Posted by ScottyHOMEy on April 27, 2009 at 09:59:26 from (70.105.254.131):
In Reply to: CDL Question posted by Reid1650 on April 27, 2009 at 08:39:38:
A couple of points. If you're sure that's all the farther you're going to be traveling, it may well be worth your while to look into farm plates. You don't say where you are and requirements, restrictions and exceptions vary from state to state, but it could be worth checking out.
If you can't stay within your state's restrictions (for example, you plan to occasionally travel further from home than they allow . . . and others), then a CDL may be in order. If so, it's a written test followed by a road test. The state will provide you with a book that spells out all you need to know. Nothing real tricky about the written part, just read up and study well. A couple of heads ups on the road test. You will be required to do a pre-trip inspection, and a lot of folks blow it there the first time out. If you're checking something out of the examiner's sight, tell him what you're checking and what you found, or he may mark you down as having missed that part. On the road, keep your top speed a shade under the limit and on downhills, brake to 5-below the limit when holding it back and don't let it go over. On the highway, examiners also like to ask you questions like, "What was the posted clearance on that underpass we went under a half-mile back?" or on roads that have them, what the last mile marker was.
As far as the road test, you take it in the vehicle or type of vehicle you will be driving. It doesn't need to be loaded, but it does, for a Class A have to be a combination of truck and trailer, the sum of whose weight ratings exceeds 26,000 pounds with the trailer's rating being at least 10k of that. A trailer with two 10k axles and a truck rated for more than 6k (not a problem) will cover it.
Assuming that the trailer will have electric or electric-over-hydraulic brakes, you can skip the parts of the written exam and the parts of the pre-trip on the road test that pertain to air brakes. You might, on the pre-trip, be expected to check the breakaway mechanism, however. If so, be sure to unplug your pigtail before pulling the breakaway pin -- if you inadvertently step on your brake pedal with the breakaway activated and the pigtail in, you can fry your brake controller, which would mean no road test that day! Just don't forget to plug it back in! Better yet, if the examiner will allow it, you can avoid that by testing the breakaway first thing after securing your hitch and before plugging in the pigtail, then you'll have to plug in the pigtail to do your light check and check the function of the regular braking, and you won't have forgotten to plug back in. More likely, though, you'll alrady be hitched up, so just don't forget to unplug and to plug back in before leaving. Other trick to that, after you pass, is that you WILL NOT have an air brake endorsement on your license, so your brand new Class A will not mean that you can go hop into a big rig and go. You'll be limited to juice and electric brakes until you go back for the written and road tests with air brakes.
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