Houston Community College CDL School

So close and doing so Awesome!

The clutch in my first trsiner’s Truck felt like a ton of pressure resistance against my left knee. The clutch in my second trainer’s truck was a dream compared to that. That said, it was still torture on my left knee which had never been exercised in this way ever before. Even with marathon dance sessions growing up as a NYC club kid!

Hope the backing references points start clicking better for ya! Just remember to do slow movements on the wheel. I tended to oversteer when I corrected. Dang four wheeler habit.

Good luck & stay safe!

So we have class at 14:00 today for driving and I'm reviewing my pre-trip. Does anyone know if the tug test and service brake tests come after the air brake test or as part of the incab? No instructor has yelled as us for doing the tug tests after we've done air brake tests in the trucks, but when I watch some videos, they're doing the tug tests as part of the in-cab THEN demonstrating the air brake test.

I feel pretty good about the pre-trip, but I can't let myself get complacent so I'm still revising. I'll probably arrive at school at 13:00 to practice.

So we have class at 14:00 today for driving and I'm reviewing my pre-trip. Does anyone know if the tug test and service brake tests come after the air brake test or as part of the incab? No instructor has yelled as us for doing the tug tests after we've done air brake tests in the trucks, but when I watch some videos, they're doing the tug tests as part of the in-cab THEN demonstrating the air brake test.

I feel pretty good about the pre-trip, but I can't let myself get complacent so I'm still revising. I'll probably arrive at school at 13:00 to practice.

The brake-check is actually part of the in-cab. Tug test occurs as the step after all of the other brake checks are performed, immediately after resetting your parking and trailer brakes (yellow and red knobs pulled). You then release the parking and trailer brakes, move the truck and test the service brake. At that point announce to the instructor; that completes the in-cab inspection.

Not sure if you have seen this, but it's the Trucking Truth benchmark we use for teaching PTI...

• Pre-Trip Inspection Study Guide
• Daniel's Pre-Trip Inspection
• Pre-Trip Inspection Checklist
• Pre-Trip Inspection Practice Questions

Best of luck!

So today just sucked. It was interesting, but it wasn't that great.

We didn't have enough trucks to do anything in because everyone was everywhere on the range. All three classes, including the ones who were testing or who had failed. This one student was on the driving part of the test, and the teacher asked two of us to teach him how to shift. He's testing, and honestly his shifting was horrible. When he was downshifting, he was trying to get in there way too early as well as having his hand on the shifter way too early or all the time. The only thing I think I got him to do was find third gear (because he always started in 1), and be able to shift from 1 to 2. He had a lot of trouble doing that because he kept trying to go to 4, so I showed him just go forward twice. No horizontal motion. Just push up twice.

After that, I had to sit around and wait for a truck to back with. While doing that, I had to get this old schneider truck to couple with another trailer. Oops, dead batteries. When those got charged I got it coupled with the other trailer and the instructor just told us to practice shifting while we wait for the trailer on the side to be free from the other class in thirty minutes. I did the applied pressure test on the Schneider truck. Major air leak. Low air pressure light on in like 3 seconds. The instructor checked the glad hands, but they were fine. Guess we didn't get to use that truck.

When I finally got to the backing practice truck, it started raining. My turn came second, and I know I still need to practice offset. I know all the steps of how to do it, I just need to practice it so that I know I can. When I begin offsetting the second time around, I messed it all up by staying in first gear instead of reverse, so I had a hell of a time fixing it which is fine. But it was raining hard and oops it's time for a recruiter. Hardly and practice for me. I know I did the manoeuvres correct though.

After that recruiter was finished, we did night driving on one of the trucks. It was a hard and different truck to drive. You only go down HALF AN INCH to shift with that clutch. And you have to do it fast. And 4th to 5th gear was weird enough that the instructor grinded it hard when he was taking it from a side street to the college real quick. (Someone had to use the bathroom). No I didn't do it so well, but I don't feel bad. And the teacher said I did good enough. I didn't have many other issues that weren't getting used to that truck. We had an accident ahead of us on 90 with about two tow trucks I had to slow down for. It was raining enough that I hydroplaned a bit in a huge puddle (But no panic and nothing bad happened.)

Really, the only thing that I care for right now is backing. I need that backing time. I really need it. We haven't even done parallel yet.

I even forgot to mention something else that's funny. On an entrance ramp that's one lane but starts wide and converges like a ^, the instructor told me to straddle the lane and I did. And you know what? A truck still came from the left of me to get infront. It's hilarious because right when he said "so cars don't try to pass you", one did. Houston Texas everyone!

I feel your frustration Yuuyo! It’s the same gut instinct I had about my abilities when my trainer had me testing with little/minimal practice time. He saw I had the ability but never allowed me to gain the confidence. On top of that, my cheat on the backing was following the discoloration lines on the tar of our pad surface from all the tires tracking the same same lines. Well on my test days it rained constantly. No lines to follow. Hope you get as comfortable with your backing as you seem to be with your shifting. Good luck & stay safe!

I feel your frustration Yuuyo! It’s the same gut instinct I had about my abilities when my trainer had me testing with little/minimal practice time. He saw I had the ability but never allowed me to gain the confidence. On top of that, my cheat on the backing was following the discoloration lines on the tar of our pad surface from all the tires tracking the same same lines. Well on my test days it rained constantly. No lines to follow. Hope you get as comfortable with your backing as you seem to be with your shifting. Good luck & stay safe!

If I just had that time to do and know what I do wrong and make it better, I wouldn't feel as worried. I remember when I was doing offset to the left and I was straight lining it back before doing the remaining RIGHT LEFT manoevre, I had my left trailer tires on the line. I got out and looked and asked the other student which tires are supposed to be on the line in the lane. I knew it had to be the right trailer tires, but he told me the left. Well, I listened to him and did the other turns perfectly. And I got it backed straight perfectly...

in the middle of the two lanes right infront of the cones like I knew would happen

Believe me I learned which trailer tires I'm looking for when I offset left and right now.

And another small thing that I feel is important. When I first got into the truck and I was about to do our air break test, the instructor asked me if I was missing anything. Well, my seatbelt was on. We were in neutral. There's really nothing to do since we weren't doing an in-cab. But I got the right answer. I had to tell the instructor to put his seatbelt on. That's such a small important detail. He was sitting waiting for me to tell him to put his seatbelt on. He even said, sometimes the testers will sit in their seat and wait for you to ask them to put theirs on. What's also interesting about him is that he will check your license, permit, and medical card before you're allowed to drive with him. That's much more thorough than anyone else.

The bulk of my day today was practicing parallel parking. I'm getting it - I'm learning. I'm messing up, and then doing it right some and messing up again. But oh man that test day is coming up and it feels like do or die. I have tomorrow. I have Thursday. I should come Friday. I have Monday. I need to actually start getting this. Boy I wish those first two weeks weren't wasted right about now. My arms are kind of sore from turning that steering wheel hard lefts and rights all day.