Im in school, & wanna impress my teacher

I've read all the reason not to use tricks and I've read some of yours why. The only place I can see where you could do such a thing is during pretrip. So I'll give you a couple but he should already know. Do all your normal pretrip starting by taking out the key. When you get to and axle that has a rubber cap on gently take the cap off and stick a think blade of grass (or stick)down into it and then smell it. 90 wt oil stinks and use the blade of grass like a dip stick. Place the cap on gently because the weathered ones are brittle and will break. You can back up to a building or dock and check your brake lights and turn signals just stay aboput 4 feety away.
Check the seal right behind the turbo for oil,it should be oil free but those are the ones that go. You should always gage your tires. Watch shadows when backing. Always use a flashlight for pretrip even in daylight. Don't crawl under the truck but get down there and look. Reach in when you can, I've seen whole brake cans ready to fall off. If the electrical cable on the back of the tractor is old spray it with WD40. Other that that follow every thing they have taught you and never stop learning . Good Luck and don't be surprized if they don't already do some of those things or don't like them for their own reasons.

 

Good tips GasHauler! Thanks!

 

Ignorance begins when you think you have all the answers. Don't be afraid to learn something new everyday now matter how long you have been at it. Listen and observe. Some people can tell a real good story and it is just that. In time you will be able to tell the people spreading the bs. Learn from your mistakes and try hard not to repeat them.

 

make sure you brush your teeth before class/ breath mints and such/

a high five (while the vehicle is parked) may not be out of the question either

 

all-state graduate from Pittsburgh PA /North Versails location here 24 week night class.

graduated 4.0 perfected attendance 4/4 possible and student of the month for june. scored no less then 80% on any of my backing skills (jackback is a #####)

i impressed most of my road trainers with my natural ability to drive the ###### thing. except the one who i assisted in getting fired cuz he was an idiot. he caused a student to take a trailer up on a guardrail by blocking his mirror. however i threateend to throw him out of a moving truck a week earlier. other then that i loved the school.

so take my advice here. pay attention. show up on time everyday. read what they tell you. watch the boring ### movies and enjoy yourself.

learn what you can and when help other students to apply it too. at some point you will be a 'senior' and your advice will matter for the juniors. so when your on teh range and the instructor is helping one person you can help instruct another too. this helps on the road when you get a graduate of a 24hour course that has no idea where reverse is let alone how to use it, trying to back into a space next to you.. or blocking the whole dock up trying to get in. and dont try to act like a super trucker with an 'i can run 11 hours easy' additude. because you cant. ive been doing this for awhile and have great stamina and somedays 5 hours is bad enough. whilst others i want to run longer. so dont pretend you know anything until you graduate and bring your company assigned truck back to the school to show off. will post more later but i gotta go cuz im loaded now and the shipper wants me to move lol

 

What to impress your instructor? Shut up and Listen!!! Then pass your tests and listen to him while driving. Nothing Pisses off an Instructor worse than some know it all spoutin' off in class. Always understand, you can have more knowlege than he does, but it his or her classroom. There may be some little tib bit you can give him somewhere in the practical hands-on stuff that would be pretty slick, but whatever you do, don't try to impress in the classroom setting. Good luck.

 

forgot to mention i scored no less then a 95% on the classroom stuff. got an 85% on the final (which is #### good. alot of the questions on the test you werent taught)

alright now for some advice and tips. on the range remember GOAL - get out and look. they will prolly preach that you stay in the truck when doing your skills because cdl requires you not get out.. stupid huih? but never forget it.

listen to every word and tip the instructor gives you. all-state wants you to suceed they arent gonna tell you something that wont work. you have to trust your instructor 100% on the range and the road

during your road training check your mirrors every 3-5 seconds. and forget about the other students in the truck with you, if you have waht you feel might be a stupid question... ask it anyway. and if your not sure, voice outloud what your gonna do like "theres a car slowing up ahead, im gonna change lanes" this way if the instructor has other plans then he can tell you. instead of you starting a manuver you arent sure of and then having to cancel it.

VERY IMPORTANT. you dont know jack about shifting. i dont care if you were the hot road jocky of the street races you dont know squat about double clutching or gear jamming. so heres what you do. you will spend 2 of the most boring weeks of your life on pre-trip inspection. spend the first couple hours doing hte pretrip and reading the book. the rest of the time sit in the drivers seat, find any 2 consecutive gears that the truck will go into (1st/reverse 2/3 4/5) and witht eh engine off, practice shifting and double clutching. this will create whats called muscel memory. our one road instructor had us do that our first night of shifting. however i thought it would be a good idea LONG before i even met him let alone heard about him doing this. and the first day i had shifting... my instructor thought i was ############ when i said i never drove a rig before. now i still grind and miss gears even as ag raduate, you will too, but being able to get the clutch-nutrueal-clutch-gear thing down as well as clutch-nutrueal-rev-clutch-gear is difficult, but spend your pre-trip days goin thru the motions so that when you get to that point you will have a better understanding.

also for shifting you will miss gears thats without a doubt. the instructors and examiner dont care if you miss gears.. its how you recover. throwing your hands in the air and screaming 'oh god we're all gonna die' isnt recovering.... for training purposes my thing was buzz buzz try the next one. you buzz/grind it twice trying for lets say 6th, and your gaining speed, forget 6th and go to 7th. if your down shifting then go to the next lowest.

also heres a little hint for down shifting
45 mph = 9th
35 mph = 8th
25mph = 7th
15mph = 16th
10mph = 5th
below that its a guessing game, althou i skip shift all the time out here so i go from 5th to 3rd # 5mph and typicly start off in 3rd no matter how heavy i am. you can skip shift # all state but dont do it til you get the hang of shifting. anyway if you look at the road speed 45 mph and the gear 9th; do some quicky math. 4+5 = 9 (45 = 9) 3+5=8 (35=8 ) so on and so forth down to 6th gear. 10mph for 5th, then slow 'er down to 5mph and go for 3rd. the lower gears are so close together you can practicly skip shift'em all.

once you et the hang of shifting you can try what i do. out here i go 3rd - 5th - 7th - 8th - 9th - 10th

but the key to shifting is road speed and rpms. bring the rpms to about 12-13 (hundred) then go for the next gear. the gear will go in # 10-11 but when you are in nutreal the ropm's will fall so when you go for the gear they will be righ # where you need. keep this concept in mind for recovery. you miss a gear, give it a light rev to 11-12 and give it another try. quickly. not panicy. and DONT FORCE IT. it doesnt make things easier. now yes i have jammed it in a couple times in a situation where i needed a gear NOW but its not reccomended ever. just try it gently. like your makin love to your woman (to quote my instructor jay)

when backing find a solution that works for you. when im backing i put my hand at the bottom of the wheel and turn it to the direction i want the trailer to go. this works for me and others but other drivers have thier own way of doing things so find what works for you.

when your shareing a truck with another student learn from his mistakes as well as your own. sometimes its easier when you see someone else make the mistake because you have a differnt perspective.

some skills will be easy and boring. you will master straight line backing in a matter of hours ... but dont sit on the bench and play withyourself for the rest of the 2 weeks... you get back in that truck and you do the skill over and over and over again until lunch and til its time for role call. thats what i did. scored 100% on all skills up to lane change where i got 100/95, ditto with jackback. but my fellow student, same class as me had the 'i did it twice im perfect at it i dont need to do it anymore' additude and always scored 80s and 90s on test day.

and heres what will save your ###. at the end of the night when its time to park the trucks you make sure your butt is in that seat come park-time. because you will learn SO much more backing it into the parking spot. you will use skills you havnt learned yet. combine ones you have. and get the feel of having to back between 2 real trucks and trailers; not just disposable barrels and half dead cones. there was only a handful of nights that i did not park the trucks at the end of the night.

thats all i can think of to tell you. hopefuly you will learn from this and apply what ive taught you when you get out on the range. because i graduated from the same school you are at now, i did what i told you to do, and now im out here backing this truck into spaces that were designed by an idiot, or getting into truckstops that werent made for 53 footers and parking this thing problem free at the end of the night while i watch other drivers scratch thier head and figure out how it can be done.

one more thing to ad, most manuvers you can cowboy it in (one single move, no stoping) but this doesnt make you cool or skilled. pull up if you have to, stop and evaluate your situation before making your next move. this doesnt show your experiance or your ability. it shows your intelligence. out here i do many many pull-ups and have to reset up sometimes. i dont feel stupid or dumb for having to do it. i feel good when i put it in the dock and nothing is dammaged.

PS: check out my truckin photos (under my user name, right hand side) some of the first ones in there are me # all state. and yes our range is huge. its practicly the size of a truck stop