Personal opinion if you can't ride I mean drive stick your not a real trucker

For those that want to take that you gotta be able to shift hill a minor thought I’ve had. As an early teen my daughter wanted to learn to drive so we drove everything from her mama’s car to a 359 long hood Pete with a set of progressive boxes in it. She found that a challenge and begged me to work with her which in truth equals sit your ### in that seat and let me drive. Still to this day she is now 25 when she needs a pep talk from Dad we take the Pete for a drive. She gets whatever out looking over a hood. Now she is not a truck driver, I wouldn’t send her across country on her own. She may at times not get enough swing. However she is proficient with my 6 & 4, 15 over ,13 and 18.
Shifting no more makes you a driver than owning a clapped out hood. Getting the job done without incident should be the main focus

 

think about it. mega carriers can drop their rates because they have lease operators, therefore all of us are screwed by them. if mega carriers had to pay real and decent amount for the job a trucker does, then rates will be up, don't you think ???

 

I don’t agree that megas affect spot rates. Megas compete with megas and they are selling more than simply moving a load from here to there.

 

I have a cowboy hat I'll give to you!

 

I appreciate that. I won’t have much money left for a wardrobe after I get my authority and swap out my transmission.

 

In all honesty, in my entire life I've never actually wrenched on a truck that didn't have an 18 speed. Even the outfit with the straight vac trucks only had 18's. Only exception was the odd older piece with a 15 speed in it.

Come to think of it, I've never seen a 9, 10, super 10 or 13 speed in person. Seen an 8LL once. Just can't beat an 18 for versatility.

 

Where in the world is the "manliness" in that?!?!

(You're 100% right - do the job; don't run over ####, regardless of whether or not you select a gear or your automated-manual transmission does. Pretty simple.... why does this thread have 15 pages?)

 

Maybe you need to put in a few more years and learn those new challenging ropes. Ha Ha

 

Well I have one up on you I guess. I have my own authority but like you will have to switch out my trans to be a real trucker. I guess me hailing Wyoming Air back to MO is how a real trucker would do it though. I did get that part down and said No to cheap Denver/Cheyenne Freight. Ha Ha Well not really I guess I did a light load from Aurora to Cheyenne for 700 and then drove empty. Pick drop right after I got unloaded and was almost on the way home.

 

The more I drive an automatic.

The more I hate the pos.