One of the first things you have to do when starting your day is to check out your truck.

I start out by doing a visual of the front of the truck, lights, signals etc. This is a "yard" truck which is retired from duty. Not good for use on the road but fine for practicing in the yard or shunting (moving) trailers...


Once I know my lights are working properly I proceed with my "cold check". I open the hood, check all of the fluids, belts, and hoses, along with my brake adjustment for my two steers. I also verify tread depth, tire pressure, and status of the tire and front rim. I start with the passenger side:


Then I proceed to the driver's side:


I then start the truck. Clutch in, neutral gear...


This truck is a 10 speed BTW...


I ensure sufficient oil pressure for safe operation of the engine.

While it is not vital at this point I do want to see air pressure start to build in my primary and secondary air tanks...



Then I do a visual check of the engine with the engine running. I am looking for things like fluids leaking, odd noises coming from the engine etc. I also move the steering shaft to ensure that there is not excessive play in it.

With the "hot test" done I put the hood down and do a quick visual of the back of my truck. Now I "bobtail" my way over to the trailer I want to "couple" to. Bobtail is trucker slang for driving a truck without the trailer. Coupling is hooking up to a trailer and uncoupling is unhooking from a trailer.

Before I got to this point and lined myself up for an initial run I did a visual to make sure noone was behind the truck or near me and then I used my air horn. Pretty good for my first attempt here:


Before I go any further I need to ensure that the rear wheels of the trailer are "chocked" to ensure the trailer does not move. Also, I need to ensure that the trailer landing gear is down and also, that the trailer is not too high so that my fifth wheel on the rig is nice and tight to the king pin of the trailer.


This is looking good. Fifth wheel is nice and tight to the trailer and now I connect my air supply with my two "gladhands" which are my supply and service lines from the truck. Also, I need to make my electrial connection from the truck to the trailer so that my signal and marker lights on the trailer work:


That is close enough to go for it.


Time to make the air and electrical connection:




Now, with the trailer lined up and the air and electrical connections made I can couple to this trailer. Then I go back into the cab and I need to supply air to the trailer now before I can do anything else:


Now I need to test the trailer hand valve. This is a switch in the truck which allows me to activate the trailer brakes only. I put the truck into reverse, release all of the parking brakes and provide air to the truck and trailer. I test the hand valve to ensure it is functional. Then, I apply the hand valve again and reverse the truck into the trailer until the trailer is coupled.

Once I feel that the trailer is "coupled" I do what we call a tug-test. In essence, I put the truck into low gear and put the truck under slight power twice to ensure that I cannot move the trailer. I apply the habd valve again to apply the trailer brakes, put the truck in first/low, ensure the parkign brakes are off, and then do my two tugs in first.

Then I put the parking brakes on andget out of the truck to visually inspect that the king pin is locked. I double check my glad hands and electrical connections. If all is good then I can start my circle check of the entire truck.

I do this going over every tire, wheel assembly, hub etc. It can take a good twenty minutes. Depending on where you are and conditions you might shut the truck off at this point.

Then I go back into the cab to test my air brakes. I will get into what I do here later on...

I have to run! I am going back to the yard; but I am now going to be heading out onto the road for the first time.

on my motorcycle before a long trip! haha! Pretty cool stuff!

I spent some time earlier this week getting the nuances of low speed control, backing, and double clutching under control.

I thought today would be more of the same but my instructor saw something that he liked so out of the truck stop we went. I drove in the downtown core, on highways (both 2 and 4 lane). The highway stuff is actually relatively easy. Stop and start in town is a whole other ball of wax. So many things to do. You might find yourself in 6'th gear which requires shifting one through four, then preselecting the high range, then to fifth which would be the same position as first. Then during this process you might need to slow down which might require a downshift. So brake, clutch, shifter to neutral, add about 400rmp or so on the gas, then clutch, then to the lower gear. Not enough gas, too slow or too quick with this process, or too far into the clutch and it is just not going to happen.

There is a tempo or cadence to driving these things and it is dictated by traffic, speed limit, topography (hilly, flat etc). Weird that you could be struggling with something and then it just starts to "click". I will be out for about 6 hours a day everyday next week.

Still figuring out how much to take for certain turns. I did a couple of tight turns today and drove through some tight contruction areas with a reduced lane. The trick is to keep an eye on all 6 mirrors I have (three for each side) and be scanning the mirrors, and traffic, and hazards. This while you are double clutching your way up and down the gear box.

Then, on the open road I started to split my top gears so I was in 5 low and high, then to 6 low, 6 high, 7 low etc.

It is so cool!

overpowering...but like learning to ride a motorcycle, after lots of practice, the body memory takes over and you start to FEEL what is needed in a given circumstance. Have fun!

MikeyT
In the Thumb of Michigan

This trannie is by far the most popular out there. The 10 speed it fun and used in a lot of straight trucks.

The 13 speed is handy with its ability to split those top gears. Initially I thought this would only he useful on the highway but it can come in handy in town as well.

My friend Steve has an 18 speed in his truck. He can split all of his lower gears as well. His truck is pretty insane. Tri-axle, 60000 lb rear end etc. Whether I drive van (trailer), reefer (refrigerated trailer), or flatbed I will likely be using a typical highway type of truckk which means a 40000 lb rear end, dual axles, and a 13 speed.

What is interesting is the sense of speed. Going from a compact car to a Camry or other larger car can have you unintentionally speedind because you are more isolated from the road and you have more power. Well, in the rig I have the opposite sensation. Doing 80 km/hr seems like 100 km/hr and I have no desire to do much more than 100 km/hr on the highway (not that I can do much more anyways since trucks are speed limited here in Ontario). Even though my truck is a highway truck it is still tightly sprung. You feel ruts in the roadand you are aware of what is going on.

Air brakes take some getting used to. No feedback is given which is so different from a typical hydraulic system which we are used to on our cars and motorcycles. There is an air gauge which measures your pedal pressure. When you apply your brakes in a truck they call that applying your service brakes. You can be braking gently or giving some hard braking but you do not get the progressive feedback from the brake pedal like you do in a car. I am still adjusting to this. I am also still adjusting to you much earlier you need to do things and plan for things. As Thian mentioned there is a lot of multitasking and you need to pre-plan so many things and read intersections and situations before you encounter them.

I need to make a right turn at an upcoming intersection. How do I do this? Can I do a "normal" right turn or is there not a lot of room in the street I am turning into and thus I need to execute a "straddle" or "button hook" turn? This I am going to need more experience to figure out. They teach us this in class and in the textbooks but this is a skill that comes with experience.