Profile For Joe Linking

Hey Stone,

You alive & kicking?

How's your Prime training coming along? I'm trying to get into Prime's CDL school for their flatbed division (today's the deadline for my desison because the background checks they perfomed to OK me run shortly! They OKed me about a month ago for their CDL school for their reefer division).

Will your flatbed tractor have an APU?

I imagine it will be a mid-roof & not a full height cab? Will it be a "lightweight" like they use to pull most reefers, where, apparently, the sleeper attachment is only about 4 feet deep, with no room for extra cabinets or a refrigerator.

Will there be room for a refrigerator/microwave in your truck, or will they have to remove the passenger seat to fit that in?

Hope you're well.

Joe

Dear G-Town,

Thanks for your detailed (and humorous!) answers to my questions. Sorry I'm so slow responding. (I usually peruse the forum from my iPad, and it's a pain to type on that. I usually wait until I'm on my desktop (iMac) to type up responses.)

So an alarm buzzes before the reefer units power up? Is that just on some models or on all? Could that wake you up?

Best wishes,

Joe

Dear ChickieMonster,

Thanks for answering my question regarding whether or not reefers are so noisy that they interfere with sleeping.

You wrote:

They can be very noisy! It was tough to adjust to for me but they aren't too bad now. Most of the time they run on a cycle setting just like a home refrigerator but sometimes they are set to run continuous

The noise takes a little adjusting to but it's not bad at all. The last few trailers I've had I haven't been able to hear the reefer over my APU running.

That's encouraging, that you're often not able to hear the reefer over your own APU! My recruiter said that sometimes the most distracting thing is that when the reefer unit turns on you can feel it wiggle/jolt the cab a bit.

Can you feel when the reefer unit comes on?

When parking, could you detach the reefer trailer from the tractor, and park with a 5+` space between the two?

My recruiter said the reefer unit has its own (8-cylinder!?) diesel engine. Does that power an electric generator, which in turn runs an electric motor on the reefer?

Do you sometimes get reefers that make odd sounds, like buzzing or rattling? (Sounds indicating something's not operating smoothly.)

Thanks!

~Joe

Stone wrote:

Joe,

I decided on flatbed for a few reasons:

Dear Stone,

Thanks for your detailed response on how you chose to drive flatbed. Excellent analysis, seems to me. I think I lean to flatbed myself, thanks in part to your analysis. I'll try to contact my recruiter, though before I specify that I'm applying for one or the other, so I can ask if they're more interested in hiring drivers for flatbed vs. reefer. (Maybe after hiring you, they won't need anymore flatbed drivers! ;-) )

Thanks again!

Joe

Stone wrote:

I got 2 job offers... one from Stevens Transport and the other from Prime. I accepted Primes orientation invitation. They are offering a NE regional flatbed driving job granted everything goes as planned.

How did you decide on Flatbed (vs. Reefer)? I'm applying for Prime's Student Driver Program, and on the online application you can only choose to apply for one of their 4(?) divisions. Did they encourage you to drive flatbed?

I haven't submitted my application yet. I'm willing to try either reefer or flatbed.

How bad is the noise from the reefers? Does it interfere with sleeping?

I know a reefer has its own diesel(?) fuel tank, so presumably, it also has its own diesel engine, that runs a generator, that charges a battery that runs the refrigerator unit itself?

Does the reefer's diesel engine run constantly? Presumably, its electric motor only runs intermittently, like a home refrigerator. Someone said the sound of her reefer was soothing & helped her sleep, but I imagine, if it cycles on & off, it could still interfere with sleep.

Thanks for any advice, guys (& gals!).

Best, Joe

Dear Stewart A.,

It's really good to hear from people here in New England. I see truck after truck every day and a number of them with day cabs so I know they must be in the region, but it seems like they must be figments of my imagination since no one in the trucking community seems to like driving up here.

Evidently, it's common for trucking companies to pay a NorthEast mileage differential to compensate for extra slow traffic in the NE, which should mitigate the problem to an extent, anyways.

I myself am just a spectator in this whole experience with a lifelong desire to drive a tractor trailer but realizing it probably isn't going to happen. At least not as long as I want to stay married.

Maybe you could bring your wife along with you! Team driving, or just as a tourist ;-)

Shortly before they adopted the CDL classification I used to have a "Heavy Commercial" license through my local fire department. That, for you young people is an endorsement/license that allowed me to drive a "10 wheeler".

Interesting—never heard of a Heavy Commercial license before!

Joe, I am also rooting for you. I live in Plainfield and work in West Lebanon so we may have stood in line at WalMart together. Who knows?

Yep, you never know!

G-Town,

Thanks again for the links concerning the Pre-Trip inspection. I finally checked the out. Very useful, indeed!

Joe

Daniel B wrote: "This is my Pre-Trip Inspection, done my way!"

Awesome job on this. Excellent pictures, very clear.

Just passed my exams & have my CDL-A permit (+ Air Brakes, tankers, double+triples). Looking for a school, where the pre-trip will be a good chunk of what I have yet to learn, I imagine. Your guide should be very useful. Thanks for that wonderful contribution to the forum.

Best wishes,

Joe

G-Town wrote:

I believe you passed the CDL A Permit tests and endorsements.

Dear G-Town,

Yep, that's exactly what I meant! Thanks for the info & links.

I've applied to get into XPO Logistics' company-sponsored CDL School. Fingers crossed.

Joe

Hey Tom! Thanks for the great diary of your experiences at NTI. I had researched them a bit, but could hardly find any reviews from past students. Yours is terrific. I live in New Hampshire. I studied on my own & passed the CDL-A tests here. Got my CDL-A + air brakes + tanker + doubles/triples. Didn't do HazMat, though I did study for it. (You need to get a TSA security clearance before you can even take the test, I understand).

I'm hoping to get into XPO Logistics (who recently merged with Con-Way Trucking) Student Driving program. They said you need to get your CDL permit in you state of residence before applying to them. Once you're through their training, you're on the hook for something like $4,000. Hope I get in, or maybe I wasted a lot of time/effort studying material that I'll be forced to sit through in another CDL student program.

I gather it took you about 8.5 days of school to get through all the CDL written tests? Took me a lot longer than that.

I look forward to more posts of yours!

Cheers, Joe