Started driving dump truck

Hi all, I started driving and old International dump . The farm truck is in bad shape but it still runs. I was hauling Slurpee ( watered down **** ) for a large farm, for around here approx 1,300 milking herd . I am trying to get my class A license . They have four or five tractor trailers on the farm but they were :usawelding on the tail gate of the dump trailer so maybe tomorrow I will be driving it . I also was using a JD 644 loader to put snow in the back of the dump to seal the tail gate so the **** would not run out . I have lined up another truck for my road test maybe April ? I have been reading your post for some time and enjoy the comments .:usa

Thats cool. A CDL is a valuable tool. I don't know how the laws are where you live, but I had a heck of a time with the practical test. The one where you have to demonstrate to the examiner how to do a pre-trip. Frankly, I failed it the first time, and I had been around trucks all my life. You had to use the proper pre-described language dictated by the state.

Anyway good luck!

I remember when I got my CDL-A license, did the pre-trip, started on the left side of the truck and touched every component and named off what I was looking at, got to the rear of the trailer and she says "ok, now just name what is different on the right side" Brain freeze bad, the only thing different was the water pump was on the right side of the engine of the tractor:cool2. I passed

Hi Red Bank
If she had asked me what the differant was, I would have said ABS brake light sys to see if there is a problem with it, would have been my guess ? Thank for the reply there is alway good info on this site .:Banghead

Thats a good way to start, with the older ones, and work your way up.

if you get lucky like me your test instructor will be doing his first "real" test

the guy that rode with me was a little car, 16 year old just getting their license tester...when he rode with me it was his first time ever giving the CDL test...and first time ever in a big truck!....i knew the pre-trip inside and out, but think i did 1/8 of it...stuck my head in the front passenger wheel well to tell him what i was checking, when i get out he said "ok looks like you know what you are doing, lets move on to the next thing"....he didn't want me to take the time to do a full brake check where i ran the air down then back up...and when i did my light check he walked around the truck while i turned my lights on...he checked my lights for me while i sat in the nice warm cab (it was 15 degrees out when i did the test, maybe thats why he was so rushed to climb inside)...HAHA

when it was time to do the brake light check my trailer brake lights weren't coming on for some reason...so he said hit the brake again...when i hit the brake i also turned on the running lights at the same time "oh they are working now...lets go"

needless to say i passed my Class A on the first go around

First of all this is a FEDERAL license issued by the state of residence! The pre trip was the simple thing. Going to the yard and doing the manuvers like reverse serpantine, parallal parking dock, right hand alley dock, and righ hand parking jack were the meat and potatoes of the driving part, and remembering to wear that damn seatbelt!

the guy that rode with me was a little car, 16 year old just getting their license tester...when he rode with me it was his first time ever giving the CDL test...and first time ever in a big truck!....i knew the pre-trip inside and out, but think i did 1/8 of it...stuck my head in the front passenger wheel well to tell him what i was checking, when i get out he said "ok looks like you know what you are doing, lets move on to the next thing"....he didn't want me to take the time to do a full brake check where i ran the air down then back up...and when i did my light check he walked around the truck while i turned my lights on...he checked my lights for me while i sat in the nice warm cab (it was 15 degrees out when i did the test, maybe thats why he was so rushed to climb inside)...HAHA

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Well that sounds like my pre-trip and road test. It wasn't my instructors first CDL test, she was a regular license tester. It was funny she told me she very much preferred the CDL tests over the 16 year old's driving test - the kids scared the crap out of her sometimes.

On my pre-trip she was tough, although when I got to the right hand rear of the trailer she said "OK that's enough, you identified enough to pass, if you miss everything else you still pass". 10-4 Next go to the air-brake test. Explain test, point at guage - that was enough for my instructor- on to the skills test.

Straight line backing, left hand alley dock, serpentine - slow and steady, pass on to the road test.

My instructor hopped into the passenger seat with her big insulated 44 oz Big Gulp, put on her seatbelt, lit up a Marlboro and said "head out of the parking area and take a right".

Long story short I had a good instructor and got my Class A that day.

yea i can't complain about the instructor...still had to do the straight line pull up and backing...parallel parking i got on the first try (thanks to an F800 and 20 ton tag)

my test was in the same lot as the 16 year olds...they were trying to park their Hondas and here I am parking a truck..haha

thanks to an F800 and 20 ton tag

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I did my test in a single axle Hino hooklift, box removed of course for vision and a 14K tag.