Phew! Passed Week 2 Of CDL School.
Topic 3006 | Page 1
Thanks and Good Luck with Next Week...
Wow! Congratulations, Scott! That is very impressive! If all goes well for me I will be beginning school at the end of the month, and I am scared sh*tless! :D I look forward to reading your adventures as you go forward. Did you go to a private school? Had you had any experience in trucks before- or did you go in cold? Congrats again! woo-hoo!
Finished all my tests on the backing range at CDL school Sat. Mar 8. I was kinda stressed about it because I had not really done too well practicing offsets and there were lots of students that were repeating week 2 multiple times. I scored 97% total on 6 backing maneuvers (brushed a cone with a mup flap on left offset and pushed it thru because I had to get bumper in before using a pull-up)) and was in the high 90's on all 3 written tests. I plan on writing about some of the great things and the not so great about my CDL school upon completion. I'll try to keep it just the facts. Going to do the same about the company I'm starting with too because the "other forum" seems to only have the whiners and complainers writing about them. New drivers like me stay tuned and I'll try to give you some straight talk about my journey.
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.
That's awesome Scott! How much longer is the schooling? Do you already have an approximate date for the actual CDL test yet?
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.
Yeah I'm in private school called America's Driving Force in Conley, Ga outside of Atlanta. I've never had any experience with CMV's before though I have driven some big stuff before (motor home with 20' trailer thru W Va comes to mind). If everything goes to plan I will finish school on Mar 15 and test sometime the following week. ADF is a 3 week school and 180 hrs. You're allowed to repeat weeks as many times as needed but you have to retake the entire week if you don't pass. Today was my first day driving in any gear but low and reverse. I'm afraid I didn't do very well on up shift And downshift but sure it will come. Just gotta break the muscle memory of shifting car trannies. I'm scheduled to attend orientation with Paachaal truck lines (PTL) on mar 24 in Murray, Ky. I'm incredibly excited to start training and beginning this career. Thanks to all of you for the awesome info and insights you've provided on TT. I consider this my go to site for all my silly noob questions now. Stay safe all and talk to you soon.
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:
- Weighs 10,001 pounds or more
- Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more
- Is designed or used to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver) not for compensation
- Is designed or used to transport 9 or more passengers (including the driver) for compensation
- Is transporting hazardous materials in a quantity requiring placards
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Just as I suspected, shifting a rig was not nearly as difficult today as it seemed yesterday. After about 10 mins of practice and reminding myself repeatedly "I'm not driving a car. I'm not driving a car" then double clutching and tapping the go button for downshifting seemed like 2nd nature. Now if I can just get off tracking down then I should have no issues next week at license testing.
Anyone having problems with Cdl school, please keep trying. No one is born with the skills you are being taught and no one with a DOT card is incapable of doing them. Just relax, don't worry about past failures and get back in that seat and do it again. The next time you try May be the time everything clicks. If not, the next time or the next time will be. Once it does, you will wonder what was so durn hard about it.
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.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Double Clutch:
To engage and then disengage the clutch twice for every gear change.
When double clutching you will push in the clutch, take the gearshift out of gear, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, shift the gearshift into the next gear, then release the clutch.
This is done on standard transmissions which do not have synchronizers in them, like those found in almost all Class A trucks.
Double Clutching:
To engage and then disengage the clutch twice for every gear change.
When double clutching you will push in the clutch, take the gearshift out of gear, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, shift the gearshift into the next gear, then release the clutch.
This is done on standard transmissions which do not have synchronizers in them, like those found in almost all Class A trucks.
Congratz! Keep it up!
Scott....YOU GOT THIS !!! just breathe.....relax....and do what you KNOW you know....slow and steady....
We'll be waitin' to hear about next weeks' test...
For the sake of other new folks reading this, I just wanted to jump in here and re-iterate what Scott just said. With each new driver learning all these skills there comes that "light bulb" moment where it "just clicks" as Scott said. Don't give up and don't despair - you can do this - sometimes it just takes a little more time for some of us than others. If it takes one person a little longer to get it that means nothing at all in the over all picture. A year later and the person who took a little longer to "get it" may very well be a better driver than the person who naturally picked it all up very quickly.
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Finished all my tests on the backing range at CDL school Sat. Mar 8. I was kinda stressed about it because I had not really done too well practicing offsets and there were lots of students that were repeating week 2 multiple times. I scored 97% total on 6 backing maneuvers (brushed a cone with a mup flap on left offset and pushed it thru because I had to get bumper in before using a pull-up)) and was in the high 90's on all 3 written tests. I plan on writing about some of the great things and the not so great about my CDL school upon completion. I'll try to keep it just the facts. Going to do the same about the company I'm starting with too because the "other forum" seems to only have the whiners and complainers writing about them. New drivers like me stay tuned and I'll try to give you some straight talk about my journey.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles: