Day Five - Week 1

I'm quite satisfied with my first week of training.

Friday was my second four hour driving session. I pre-tripped our Kenworth T600 hooked to a 48 foot flat bed. Tom, our lead instructor gave me easy to remember tips on doing the in cab portion, air brake, tug test, trailer hand and service brake tests.

He had me do the "Dale Earnhardt" around our large pratice course by myself for about an hour. The Eaton Fuller Roadmaster 10 speed was much more forgiving than our Freightliner's Rockwell 10 speed. I was doing OK, but Tom got in with me and he observed my shifting. I had been getting into the clutch too soon and staying on the throttle as well. He drove a few laps and showed me how I could easily improve. He would put light three finger pressure on the shifter toward neutral, completely remove his foot from the throttle, then in one smooth movement, bump clutch to shift to neutral, bump clutch again into the next gear. Downshifts, he added bumping the throttle to 1600 RPM. When I got back in the drivers seat my shifting was much smoother and I understood it better.

Tom also helped me greatly on alley docking. My foward setup was fine but once I started backing more than 25 feet I would get lost.

He broke the maneuver into five parts for me and I was able to hit the dock opening each time even though I wasn't lined up as nicely as I would like.

Here's how he broke it down for me.

1) Initial setup - Drive forward 100 feet through cones until tractor side mirror is just past alley entry, turn hard right and go 50 - 60 feet until now the dock is directly behind the truck, then hard left about 50 feet to a stopping point with the trailer at approximately a 30 degree angle.

2) Start backing - Idle in low reverse until I can see the Right trailer support halway in the mirror - STOP - The trailer is now at approximately 45 degree angle.

3) While still stopped, turn hard left and back until the trailer is lined up straight behind the tractor. STOP.

4) Check the mirrors and see where you are in relation to the alley entrance. Straighten the tractor wheels and back until within 10 - 12 feet of the entrance - STOP

5) Evaluate correction necessary to properly enter the hole and turn the wheel hard to make the adjustment. Continue backing and adjust as necessary to straighten the trailer in the dock.

Sunday morning will be my next session and I look forward to applying Friday's tips.

Next Friday will be my first local road drive.

Next week recruiters from Roehl and McElroy will come to school. My application is in process with Roehl and I will have the chance to get more information about them. I will have a one on one interview`with the recruiter from Averitt Express next Thursday.

I'm still leaning towards McElroy but I applied to Colonial out of Knoxville, TN. They are a small (350 trucks) company that boasts of a 8 percent turnover rate for new drivers in their first year.

I hope to have at least four pre hires and make my decision among them in the next four weeks.

Category Posted: General