18 wheeler pics.

[desertdog71]

Somebody asked what a 18 wheeler looks like on the inside. I have a few pictures of my old truck. So here they are.

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[NW004]

Wow cool pics man! It looks like a cool Mobile home in the inside! Very cool!

[Woob44]

You mean there is no mirror on the ceiling?

[C150J]

How was that job? I've heard it's incredily tough but can be lucrative... any truth to the second part of that statement?

J.

[desertdog71]

Originally Posted by NW004

Wow cool pics man! It looks like a cool Mobile home in the inside! Very cool!

A mobile home?? Hardly!!!

Its a bunk and you can put a TV in there and thats about it. I had a small Microwave also.

After living in a truck for 8 years, it SUCKS!!!!!

and yes I lived in the truck, that is your home because you sure as hell don't see your actual home more than 2-3 days a month.

Lucrative? Yes it can be, but the trade off is something to consider. I doubt too many of you guys wake up and go to bed at work. I doubt too many of you have queers and #####s waking you up in the middle of the night for some action. I doubt too many of you would consider the lifestyle lucrative.

[caliginousface]

Me and one of my bud's want to learn to drive one. If I ever was a rich bastard, I would buy one of the new Volvo rigs. I love how the headlights follow the curve of the rig, mmm mm good!

What was yours? I can't make out any letters, i'm guessin Kenworth?

[desertdog71]

Originally Posted by caliginousface

Me and one of my bud's want to learn to drive one. If I ever was a rich bastard, I would buy one of the new Volvo rigs. I love how the headlights follow the curve of the rig, mmm mm good!

What was yours? I can't make out any letters, i'm guessin Kenworth?

Kenworth W900L

I have driven the Volvo 780 also like you described, they are pretty nice rigs and have alot of room inside.

Learning to drive one should take about 3 weeks, to be able to drive and not kill anybody, then generally you would train an additional 8 weeks over the road before being turned loose.

Most trucks are actually 10 speeds, I have driven 13's and super 18's also.

Only thing really about shifting a truck is that you either double clutch or float the gears. The gears are non-sychronized so you have to match the gear RPM with the Motor RPM in order to shift. Otherwise you are just going to grind the piss out of it.

You can shift that way with a 5 speed in your car also.

[caliginousface]

Originally Posted by desertdog71

Kenworth W900L

I have driven the Volvo 780 also like you described, they are pretty nice rigs and have alot of room inside.

Learning to drive one should take about 3 weeks, to be able to drive and not kill anybody, then generally you would train an additional 8 weeks over the road before being turned loose.

Most trucks are actually 10 speeds, I have driven 13's and super 18's also.

Only thing really about shifting a truck is that you either double clutch or float the gears. The gears are non-sychronized so you have to match the gear RPM with the Motor RPM in order to shift. Otherwise you are just going to grind the piss out of it.

You can shift that way with a 5 speed in your car also.

Yeah that's aweosme how you guys shift, but how do you learn to do it? Do you grind a lot while learning? Are most rigs the push/pull to the next set of gears or is it the switch on the stick to the next set?

I don't think I could double clutch those things man, my leg would be dead after a few stops.

[HH-60CC]

Originally Posted by desertdog71

Most trucks are actually 10 speeds, I have driven 13's and super 18's also.

"She's a 10 speed, thats 5 speed times 2, besides, this is a beer truck, there's no way I'm gonna crash this thing" Jelly donut to whoever remembers what movie that's from.

[Holding Short]

Originally Posted by HH-60CC

"She's a 10 speed, thats 5 speed times 2, besides, this is a beer truck, there's no way I'm gonna crash this thing" Jelly donut to whoever remembers what movie that's from.

Aaaahhhh, Yentl with Barbra Striesand ?

HS

[desertdog71]

Originally Posted by caliginousface

Yeah that's aweosme how you guys shift, but how do you learn to do it? Do you grind a lot while learning? Are most rigs the push/pull to the next set of gears or is it the switch on the stick to the next set?

I don't think I could double clutch those things man, my leg would be dead after a few stops.

I floated the gears and never touched the clutch unless starting or stopping.

10 speed is like a 5 speed, has an H pattern, push pull like you are familiar with. Then you would thrown the switch for 6-10 gears. You also had high and low reverse. You would usually start in a higher gear than 1 also. I started in second typically when loaded. Empty I would use 4th to start. The bottom 5 gears are for getting rolling, 6-7-8 are good pulling gears. 9-10 are longer gears and would take you from 35-75mph usually. Lots of shifting down low.

[HH-60CC]

Originally Posted by Holding Short

Aaaahhhh, Yentl with Barbra Striesand ?

HS

negative

[deserteaglle]

Hard to believe that some people have never seen the inside of an 18 wheeler.

I've never had any instruction, and it showed the first time I drove one. I wouldn't go very far in one without a bit of formal instruction, but I've had to drive ours around the yard a bit. I'd love to drive a nice one though, I've never operated a crane, forklift, or 18 wheeler that was younger than me.lol

edited to say, or plane for that matter.ahahahahahaha

[caliginousface]

Originally Posted by desertdog71

I floated the gears and never touched the clutch unless starting or stopping.

10 speed is like a 5 speed, has an H pattern, push pull like you are familiar with. Then you would thrown the switch for 6-10 gears. You also had high and low reverse. You would usually start in a higher gear than 1 also. I started in second typically when loaded. Empty I would use 4th to start. The bottom 5 gears are for getting rolling, 6-7-8 are good pulling gears. 9-10 are longer gears and would take you from 35-75mph usually. Lots of shifting down low.

How do you know when the rev's are matched other than an instructor telling you so?

How do shift 18+ gear trucks? I think the rig that was ferrying "Reagan's" Air Force One out in SoCal was 21 or something?

[EDUC8-or]

Originally Posted by desertdog71

Lucrative? Yes it can be, but the trade off is something to consider. I doubt too many of you guys wake up and go to bed at work. I doubt too many of you have queers and #####s waking you up in the middle of the night for some action. I doubt too many of you would consider the lifestyle lucrative.

Sounds like our Philly overnight, but we even have bedbugs.

[Kristie]

Originally Posted by desertdog71

A mobile home?? Hardly!!!

Its a bunk and you can put a TV in there and thats about it. I had a small Microwave also.

so where do you put all of your clothes, toiletries and things that are needed??

[Texasspilot]

Man my stepdads has bunks in the back, the interior on his is pretty much base model though.....hes got a sweet run. Home pretty much every day if not every other day with fri and sat off and gets plenty of miles too.

[LoadMasterC141]

I got my license in a less conventional way:

I worked for Pepsi one semester as a “ride-on helper”. I decided I wanted to get my license so I studied a bunch and took the written to get my learners permit. Trouble was there were tons of questions on the test that were nowhere to be found in the book. It is common-sense stuff if you are a truck driver, but I knew virtually nothing but what the book told me. I failed the Air Brake and Combination vehicle section twice. On the third shot, the lady just started filling answers in for me so I could pass.

Pepsi let me drive the routes with a regular driver for practice. These trucks were little compared to a real 18-wheeler. They had airbrakes, but the gears were synchronized, so I shifted normal. The trailer was only 34 feet long. After two weeks, I took the road test and passed with flying colors, giving me a Class A license, legal to drive any 18 wheeler because I took the test in a combination vehicle over 26,500lbs gross.

That night, the dispatcher calls and says to report in at 3AM to take a load to 3 grocery stores. I ask him what kind of truck…he says a normal Ford L9000. Cool. I get there that morning and the foreman points me towards my load. Ut oh! An 18-wheeler with a 53-foot trailer! I told the guy I did not know how to drive one of those. He said “you have an A license, you can drive it”. So off I go with absolutely no idea how to double clutch. I am grinding the snot out of every gear. Every hill I go up, I cannot downshift, so I just pull over and start from first again. Oh man!! I made it through the day, but I was all shades of red the whole time.

I drove the smaller rig for Pepsi the whole summer. The next summer, I applied at a raw milk hauler. I told the guy up front I had no idea how to double clutch. He didn’t care. He sends me out with a lady fresh out of truck school. The first night we go north towards the Canadian border. The next night we go to Queens. The third night, I go to Queens alone.

From that point it took about two weeks for me to get used to shifting right, and then I stopped using the clutch altogether. Ironically, that was about the same amount of time it took for the “Billy Bob Big-rigger” syndrome to wear off. That is, driving a truck is really not that cool after a short period of time.

[desertdog71]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

I got my license in a less conventional way:

I worked for Pepsi one semester as a “ride-on helper”. I decided I wanted to get my license so I studied a bunch and took the written to get my learners permit. Trouble was there were tons of questions on the test that were nowhere to be found in the book. It is common-sense stuff if you are a truck driver, but I knew virtually nothing but what the book told me. I failed the Air Brake and Combination vehicle section twice. On the third shot, the lady just started filling answers in for me so I could pass.

Pepsi let me drive the routes with a regular driver for practice. These trucks were little compared to a real 18-wheeler. They had airbrakes, but the gears were synchronized, so I shifted normal. The trailer was only 34 feet long. After two weeks, I took the road test and passed with flying colors, giving me a Class A license, legal to drive any 18 wheeler because I took the test in a combination vehicle over 26,500lbs gross.

That night, the dispatcher calls and says to report in at 3AM to take a load to 3 grocery stores. I ask him what kind of truck…he says a normal Ford L9000. Cool. I get there that morning and the foreman points me towards my load. Ut oh! An 18-wheeler with a 53-foot trailer! I told the guy I did not know how to drive one of those. He said “you have an A license, you can drive it”. So off I go with absolutely no idea how to double clutch. I am grinding the snot out of every gear. Every hill I go up, I cannot downshift, so I just pull over and start from first again. Oh man!! I made it through the day, but I was all shades of red the whole time.

I drove the smaller rig for Pepsi the whole summer. The next summer, I applied at a raw milk hauler. I told the guy up front I had no idea how to double clutch. He didn’t care. He sends me out with a lady fresh out of truck school. The first night we go north towards the Canadian border. The next night we go to Queens. The third night, I go to Queens alone.

From that point it took about two weeks for me to get used to shifting right, and then I stopped using the clutch altogether. Ironically, that was about the same amount of time it took for the “Billy Bob Big-rigger” syndrome to wear off. That is, driving a truck is really not that cool after a short period of time.

HAHA yes, I used to pull a 53 through NYC with a W900, I am sure you can imagine the overwhelming joy that was. Floating the gears is much easier than double clutching.

[EDUC8-or]

Originally Posted by desertdog71

HAHA yes, I used to pull a 53 through NYC with a W900, I am sure you can imagine the overwhelming joy that was. Floating the gears is much easier than double clutching.

My clutch on my airport car went out last month after about 190,000 miles of abuse. I used to beat on my car and lay wheel all the time. (What can I say, I'm 33 going on 12) I made it to and from the airport 3 times just floating the gears until I the parts I ordered came in. The only time it would have been nice is those stinking stop lights, I probably hurt my starter cranking it up in 2nd gear especially since it's an Autozone aftermarket starter. But I wasn't late for work!

[Van_Hoolio]

I had to drive 7-speed and 5-speed motorcoaches with standard transmissions. My left knee still hurts. I started to teach myself how to shift without the clutch towards the end.

The coaches in Europe are manuals too, but they're all synched as I understand it. Only musuem pieces require double-clutching.

Attached is me in my former "corner office". I haven't touched a motorcoach in about 9 months, and I'm proud of it. Since I'm at 700/160, maybe it won't be too much longer before I'm back being responsible for 57 human lives for dick money again!

Mike

[Polarbear]

Driving a truck can be very cool, but really sucks too. The biggest thing that I hated after three years (and I am sure Desertdog would agree) was being away from home and living in a space no larger than a bathroom in a standard family home. The average over the road truck driver only gets 1 day home for every week out. The typical schedule is out for 3 to 4 weeks home for for 3 or 4 days. I did a full year of out for 2 months home for 4 days, but that was by choice. All of this for an average take home of 30-40k a year. Take road expenses and your left with 15-30k a year.

After saying all that the cool part is I was 24 years old when I got off the road and had already seen every state in the country (except North Dakota). Also my boss was (on average) 1,500 miles away from me. I could claim the entire U.S. as my backyard. The scenery was never the same, but the coolest part is I could command up to 80,000lbs of a vehicle 70 ft long, 102 in wide through the most dangerous area in America(The U.S. Highway sytem)
and never have a single accident or moving violation.

[desertdog71]

Originally Posted by Polarbear

Driving a truck can be very cool, but really sucks too. The biggest thing that I hated after three years (and I am sure Desertdog would agree) was being away from home and living in a space no larger than a bathroom in a standard family home. The average over the road truck driver only gets 1 day home for every week out. The typical schedule is out for 3 to 4 weeks home for for 3 or 4 days. I did a full year of out for 2 months home for 4 days, but that was by choice. All of this for an average take home of 30-40k a year. Take road expenses and your left with 15-30k a year.

After saying all that the cool part is I was 24 years old when I got off the road and had already seen every state in the country (except North Dakota). Also my boss was (on average) 1,500 miles away from me. I could claim the entire U.S. as my backyard. The scenery was never the same, but the coolest part is I could command up to 80,000lbs of a vehicle 70 ft long, 102 in wide through the most dangerous area in America(The U.S. Highway sytem)
and never have a single accident or moving violation.

Yep, I am a million miler and no tickets or accidents in 8 years over the road.

[scoobs]

Doesn't the company pay for the expenses?

[desertdog71]

Originally Posted by scoobs

Doesn't the company pay for the expenses?

2 words

HELL

NO.