Johny Utah Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Would like to get one just incase i need one sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbracing81 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Do you have access to a truck and a trailer? If not then it can be difficult unless you want to either fork over $5000 of your own money or plan on signing a 1 year contract to work for Dominion or Werner. The permit is easy and the actual test can be a bit of a PIA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99FLHRCI Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Do you have access to a truck and a trailer? If not then it can be difficult unless you want to either fork over $5000 of your own money or plan on signing a 1 year contract to work for Dominion or Werner. The permit is easy and the actual test can be a bit of a PIA. +1 The permit and the written tests are easy. I got my permit about 5 months ago. The problem is if you don't have access to a truck it is very hard to learn the pre-trip inspection and the skills test. You have to be able to alley dock (90 degree turn into a 40 x 12 box), parallel park, straight line backing and offset backing. There are also a lot of automatic failures (shifting across a railroad crossing, not doing a complete air brake test, etc). the best place to start is CDL Manual. After that, see if you can get access to a truck/trailer. For a Class A make sure it is an air brake vehicle with a manual and fifth wheel. There is a new law going in effect. If you use an automatic, you have an automatic only restriction on your license. If you use a pintle hook, you get a restriction. If you use a hydraulic brake vehicle, you get a restriction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripleskate Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 I will mirror what everyone else here is saying. I have my Class-B which I need for work, fortunately I was trained through work. If you don't have a vehicle to practice with, I think you will be SOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattKatz Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Yup, no access to a vehicle is what's kept me from getting mine for a couple years now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted98gst Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Are you going to be driving for a living? I ended up just paying out of my pocket for a credited school. If youre looking into companys check that out too, some places only accept that. I still have all my books/packets for testing if you need anything i can send you them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mseebs Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 (edited) If you're looking at being a driver, keep in mind most companies won't hire people without schooling. So even just taking the test and passing with a rented truck, it'd be useless to have. I got mine through prime. Wasn't the greatest time of my life, otr life kinda blows. But now that I work locally im happy I got it. The permit test is easy, but the actual test for the license can be very hard without a good deal of practice time. fun fact, the turn over rate in trucking is over 90%. Edited July 12, 2012 by Seebs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted98gst Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 If you're looking at being a driver, keep in mind most companies won't hire people without schooling. So even just taking the test and passing with a rented truck, it'd be useless to have. I got mine through prime. Wasn't the greatest time of my life, otr life kinda blows. But now that I work locally im happy I got it. The permit test is easy, but the actual test for the license can be very hard without a good deal of practice time. fun fact, the turn over rate in trucking is over 90%. Do you drive for yourself now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mseebs Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Do you drive for yourself now? No I 'drive' for a local company in columbus. Do mostly yard work now. Just backing trailers in doors and spots. I only did otr for about a year. It's a tough life. I was doing 70 hours a week, home for two days every four weeks. Sometimes getting forced into night driving. Add in I gained a lot of weight and was stressed to hell between idiot drivers and weather. Nothing sucks more than going down a mountain in Pennsylvania in ice, looking in your mirror and seeing your trailer in the other lane. Their were cool parts to it. Meeting a ton of people, seeing the country. But not something I'm going to do again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johny Utah Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 I dont have a truck to use. Im not looking to get into trucking. Just wanted a cdl for a job opportunity on down the line with the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mseebs Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 I dont have a truck to use. Im not looking to get into trucking. Just wanted a cdl for a job opportunity on down the line with the city. If it doesn't deal with a tractor trailer, you prolly don't need a class A. A class B should be sufficient enough. Most the city jobs I know of that need a CDL are Class B. Getting a class A would be the permit test to get a permit. Then you would have to take the actual test to get a license. This test consists of Pretrip: Pointing out certain things on the tractor and trailer and describing what you are checking. Their is also an incab portion of this which requires an air brake test among other things. Messing up anything on the air brake test is an autofail. Backing test: You do a straight back, sight side or blindside offset, and either a 90 degree alley dock, a sight side parallel back, or a blindside parallel back. A LOT of people fail the backing portion of the test. And a lot of drivers out there can't back still. We have quite a few drivers hit things in our lots a week. Finally a road test: Drive down a set road with an examiner. He grades you on your driving, shifting (majority of trucks are 10 speeds or 13 speeds), and so on. To me this was the easiest part, but their are a TON of ways to auto fail this. All in all, I'm 23 years old and I passed the test and half the drivers on the road are foreigners these days anyway. So it's doable. Oh fun fact, when you have a 'commercial' license, your DUI limit is now .04 regardless of what vehicle you are in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted98gst Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 No I 'drive' for a local company in columbus. Do mostly yard work now. Just backing trailers in doors and spots. I only did otr for about a year. It's a tough life. I was doing 70 hours a week, home for two days every four weeks. Sometimes getting forced into night driving. Add in I gained a lot of weight and was stressed to hell between idiot drivers and weather. Nothing sucks more than going down a mountain in Pennsylvania in ice, looking in your mirror and seeing your trailer in the other lane. Their were cool parts to it. Meeting a ton of people, seeing the country. But not something I'm going to do again. Right on, i could not drive for a company. This is my first first full year alone and its not as bad as company guys talk about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99FLHRCI Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Went and took my test today. Passed my Pre-Trip but failed my Backing. I will be going back next week to do that again and my Driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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