Kudos To This Site From An In Process Primey

Haha, while responding to your other post you ask a safety question. Sounds to me like you were aware of a following distance you weren't comfortable with. You can have a discussion with your trainer about this. You can let him know that you need to back off a little to feel safe.

Once again this sounds like advice from a lease operator. I don't know why some of these guys would rather die in a truck crash than have to replace some brake linings one day. Trust me, I had a crazy trainer that was always in a huge hurry. He tried to explain about the proper following distances to me while going 65 miles per hour and so close to the vehicle in front of us that I couldn't see their bumper! Whenever I was driving, I drove the way I felt safe. If he didn't like it he would yell and scream. I kept ignoring him until he would threaten to take me back to a terminal. My response would be, "Good, they need to know about this stuff you're trying to teach people."

I'm not advocating being disrespectful with your trainer, but rather driving safely. What I would have done in your situation is slow down enough with the brakes to get some more distance between yourself and the other truck and then get back off the brakes. You sure don't want to ride the brakes down a hill. You might want to verbally explain to him what your doing when you put the brakes on like that. Just say "I'm slowing down a bit to establish a safer following distance, then I'll be off the brakes in a few seconds." I'm talking about saying that as you start doing it. Don't even give him time to jump in there with his advice. That may help trigger a conversation from him rather than him just jumping in with a reprimand.

Haha, while responding to your other post you ask a safety question. Sounds to me like you were aware of a following distance you weren't comfortable with. You can have a discussion with your trainer about this. You can let him know that you need to back off a little to feel safe.

Once again this sounds like advice from a lease operator. I don't know why some of these guys would rather die in a truck crash than have to replace some brake linings one day. Trust me, I had a crazy trainer that was always in a huge hurry. He tried to explain about the proper following distances to me while going 65 miles per hour and so close to the vehicle in front of us that I couldn't see their bumper! Whenever I was driving, I drove the way I felt safe. If he didn't like it he would yell and scream. I kept ignoring him until he would threaten to take me back to a terminal. My response would be, "Good, they need to know about this stuff you're trying to teach people."

I'm not advocating being disrespectful with your trainer, but rather driving safely. What I would have done in your situation is slow down enough with the brakes to get some more distance between yourself and the other truck and then get back off the brakes. You sure don't want to ride the brakes down a hill. You might want to verbally explain to him what your doing when you put the brakes on like that. Just say "I'm slowing down a bit to establish a safer following distance, then I'll be off the brakes in a few seconds." I'm talking about saying that as you start doing it. Don't even give him time to jump in there with his advice. That may help trigger a conversation from him rather than him just jumping in with a reprimand.

Good points, and kind of my line of thought as well, but, being new, thought well maybe there was a reason.

Will bring it up in a tactful discussion over the next day or so.

He has never done anythi g unsafe, and cringes ( rightfully so ) when i pull a bone head move 😨

Well week 2 of PSD nearly complete, have been across the plains on I80 in Wyoming, crossed the rockies from Salt Lake City, about to cross back headed to American Falls Id. Mountian driving at night as a tad stressing ( watched a guy set his trailer brakes on fire 😨 ) Rush hour in I15 in Vegas was a real joy also.

But all good experience, and loved every minute of it. No problems sleeping at the end of the day.

So now i have a new question that has been knawing on me.... Currently my trainer is an O/O, this is mainly all about the money to him, that is not that big of a concern to me. What is a concern is, I plan on being a company driver, Primes trucks are FL Cascadias with 10sp trans. Tra8ners truck is an older Peterbuilt with an 18sp trans. I can only assume vehicle dash controls will be differant ( locations/layout etc) also between the two vehicles. So my question is, what do you all think, opinion wise, of TNT training on current trainers truck, then shifting to new layout and trans when I go solo, and acclimate by myself OR, shift to a differant trainer for the TNT phasw that is operating a much more similar truck to what I will start solo driving in? And reduce the sudden need to get used to new truck, new trans, new controls layout while starting solo.

No matter what you will need to adjust to a new truck. Each clutch shifter and even steering wheel can be different. Pete's are usually longer in snout and in my opinion are harder to back....meaning if you can dock that Pete then you can dock that FL.

I trained in not a cascadia and Pete. Miss Myoshi got an international. What if you train in FL and get one of them?

You sound like you are getting some good driving experience. Those mountains will help you when you go solo. There are plenty of trainers who won't take students over such terrain for fear of truck damage.

Also not all company prime trucks are cascadia....many are.... But it seems that the new solo drivers are given trucks that were leased by others but still are new enough to keep. I've driven like four or five cascadia and two pete..... They can all be different. You will have time to take your new truck bobtail around Springfield and get used to it.

No matter what you will need to adjust to a new truck. Each clutch shifter and even steering wheel can be different. Pete's are usually longer in snout and in my opinion are harder to back....meaning if you can dock that Pete then you can dock that FL.

I trained in not a cascadia and Pete. Miss Myoshi got an international. What if you train in FL and get one of them?

You sound like you are getting some good driving experience. Those mountains will help you when you go solo. There are plenty of trainers who won't take students over such terrain for fear of truck damage.

Also not all company prime trucks are cascadia....many are.... But it seems that the new solo drivers are given trucks that were leased by others but still are new enough to keep. I've driven like four or five cascadia and two pete..... They can all be different. You will have time to take your new truck bobtail around Springfield and get used to it.

👍 Good deal, and thanks for the response, expect the road test will be a walk in the park as a result of the mo8ntains, traffic in sacremento an LV, and too many to count construction zones in these first weeks.

☺

No matter what you will need to adjust to a new truck. Each clutch shifter and even steering wheel can be different. Pete's are usually longer in snout and in my opinion are harder to back....meaning if you can dock that Pete then you can dock that FL.

I trained in not a cascadia and Pete. Miss Myoshi got an international. What if you train in FL and get one of them?

You sound like you are getting some good driving experience. Those mountains will help you when you go solo. There are plenty of trainers who won't take students over such terrain for fear of truck damage.

Also not all company prime trucks are cascadia....many are.... But it seems that the new solo drivers are given trucks that were leased by others but still are new enough to keep. I've driven like four or five cascadia and two pete..... They can all be different. You will have time to take your new truck bobtail around Springfield and get used to it.

👍 Good deal, and thanks for the response, expect the road test will be a walk in the park as a result of the mo8ntains, traffic in sacremento an LV, and too many to count construction zones in these first weeks.

☺

And it is THAT kind of road experience of why IMO the company sponsored schools are better.

Be sure to ask about the point system... Ask the examiner to confirm... He WILL ask you each time if you have questions.

For example.... On backing you fail at 13 points. Leaving the door open will give you TEN! No one told my classmate that and he failed the first time.

If when parallel parking you are on the white line then its 5 pts.

You are allowed TWO get out and looks. Do NOT take a third. Its an auto fail. I was told by a trainer they would just add one point... This is not true.

When looking out the window to back... Do NOT let your butt off the seat or it will count as a GOAL. If you need to do it, its better to GOAL than butt hop lol

Stalling in the street with traffic is an auto fail for impeding traffic. Prevent this by becoming really familiar with the clutch and knowing which gears to be in. I took a turn in sixth but slowed down too much and stalked. Auto fail.

And good luck ;)

No matter what you will need to adjust to a new truck. Each clutch shifter and even steering wheel can be different. Pete's are usually longer in snout and in my opinion are harder to back....meaning if you can dock that Pete then you can dock that FL.

I trained in not a cascadia and Pete. Miss Myoshi got an international. What if you train in FL and get one of them?

You sound like you are getting some good driving experience. Those mountains will help you when you go solo. There are plenty of trainers who won't take students over such terrain for fear of truck damage.

Also not all company prime trucks are cascadia....many are.... But it seems that the new solo drivers are given trucks that were leased by others but still are new enough to keep. I've driven like four or five cascadia and two pete..... They can all be different. You will have time to take your new truck bobtail around Springfield and get used to it.

👍 Good deal, and thanks for the response, expect the road test will be a walk in the park as a result of the mo8ntains, traffic in sacremento an LV, and too many to count construction zones in these first weeks.

☺

And it is THAT kind of road experience of why IMO the company sponsored schools are better.

Be sure to ask about the point system... Ask the examiner to confirm... He WILL ask you each time if you have questions.

For example.... On backing you fail at 13 points. Leaving the door open will give you TEN! No one told my classmate that and he failed the first time.

If when parallel parking you are on the white line then its 5 pts.

You are allowed TWO get out and looks. Do NOT take a third. Its an auto fail. I was told by a trainer they would just add one point... This is not true.

When looking out the window to back... Do NOT let your butt off the seat or it will count as a GOAL. If you need to do it, its better to GOAL than butt hop lol

Stalling in the street with traffic is an auto fail for impeding traffic. Prevent this by becoming really familiar with the clutch and knowing which gears to be in. I took a turn in sixth but slowed down too much and stalked. Auto fail.

And good luck ;)

Wowz, great info Rainy, and yep my trainer said extra GOAL was only 1 point, no mention of butt hopping.

And.... so that was Donner pass we went through today, almost as much fun as the Sacremento traffic, and Reno traffic.

Followed by long boaring drive across Nv.

Finished for the night, finish the run tomorrow.

Greatly appreciate the feed back and info

Oh, and got to back in tonight, would have had it with 1 pull up but my trainer is super anal, had to be perfectly straight.

That's what this site is about. ;)

You do get one free pull up for the straight line back and two free pull ups for all other maneuvers. Each additional pull up is one point.... Even if you only move two inches.....which means if you pull up....be sure to go as far up as you can to use all the room you have.

You also get three tries for each section. So if you fail the pretrip you get two more tries. Then three tries for the backing. I aced the pre trip and failed the backing the first time. Then I scored perfect on the backing and failed the road test TWICE for stalling. :(

When on the road test say out loud what you are looking for "slowing down and looking both ways at rail crossing....watching that white pick up on the right....sign said $1000 fine for littering". Doing this wikk let him knownyoubare aware of your surroundings.

If you miss a gear it is no big deal. Just recover. They don't expect perfection but they want you not to freak out

Well dropped the load of Yams in American Falls, inroute to pick up in Sugar City Id. Then routing to the nain Prime depot to test. Route will run us over the Teton Pass.

Not sure which has me more worried, the test, or the drive.

Feel pretty confident on the driving test, short of any really bone head move ( which i still make ), fairly confidant on all parts of pre trip, backing up.... real shakey there. Not enough practice...