Top bunk, don't do it, ever!!!

Man y’all people saying suck it up or pay ur dues we not back in the 80s I posted a thread here where I was saying that I didn’t want to wait 3 hrs for a load and I got some dumb comments and some really helpful ones ever since I told my dispatcher I got a new truck and more loads just cus I voiced my concerns to me a trainer is someone that’s suppose to sit on the passenger sit while u drive and tell u what to do and what not to do not sleeping while u drive i understand that there’s different needs and when I got into this I left my job of 10 years and was struggling but I wouldn’t stay in something I don’t feel comfortable and if u can’t speak ur mind and that company won’t try to help as much as possible you should go else we’re ignore this pay ur dues and suck it up BS man go get what ur think ur worth just my 2 cents I know some people ain’t going to agree but oh well

 

i slept all 200 hours of my training period in top bunk. i trained january/february. bumpy roads and all. i wont sleep in a another mans bed. period. your sleeping in a guys sweat. and sharing it.

 

Team driving is a team effort.
If your partner at the wheel is shaking you too badly, you need to speak up, if that don't work then a smack on the back of the head us what is needed.

Fortunately, I never ran team, except for a handful of times when a friend needed me for a week or two when they were short handed or a driver took a vacation.
I just happened to know all the drivers I was paired with, all high milers, no trouble sleeping in the top bunk of a cabover or conventional, except one 2 year driver who's hellish life I made even more hellish when his boss told him I was a greenhorn who only drove a truck a couple times.
Poor kid was beat, was paired with a real greenhorn, was doing most of the driving, short on sleep, kicked his last team driver out at a bus terminal about a 1000 miles from home and was mad and ready to quit his job.
My friend wanted to keep him, he was a good driver, enter Satan, that's me.
I stalled the truck, missed gears, played it to the hilt, and when he crawled into the bunk I found the speed where the truck was riding it's roughest and shook him real bad just to etch that into his head before I smoothed it out and rocked him to sleep on a notoriously rough highway.
He woke up 9 hours later and couldn't understand why he slept so well, then he drove for 4 or 5 hours, was still tuckered out, so I took over and shook him up again, he slept another 8 hours and couldn't figure out why he slept so well with a greenhorn driving, but half way home he figured out.
He was sleeping when I started screaming and when he popped his head out of the bunk we were heading down a 6% grade at 85 mph with a 50 mph curve at the bottom of the hill, psych!

 

I don't think I could train on the otr side period. The idea of someone else who just finished school driving the truck while I'm sleeping scares the crap out of me. I have trained a little on the local side of things with Walton. I'm not a huge fan of it but at least the people I had in the truck had SOME prior driving even if it wasn't much. Some of them couldn't shift to save their lives. If my boss asked me to train again I would do it but I'd question why I'm training someone to drive a manual when all of the trucks he now buys are autoshift. I am lucky enough to have one of the last manuals he bought. It has 77,537 miles on it as I type this loading milk at a farm. I intend of keeping it as long as possible.

 

Interesting thread...very entertaining.

Actually, the “old days” ended with the introduction of
1. Power steering
2. Air ride suspension
3. Condo sleeper

Some of you can remember running team in either a daycab or a flat top coffin. You have lots more options now. Enjoy your options.

 

I stand by this post here. Many people had to do it. Myself included. An aforementioned post said there is a restraint. You can buckle it in. To me, the sleep.is about the same when the truck is moving, top or bottom

 

If I were hiring on with a company that was sending me out with a trainer, I wouldn't do it as a team drive. If the trainer isn't sitting in the passenger seat while you're driving, you aren't learning enough. Team driving with trainees is just stupid.

 

My first driving partner, I let him have the bottom bunk because he was larger. Well he'd never wake me up, he would just start driving. And Id be up there sometimes 1-2 hundred miles before waking up enough to realize I was up there still.

Bottom bunk or top, after youve been at it a while it doesnt really matter. Its just a safety issue. But its definitely not impossible to sleep up there.

We've all driven on rough roads, we know what it feels like. Ive slept through dirt roads and chokataw TS parking lots. Partner complains its too hard to wake me up. Yelling, shaking, nothing works. Lol. I told him I'm just used to his driving.

 

So why didn't you chose a company that doesn't team train?

 

My thoughts is your complaints about trucking life is just beginning and will get MUCH worse once you get your own truck.