Swift Training @ C1 Indy
Topic 13775 | Page 2
It's positive thinking
It's positive thinking
My positive thinking comes from me imagining myself with the window down, CB on, a quarter mile infront of me that I've never seen before & more money in the bank account than I know what to do with. 👍
Day #5. Pre-trip, pre-trip, pre-trip! Was raining ice but overall a highly productive day. Had pre-trip homework yesterday which outlined the flow of the pre-trip (IE Front of vehicle: fill the blank, fill the blank. Passenger side Engine compartment: fill the blank, Drivers side: full the blank). Tbh I thought the homework was a but redundant seeing as how I don't have a truck here LOL but I did surprisingly well today when going through the process with my classmates.
I started with the same buddy I had yesterday. He had the checklist & I was going blind. By the time I finished drivers side Engine I now had about 10 people huddled around me asking questions & following me through doors, mirrors, back of cab, etc.
I use an acronym of ABCDEF One I get to the back of cab. Airlines(electrical), battery, catwalk, driveshaft, exhaust & frame. Then "Mr. Lapskag Jr." for Mounting bolts, release arm, locking lins, air-line (for 5th wheel), platform, skid-plate (5th wheel), king-pin, apron, Gap & Jaws. I know it sounds silly but it helps me LOL.
I (technically) missed the tandem release because I called the release handle a lock pin. I realized what I did when I got to the actual lock pin (if that's the lock pin, what the hell is this doohickey called?) Lol. I also get the brake drums & hub mixed up.
I remember the tires by ICD. Inflation, condition, depth. Anything metal is checked for CBB, cracked bent or broken.
I really surprised myself today & apparently half the class thinks I actually know what I'm talking about...I'm Not so sure Haha!
Anyway, tomorrow is an optional day but I'm going back with a few other guys (and gals) to work on pre-trip some more & get keys to the trucks normally used for backing practice to do a live 4 point brake check. I Got to do a few live 4 point checks today but then an instructor would come & need the truck, so I'd switch trucks & then 5 minutes later here comes another student & instructor.
They don't care if we get into empty trucks with keys to practice but if someone has range time scheduled that takes presidence over pre-trip.
Tommorow there will be fewer students due to it not being a mandatory day. I expect to (hopefully) have this down before the weekends up.
We get to straight-line starting Monday but unless we can pass pre-trip by Wednesday we're not allowed to offset or parallel until we pass. I WILL NOT (not) pass. Even though we (technically) have until the end of week 3 to nail it... It's simply out of the question and I consider that timeline to be unacceptable. I wanna be ready to road test by the end of week 3 & I'll be a monkeys uncle that a clevis pin or release handle will get in my way.
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Whatever memory trick that works for you, use it! Good luck Charlie Mac!
Thank you Errol! I can use all of the luck I can get. Haha. 
Day 6 & 7 (Sat & Sun) were optional.
Used the opportunity to practice pretripping the trucks. Including myself only about 6/30 students showed up yesterday. Only 4 today.
The instructor warned us those that leave as soon as class is dismissed @ 4pm & then spend weekend's chilling @ the hotel tend to be the same ones that have to stay extra weeks. Those who put in the effort real the rewards.
It kills me that those who are (obviously) having the most difficulty are the same ones who were not there.
One guy who showed up yesterday didn't bring his pretrip checklist, just showed up because his roomate did...haphazardly watched us go through it once was "ready to go" & didn't want us to test him as we were testing each other. Admitted he "wasn't ready" and then didn't bother to show up today! I mean, it's his life...I could care less, but it seems to me that since I'm investing all of this time & money into being successful I'm going to make darn tooting I'm doing Just that
I see what people mean about negative reviews posted online...more than half of these jokers are gonna be full of excuses Monday & their gonna be the same ones ripping the school because they're there 2 weeks later then us and crying because a CDL didn't fall into their laps.
It boggles the mind.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Are the slackers 30 something's. Seems like a lot of that generation have no work ethic, Mommy and Daddy always took care of them. Not criticizing the whole group, please don't get me wrong. My son is of that generation and is very successful. It just seems many of them want everything handed to them. Congrats on being at the Top of the class Charlie! Keep it up
Are the slackers 30 something's. Seems like a lot of that generation have no work ethic
I'm nearly 33, 
But for the most part, yeah...they're right around there. The majority is late 20's sprinkled with a few 40's.
Of those who was out on the range all weekend, was a guy from KY who has kids my age, a lady from the Ukraine who lives in Rochester NY & has gotta be about 60. (she has a wicked good memory & isn't bothered by the cold 1 bit! Its also pretty neat to hear her talk). I thought she would have trouble with learning all of the parts due to her English, but I kid you not...mind like a bear trap! If I can break her of saying PCI instead of PSI she's in like Flint. Then there's a guy in his 40's and me.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Was awesome meeting you today. Sorry if I seemed a bit standoffish. I had no clue who you were at first.
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Um...what? 😁
Today was all about logs. Had Logbook homework yesterday & logs, logs & more logs today. Was given a logbook & told beginning today we must manually record all of our activities as if we are on the road. While we're in school, Line 4: On Duty (Not Driving). When we take a lunch break, Line 1: Off Duty. We're not gonna use Line 2: Sleeper Berth , but anytime we're in the drivers seat of a CMV we gotta record Line 3: Driving. We were told if we get stopped by Highway Patrol during a road test & our paper logs arent current we're on the hook for $375.00. (Not sure if they we're serious or just trying to scare us). Either way... I'm Not chancing it LOL.
We must keep our 7 & 8 day current running total for the month in the back. If our breaks are shorter then 2 hours we gotta bracket it. Everything else must be flagged. Fun fun.
Oh yeah, our test scores for the whole class were publicly posted today... Guess who has the most 100%'s?
Logbook:
A written or electronic record of a driver's duty status which must be maintained at all times. The driver records the amount of time spent driving, on-duty not driving, in the sleeper berth, or off duty. The enforcement of the Hours Of Service Rules (HOS) are based upon the entries put in a driver's logbook.
Sleeper Berth:
The portion of the tractor behind the seats which acts as the "living space" for the driver. It generally contains a bed (or bunk beds), cabinets, lights, temperature control knobs, and 12 volt plugs for power.
CMV:
Commercial Motor Vehicle
A CMV is a vehicle that is used as part of a business, is involved in interstate commerce, and may fit any of these descriptions: