For new drivers: observations from a 3 year rookie!

Friendly bit of advice: always pull your trailer brake 1st when parking, then a slight tug forward before setting the parking brake. This puts tension on your 5th wheel jaws so no one can release your 5th wheel while your inside taking care of business. Yes, someone tried that sick joke on me once.

 

Did you start trucking in Long Beach or have you always been based out of NC?

 

All good stuff. I especially like "it's just trucking".

I might add "Don't follow too close". I tend to follow too close (like everyone else) but one day the truck ahead of me pulled into the hammer lane and I found myself 80 feet from a Cintas cube van doing about 30 mph on I-87. I bet my rubber marks are still there.

Do a circle check every time you park. I tend to do one as I'm walking toward my truck. I think I have found as many problems from far away as I have from close up. Often something just looks odd.

When convenient, get on the brakes a little heavy once in a while and then get out and feel the brake drums. If one is not as hot as the rest, something is wrong (probably and auto slack). If the DOT decide to mark and measure, you can bet they will find it and they will put you OOS.

Do your pre-trip with the spring brakes off, service brakes on. This way you can find any air leaks or brake lights that don't work. So simple it's stupid but I don't know anyone that does it this way.

 

Always and I mean always keep some food and drinks in the truck
you never know where you might get stuck for a long period of time and it truly stinks to be hungry and thirsty with no where to get anything

 

No expert here, but after 30 plus years, patience and the right attitude make for a good day behind the wheel or a bad one. The references to the tools and stuff were spot on too. Also ...always remember whether you have 3 years or 133 years experience...you never learn it all , each revolution of those wheels means a chance to learn something you've never seen before.

 

Speaking of learning new things, I just learned another good rule after blowing a trailer tire running in this hot weather. Don't just thump the tires during pretrip inspection, get out your tire pressure gauge and make sure your tires are inflated properly. Turns out with the hot weather I had tires up to 120 psi (when the road side guy checked them). I bled off to 100-105 psi cold the next morning and they warmed up to 110-113 psi after 50 miles.