combines both.
I was doing about 70mph (truck governed at 73) pulling a 53' reefer with super singles. Without any warning, the brake drum on the trailer's right front tandem 'exploded' (for lack of a better word). It instantaneously tore several holes in the super-single (one was fist size), broke off the air hose connection to the rear brake chamber, scattered the brake shoes, mangled/bent 3-4 crossmembers, and launched a few chunks of brake drum thru the bottom floor of the trailer.

Naturally I lost air fast, and the trailer fishtailed when it happened, but I got it safely slowed down and off to the shoulder.
After stopping, I saw the entire brake drum was 'gone' and my first worry was "where on the highway was it? and how big of pieces?".
I immediately called state police to let them know there possibly may be significant road hazards (large chunk of brake drum) on the highway "somewhere" in the last mile behind me. (It was about 2 am and black as coal). They sent a truck who checked the hwy with spotlight, but only found one 4" chunk about 200 yds back. The rest may have flown in the ditch(?).

Anyhow, I called for a service truck, it got there about 2 hrs later, and he had to chain up the axle, and I got 'er limped in to their shop about 5 miles away.
Not a typical 'flat tire' incident,, but just to show one mechanical failure can lead to many things 'failing', within a nanosecond.