trailer length for first year?

Sort of? They definitely do!

I had the great luck of pulling everything from 28' to 90'

 

Some companies do require prior experience, some may not. YOU have to go looking, as each day it can be different from what we know it to be now.

No, you pull whatever you are given. I think I made that clear in my first posting.

In other words, if you're going to worry on what length trailer you pull, this tells me you cannot handle anything they assign you. As a driver you are required to do the job, no matter what.

You may very well be just inquiring if you are thinking about CDL schooling right now, which is understandable. However, once you get your CDL you are required to do the job, or go home, which will eventually end your career.

 

Out west you'll see the biggest difference in truck size. The laws in length are more lenient than the east for many reasons. Usually you'll have the more experienced drivers pulling doubles and triples over the drivers that just start. They also pay more so it makes sense. However, never do not apply for a job that requires experience. Apply wherever you like. Let them tell you they do not hire if you do not have so many years experience. Many do not use that as a real requirement and some do.

 

a box truck is a whole different monster because of the lack of a pivot point. As far as maneuvering in tight spots, its like any other skill, the more you do it, the better you'll get at it. I can't stress enough, when you're new, always take your time, and don't be afraid to stop mid-maneuver if you'll think you'll hit something. Better to delay other motorists, and have them get a little pissy than have an accident or cause property or bodily damage.

 

The longer the better. When I 1st learned to drive a truck (22+ yrs ago) the local chicken plant that was training me pulled 48' flatbeds and day cab tractors. And before they put me on a chicken crew I was a fill in driver which means that I pulled a gooseneck heavy haul to a company farm to pick up a front end loader one day, drove a flatbed to swap out a broken down forklift another. They even taught me load chickens and drive a bunch of different type of off road forklifts (and the flatbeds they were hauled on) Once I got some experience, I moved on to real trucking and was a bit nervous when I pulled my 1st 53' van trailer, but I discovered that backing one is easier because of the length. The toughest trailers to back are the little ones, I still marvel at some of the short container trailers because the truck is actually about the same length as the trailer, so in actuality, the truck and trailer are hinged in the middle...you'll get the hang of it quick...heck, one of the toughest trailers I have to back is the one that I use behind my garden tractor.

 

You will be required to compete a backing maneuver like this before they will allow you to pull a trailer.

 

I run local for a chemical distribution company and we run 35, 42 and 48 ft. trailers. No 53's simply because we could never fill one up without being overweight as everything in the chem business is heavy.

The 35 is for deliveries where you can't get anything bigger in there and it sucks to back. The 48 is actually the easiest to back so don't get in a huffy looking for outfits that run short trailers.

 

We had 29's, 45's 48's 53's. Doing local P&D the pups, (29's) was the "normal" (if anything in this business can be called normal. . .) Once you get the hang of backing all the different size trailers, you'll find that none of them are that hard. I've had days when I was hooked to all of the above, plus a set or two. Or Rockies. One of the things I liked about that job was the variety.

Of course any more, I can't even pull the little red wagon. Cause the wheel's broke and the tail's draggin'. . .