Should you be able to turn the steering wheel easily while stopped?

I'm also training for Swift, with a third party company that trains on pup trailers, when ill be pulling a 53. We do drive a longbox around the town and that kind of thing, but Swift has its mentor period, so I guess thats where me 53' training will come into play =\.

I thought our trucks were junk! Our steering wheels turn

 

These people should have been around when there was no power steering.......just good old fashioned arm strong.

 

Its not a good idea to turn the steering at all when you are not moving because it will flat spot the steer tires.(not so important on a training truck).From what you have said -this truck is not roadworthy.Might be good for lot training but not for road.
Sounds alot like the trucks most of us drove when I started.Trucks have improved alot over the years but not much else in this business has.

 

Yeah , it kills me when people like Joan Claybrook say how exhausting driving 11 hours a day is . Ten hours a day was acceptable when seats were hard benches , there was no p/s , a/c , air ride , or even adequate heaters . Roads were far from being smooth superslabs .

 

Now I can drive twice as far as way-back-when.Wish I could do it legally.with todays trucks,roads and pay I figure a six figure check with weekends off AND no truck to work on-and still not be as tired as i was in 1982

 

wow that truck was a pos sorry you had to go thru that sounds like its rough for ya hang in there hopefully it gets better

 

Yea the power steering should work, but I agree with the other fellow. It's hard on the gearbox, tierods, asphault, etc when you turn them without the truck moving. Sometimes you have to take advantage of every inch when backing into a tight dock and turn the wheel at a stop, but otherwise I would recommend turning while moving forward or backwards. I've driven trucks that don't have power steering but the ones that didn't have powersteering had larger steeringwheels which made it a tad easier, but not much. Don't keep your arms or or hands inside the rim of the steering wheel, if you do off road driving. That wheel can snap back with some serious force.

 

Any asphalt in the desert in the summer will be damaged by scraping the steer tires while you are sitting still. Making a hard "u" turn that scrapes the tandem axles tires will also damage the pavement. Doesn't do the tires any good either.

Even on the interstate highways. When you are talking temperatures in excess of 110 degrees, the sun beating down on the pavement for hours and hours, that asphalt gets very soft.

 

(just looked at the pictures)
Daaaaayum Son! That is one Ghetto hooptie! hahaha.

Did the school give you a tetnis shot before you got in?

Well like you said, nobody expects their school rig to be new and shiny, hell I'm surprised my class (about 7 students) didn't grenade the Transmission during our time. I think every one of us was grinding the gears.

BTW How many times do you think that Odo flipped? 365k miles my Alpha-Sigma-Sigma! The first owner probably sold it after the first or second million miles (look, low miles!). I'd bet that monster is inexcess of 3 mil.

Well at least it makes for good stories.