Need tips on CDL Road Test (not skillr or pre-trip)

Every day of school has me questioning if I am cut out for this ####. When I told my instructors I wanted to run flatbed, they said "that's because you can't back a trailer for ####." Lol

 

You'll do fine.I said the same thing while I was in school in training and the first couple months soloing.

 

Ignore your instructors.

Running flatbed is a higher art form when done right and truly a advanced course in trucking done right when loaded just so.

Gunner75 can probably show you a couple really well done videos of him floating over the route 30 hills barely lugging and half jaking a little bit. Smooooth. If it is good for me (And Im a terrible passenger....) it's good for your precious instructors.

It's your ### in the cab at end of the day, do it the way you want to. Not what they tell you you cannot do.

 

I have just skimmed over the replies. Big thing on a CDL road test and this is critical DO NOT VIOLATE THE LAW. Don't change gears crossing a railroad track. Careful in active school zones.Try to not hit a curb with your trailer tandems back tires. Look at ALL clearance signs. I know a couple of examiners that will try to trick you into heading toward a low bridge and stop you and fail you if you don't take corrective action while you still can turn. Most examiners are ex truckers and are looking for you to be comfortable driving. PLEASE don't lug your trucks engine if in a standard transmission. Lugging an engine can actually damage it inside. I know an examiner in Texas that will actually fail you for lugging once you have been warned. I can't stress this strongly enough, lugging a truck engine is a SIN. By now you should know your truck and how it handles so you can select the proper gear when turning and crossing railroad tracks.

 

My examiner tricked me right next to the DMV station at the end of the road test.He told me to go around those cars which was very tight and no way I could have made it without jumping a curb.He said that's exactly what I wanted you to do.

 

When I first took my CDL test more years then I care to recall, I got an examiner that NEVER gave
100 percent. He got me for "wrong choice of gear" after I did a great 90 degree back into a real dock,
not cones like they use today.

Problem was it was an old truck, and when I was going to go forward, the transmission was stuck/bound up in reverse, so I let the clutch out a tad, to unbind it, and put it into a forward gear.

Examiner got me "legally" but I know #### well he knew what I had done, so I got a 98 instead of
100. Considering his reputation for flunking driver's I ACED that examination, plain and simple!

 

Yep, a lot of examiners will nitpick. But I agree passing is passing. I'm not going to say where or when but I know an examiner that was simply a dick. Right off he did everything he could to put the driver ill at ease. His failure rate was so bad that the man that ran the business asked him to leave and I believe he went to work either directly for the state or another testing contractor. This examiner once failed a driver for speeding in a school zone and when the person testing appealed to him that the school zone was not active this examiner said he did not care and still failed him. I heard this examiner loved to fail drivers for not scanning their mirrors and instruments. I am good friends with another examiner there that told me he retested a guy once that was failed by this guy. He was so nervous he failed the brake test and the pretrip. My friend gave him several minutes to get recomposed reassured him some and he aced the test. For some examiners it is a power trip. For others it is a calling. If I were an examiner I would be looking for a driver to operate the truck within the law with safety in mind and be comfortable driving the truck. I would also be looking for the person being tested to respect the equipment. To call out to me things like clearance signs making sure they are seen. Then once passed I would welcome the new class A CDL holder to the world of trucking and a few of the things to know.

 

We got our skills and backing down with a flatbed and tested with a van and it was so much easier.