Well you know how slow and under powered your Rover is? Now times that by 10, that is how slow and underpowered a big rig is.
They slow down going up hills because they dont have the power to climb the hill.
They get 6 mpg, takes 2 football feilds to stop from 60, 0-60 takes miles, truck stop bathrooms and showers are so nasty you dont even want to go in them.
Then add to that the lot lizards, you get disesed just from looking at them.
Long hours, I mean long, like driving at 60mph for 14 hours at a time, then in your off duty time (10 hrs) you get to sleep and eat and shower.
You dont get paid by the hour, you get paid by the mile, loaded mile, if your empty heading to pick up a load...thats free.
DOT (department of transportion) is always hassling you, as well as state, county and local police.
Cars hate you, trains hate you, everybody hates you except for little kids, they want you to blow your air horn.
I was lucky, I was home every night, I only did that overnight route when the normal guy was on vacation or on different route which he did often.
I worked Tues-Fri, started at 3am everyday and worked 15 hrs a day and drove 1600 miles a week.
I got paid by the hour because I worked for a grocery delivery company and I had to unload the truck, I made 8-10 stops a day and delivered to gas stations and convienece stores.
The top speed on my last truck was 75. And let me tell you that is hauling *** in a truck.
AK doing 85 is just crazy nuts.

 

75 is plenty fast enough for me also. But I just have to find the governor every time I get in a new truck. At least try to find it in this new truck. 85 was scary. Even though I know I need more distance to stop when the truck is empty I feel better doing that crap when it's empty. I figure I'll stop once I get 5 or 6 cars piled up under the front bumper (unless they're Smart cars then it may take 15 or 20).

My semi has 475 hp and 1800 lbft of torque and I climb hills at about 30 mph. My semi's engine is a Caterpillar which means it could pull the world off it's axis but it suck on fuel mileage. 5 mpg is about as good as that Cat will do loaded, maybe 6.5 empty, I have a 10 speed manual tranny which is taking some getting used to. My last job we used pretty much nothing but 8 speeds that also had low and low-low. I really wish I had a 13 speed in this truck but unfortunately they didn't ask for my opinion when it was ordered.

And yes, a smooth bore in the mountains does suck. I have had surge so bad I thought I broke something on the truck. It's always fun to have the surge hit the back of the trail just as you start to get momentum and completely screw you over. 50,000 pounds of a really thick liquid slamming against the walls of the tank has an incredible amount of force to it.

 

Stops you dead in your tracks, down shift and start all over.

I drove straight trucks, I have had both the Cat 3116 and a Cummins ICX with dual over head cams and 4 valves per cylinder, 200 horse power, that was in a Freightliner 70 series and I put 500,000 miles on that truck.
The Cat 3116 was by far the best engine I have ever ran, NEVER broke down and you always new when she needed a PM, thats when she started using oil, I had 2 GMC's with the 3116, first one I only put on 200,000 miles or so, the next one which was my first brand new truck I put 350,000 miles on, and her truck number was 453555.
Then I got my Freightshaker, 500,000 miles on that, then I got another brand new Freightliner but this time they went back to the Cat because it was more reliable than the Cummins, only drove that truck for 15,000 miles until I was downsized.
My vac truck was a cab over Peterbuilt, that truck had a 10 speed and it SUCKED ***!!!
Thge A/C didnt work, and when you do vac work the vacuum pump runs by PTO, so you have to enage the PTO, set the throttle lock at 1500-2000 rpm depending on what you were sucking, make sure that you turned the engine fan on and then once you built up PSI you could throw the valve and start sucking.
Now AK you know how hot cab overs get, now try working in 95*F weather with the engine cranking at 2000 rpm and then climbing into the cab, it was always about 120-130*F inside that damn cab, the vacuum pump was hot, the engine was hot, the trans was hot from the PTO running...it sucked ***, did I meantion that?
But, if you have never ran a vac truck let me tell you it is awesome, 30,000 PSI is enough to suck your face off, literally.
When I was training we sucked grass out of the ground by its roots, stick your hand infront of the hose and your hand will be ripped off your arm.
If you forgot to turn the fan on when you opened the door to release the throttle lock the oil temp buzzer would be going off, the engine temp gauge would be pegged in the red...when she got hot she started to loose power, idle her back down, turn the fan on and 10 min later she would be cranking at 2000 rpm again.
She drank oil and sipped diesel.
You would pull into Ryder and say "check the diesel and fill the oil"

 

hahaha check the diesel and fill the oil, I like that. You guys have only turned me on to truck driving even more. Call me crazy but I feel like I might really enjoy it.

 

Oh c'mon Spike... trucking isn't that bad!! It really depends on what company you work for. I work for a small, family run outfit and run a dedicated route. I know my customers, my hometime, and, unlike any mega-carrier, the boss knows me. Yea, you realize what crazy people you share the road with, but I have noticed lately that some of these so called "professional" drivers are becoming just as bad as a four wheeler. It's not the lifestyle for everyone, but it doesn't hurt to give it a try. The only advice I would give is go to an accredited school and pay for your own training... never get suckered in to a contract with a company (like Schneider or Swift). They will OWN you!!!

Eric

 

When I was working oil fields in North Dakota most of our trucks were Peterbilt conventional cabs with either Detroits or Cummins. We also had a couple cab over Freightliners with 375 hp Cats. The cab overs were hot, noisy and couldn't keep up with the Petes. The Cummins and Detroits were 450 or 470 hp and our maintenance supervisor couldn't understand why the cab overs couldn't keep up. When he were actually actually pumping cement we had the trucks idled up to about 1500 with the PTOs engaged. If the noise from all those engines running at 1500 wasn't enough to drive you insane it usually was about 30 degrees hotter around the trucks. Of course during the winter all the engine fans running just made it colder.

Driving a truck definitely isn't for everyone. I've been driving for 3 years and I still get nervous at times, especially in traffic. I guess if I stop getting nervous then I will have been doing it too long. I've been fortunate and always had local driving jobs, never done over the road. Over the road is a good place to get experience but being away from home all the time would suck.

 

I started driving truck in 1993 and drove for the same company until 2005, then I hauled FEMA trailers to MS and LA, then went to work for FedEx, the quit and drove HAZMAT and vacuum truck for Safety-Kleen, then I drove cement truck for the summer last year and then last fall after getting laid off from the cement truck went back to FedEx.
There are only 3 things I dont like about working at FedEx, no health insurance, low wages and working Saturdays.

 

I get paid per load which can be good and bad. If the customer is busy then I get to run my usual route and make $200 for the load. If they're slow the company expects me to haul cement powder which just sucks. Cement is dirty plus it doesn't pay worth crap. Runs in town I make about $30 so I have to do a lot of short runs to even come close to what I make on my usual route. Plus since I don't do cement all the time I don't have an assigned trailer like the full time cement guys do so I get stuck with whatever piece of crap cement trailer happens to be available. Thursday I got stuck with a trailer that was having serious issues. I walked around the truck while I was unloading and realized the trailer axles were basically making a V. I took it back to the shop and the mechanic found that the bushings were shot. Because of that I could only get 2 of the 3 loads I was scheduled for that day and the third load was the one that paid well. That load I lost would have paid $85. Some days I wish I could go back to an hourly job.

 

I am afraid that the time of the hourly job has come and gone, from now on we will see piece rate work, thats how I get paid, per stop.
I am guranteed $110 per day, but I make more if I do more than 110 stops in a day.
So during peak time, the week before mothers day and the 3 weeks before Chritmas I can make some serious coin, I work 7 days a week for those 3 weeks before Christmas but it is worth it.
During those times I do 150-160 stops a day, normally I do 80-90, yesterday I only had 72 stops but I was home and in my civies by 3pm.

 

AK, that one loss for you is about the most I've ever made in a single work day. I've been working hourly since I started working 4 years ago, never made more than $11.02 an hour.