What to expect during my mentorship

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Penumbra, Sep 8, 2019.

  1. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    White County, Arkansas
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    One day deep in a place called Haymarket when the morning rush resolved. I sit there on the counter. With a couple of others.

    Christmas day and 300 miles to go. I made a show of pouring coffee and setting hat down on the counter and adding up who is with us in there that day.

    Somewhere deep in the place someone started up a touch of fiddle. I don't know where or how he came by that thing but I tell you what Christmas aint half bad on the road.
     
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  3. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    You have been given much goodies to consider.

    When you and your truck reach a understanding and things improve greatly. Do not abuse it. And she will run for you.

    There are some who wanted to stir things up again as they sometimes do. Ignore them if they offer no value to shifting etc.

    There are some tractors out there with 13's 15's and so on in my lifetime that were a joy to drive; to actually drive them only required a thought from your mind, Everything else was executed to support your thinking in that moment.

    You will get to where you can examine someone's Manual skills with a truck he or she is driving. Either very well or badly. You decide.
     
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  4. blindsidebacker4life

    blindsidebacker4life Light Load Member

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    How is the first wrong? 4th takeoff on a 13 speed on a negative or flat-empty is easy.. Do it on a 1% or with a load though and it won;t work. It has everything to do with the weight and gear ratios.. Floating gears has always worn out trannys faster than double clutching inside the power band even when you float non-aggressive.

    Also, go in to 6th on a 13 at 45MPH since road speed doesn't dictate on up and down shifting.. Show us how an ol' legend makes shift-forks work on un-synced and unmatched gears..
     
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  5. G13Tomcat

    G13Tomcat Road Train Member

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    BACK to the O/P's question.. (heck, maybe YOU know if you tested out in the 2000's or so... I just needed the buck sixty certificate; never did re'test.) I've heard that they make you start in FOURTH gear, empty. SURE DOES have everything to do with the weight, AND gear ratios, which are obviously variables.....

    I'll let @x1Heavy show you "how an ol'legend makes shift forks work on an unsynchronised tranny with unmatched gears." I'm not the ol'legend; he is. Just trying to boost confidence of the o/p (as seems others are here.)

    Tomcat back quiet. (Sorry, @TripleSix .. I kinda needed that here. )
     
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  6. starmac

    starmac Road Train Member

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    I am just curious, how many million miles does it take to wear out that tranny if you float the gears?
     
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  7. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    White County, Arkansas
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    I don't know.

    I had one transmission on a completely whipped Intl'Eagle from around the 1992ish in Baltimore it has a little over1.5 million on it. But in truth no one really knows.

    I was given that tractor for a road test and a H/W Team in the sleeper to evaluate me. The transmission was a bucket of bolts in a washing machine that wont quit running. Nothing on it was quiet. It had a variety of hideous noises.

    I asked them how far we going in this #### thing. Who knows just take off up that ramp for 95. Rolled it clear to white marsh and back downtown.

    That was not the problem, it was the first line original office computer that assigned a clock to a driver under dispatch to say Norfolk from Baltimore down to the hour and exact minute to do the "Work"

    I walked out. I did not know then the kind of ELD monitoring today among other problems. When a trucking company says you are to be somewhere on a particular date in the morning, that was where you at. Anything else is BS.
     
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  8. 88 Alpha

    88 Alpha Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    This post is useless, yet you figured out a way to eventually contribute in a positive manner. It's not about what one, single person can do for the OP. He started this thread to broaden and enhance his experiences, regardless of who his trainer is/was and what he did/didn't do.

    In that respect, if the OP listens and comprehends what he is reading, every member who posted or will post helpful advice plays a small part in training him. Result: this thread is not useless.

    Best of luck to you, OP.

    The run you were originally scheduled on would not have been bad. One "mountain" of any size to speak of and that's Jellico, at the KY/TN line on I-75. It's tame enough they don't even have a mandatory pull-off area to stop and "check your brakes".
     
  9. Penumbra

    Penumbra Medium Load Member

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    Thank you all for the kind words and advice, this is the whole reason I joined the forum. Hopefully with time, I can contribute my own learning/wisdom to the guy that comes after me.

    Busy day: bobtailed from Chicago to Dayton. Picked up a load there and managed to get to 57S before my time ran out. Running a load that’s got to be in Laredo tomorrow.

    Today was better than yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today.

    I don’t think my trainer means to be an ###, it’s just how he comes across. So I’m taking what he says, gleaming what little I can out of it, and tossing out the rest.

    In my opinion (and we all know what that’s worth) he wants me to drive far too aggressive for my skill set. We hit some heavy traffic and I was keeping about two truck lengths between myself and the wall of traffic. He made me close it down to about a half truck length. Now, I didn’t hit anything, but given how poor my downshifting is, I really wanted that extra distance lol.

    Here’s what I learned today:

    1) I’ll be driving solo
    2) I need to survive a year then get s local/regional job so I can be home with my kids. That’s the part that’s making this extremely difficult
    3) I’m treating this like boot camp. He’s going to do everything he can to break me down, and hopefully build me up in the process. Regardless, in two weeks I’ll be at one of the main hubs being upgraded to first seat, then I’ll call my rules. If I need to slow down an extra 5mph (assuming it’s legs and safe) I will. As long as the loads there on time, no one’s going to say a darn thing! Lol

    4) I need to improve my breaking/downshifting. My problem is I don’t know when to start breaking, and when to start shifting down.

    5) lane control (he told me that comes with time)

    6) he had me starting out every time in second gear instead of third today. I didn’t stalk once
     
  10. 88 Alpha

    88 Alpha Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    SouthEast Alabama
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    @Penumbra
    Are you driving a truck that has the Bendix Forward Radar? You would know it, if you are. That thing beeps constantly if IT detects you are getting too close to the vehicle in front of you. The only way to get it to shut up is slow down for a second and put some distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. I suppose different companies set the parameters up differently, but mine starts beeping at 3.5 seconds of following distance.
     
  11. Penumbra

    Penumbra Medium Load Member

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    It is not.

    This isn’t like the oldest truck in our fleet. No gps. Manual. I’m lucky it has electronic logs lol
     
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