Trucking back in the "Day"

[Uncle Birchy]

I got my "CDL" afew years before the "Foreclosure Crisis" & Housing Crash .

Had "zero" experience" so I worked at the "Lumber Yard" doing job-site Delivery.. "Straight Boom Truck"

Eventually they trained me for "Flat-Bed" and ya had the Forklift job hangs off end of trailer called a "Pig"..

Afew months after that the "Housing Crash" even the Stock Market and afew Bank Failure too..

Welp I was "Laid-Off" sat on "Unemployment" awhile...

Central Refrigeration Salt Lake City nowadays a "Swift" holding..

But I had not enough "Verifiable" from the Lumber Yard but a "CDL" A LICENSE..

They put me out this Old Guy he spit Copenhagen tobacco and Snored like a "Water Buffalo"

Nonetheless he was "Cool" and that was my "Training" on a Central Refrigeration " Team Truck ..

Learned "much" of what I know about Trucking back end of 2000s & they set my "Dumb-@$$" out on "My Own"

 

[mndriver]

There’s been a dynamic shift in the industry and nothing is the same since the mid-late 80’s. I started in this industry pumping fuel in 1987 in a Truckstop. Yeah, those snot nosed kids that clean your drivers nasty ass toilet habits and pumped your fuel so you can go dump your ill-fouled guts that should have gone seen an emergency room instead.

About 5% of the drivers truly earned the “white knight” status most demand. Fifty percent wanted to just get their job done and go home. The other 60% who claim “it’s a lifestyle” won’t fit into a normal work environment. Self included. I’m too outspoken for folks. But this sure as **** isn’t no “lifestyle” I’d want. It’s a meal ticket and means to an end.

Truckstop quality hasn’t gotten worse. Or better. There’s dives and there’s diners. They’ve changed faces and they’ve changed names.

One thing is certain. Trucking is its own worst enemy and will be its own downfall.

 

[Rigjockey]

I am a pup compared to some of you folks, but I started in the mid-90's the road test was in the yard. Can you shift, Can you back up? okay good.
Take that truck over there and hook to this trailer, take these bills and call us at noon let us know how you're doing. Good luck!
The older drivers where pointing and laughing while I was doing a PTI. None of these guys ever opened the hood. A circle check for them was turn the key a half turn and if she starts, you go. Actually, I think you had to turn the key and push a button back then.

There was no onboarding or training or trainers for that matter. I got to be honest I was scared shitless.

 

[389 Hood]

If you operate the same equipment all the time, you get to know it. You go over things during the course of your day. You see oil spatters on the frame and learn if and where they are coming from. You learn if it uses oil. You can see tell-tale signs of oncoming trouble. Turn the key, thump the tires and you're ready.

If you slip-seat, God only knows what you will find wrong, as no one wants to take the time to get little things fixed and then little things turn into big ones and there you are, on the side of the road, in the dark with a wheel bearing seized due to no oil in the hub.

 

[mndriver]

If you operate the same equipment all the time, you get to know it. You go over things during the course of your day. You see oil spatters on the frame and learn if and where they are coming from. You learn if it uses oil. You can see tell-tale signs of oncoming trouble. Turn the key, thump the tires and you're ready.

If you slip-seat, God only knows what you will find wrong, as no one wan

Lot of folks don’t get that. You feel a flutter in your butt cruising at 65 mph and the next day you’re at the shop for a new turbo. Mechanic is looking at you like “wtf dude, how did you know?”….

 

[Duck]

At Roadway, I ran out of the Chicago Heights terminal.

The mechanics there had a more expensive union contract or something, so they would purposely send us out in malfunctioning trucks so they could be fixed at other terminals such as Nashville and Memphis.

There was an unwritten rule: if you walk out to the ready line and find your truck is already running, don't shut it off because it might not start back up.

I saw them pulling a truck with a switcher and dump the clutch to start one, and then I had to take it on a "Nashville meet" meaning Carlisle, IN where I'd meet & switch with a guy from Nashville. We'd get out & swap whole trucks, not just the trailers.

Nashville guy said he was going inside to eat. I told him not to shut it off, but he said "bullshit, they have a shop in Chicago Heights, they wouldn't send out a broken truck" & he shut it off. I told him to try starting it and it didn't crank. We looked at it and it was an air starter and it simply didn't work. No idea what was wrong with it but I just said "good luck with that" and took off.

 

[GAnthony]

back in my day, the mules would be cranky and would not get into the harness so that we would then attach them to the shafts.

we did not need a CDL back then, hell not even a driver's license, just a hard ass to deal with the bucking of the wagon.

weren't no fancy truck stops, just bushes every now and then to stop at and do our business.

meals were made up by "cookie" the guy was fantastic in making a rattle snake taste like chicken.

weren't no real road test, if the mules didn't yank you outta the seat, you were a teamster.


cabovers were the norm, hoods were a far distant dream for some. no power steering, no power windows, and certainly no a/c.

you were hot all the time, thanks to the dog house your leg would ride against.

kidney shaking ride, rattling your teeth outta your mouth, and if you weren't paying attention, well, it was a very long drop to the ground on your ass, if you missed the so-called laddering of the steps in and out of those death traps.

no electric windshield wipers either, those were fun....not.

no air ride seat either.

best time for me, was back in the day, when i first started, pulling those 20 mule team wagons......and rattlesnake stew.

 

[389 Hood]

Lot of folks don’t get that. You feel a flutter in your butt cruising at 65 mph and the next day you’re at the shop for a new turbo. Mechanic is looking at you like “wtf dude, how did you know?”….

It's called experience. You tell them there is something wrong and they say they can't find anything. You say keep looking. They find it. They were just hoping you'd get out of the shop so they wouldn't have to work.

 

[389 Hood]

cabovers were the norm, hoods were a far distant dream for some. no power steering, no power windows, and certainly no a/c.

you were hot all the time, thanks to the dog house your leg would ride against.

kidney shaking ride, rattling your teeth outta your mouth, and if you weren't paying attention, well, it was a very long drop to the ground on your ass, if you missed the so-called laddering of the steps in and out of those death traps.

no electric windshield wipers either, those were fun....not.

no air ride seat either.

Sliding down the firepoles, holding on for dear life when you missed that first step. We taped up the dog house in the summer and tore the tape off in winter and then used that tape to cover all the vents and holes where weatherstripping would normally be. Air ride anything? What's that? My first cabover KW, with torsion bar suspension, was a dream compared to the camel backs and walking beams.

Armstrong steering made you learn how to back up right the first time. A/C was the fan that rattled on the dashboard and you turned it toward the glass when it rained, hoping to clear it to see.

Let's not forget the tubes that balled up inside the tire when they went flat and you just stopped where you were. Driving any speed was like a 10lb weight was on one side of the tire.

Maybe all this is why my neck and part of my back is all Titanium, both knees have been almost rebuilt and I have a hole in my tongue. Never stick your tongue out while driving. Sitting on top of that axle will throw you right up to the ceiling.

Trucking used to be soooo much fun.

 

[GAnthony]

Sliding down the firepoles, holding on for dear life when you missed that first step. We taped up the dog house in the summer and tore the tape off in winter and then used that tape to cover all the vents and holes where weatherstripping would normally be. Air ride anything? What's that? My first cabover KW, with torsion bar suspension, was a dream compared to the camel backs and walking beams.

Armstrong steering made you learn how to back up right the first time. A/C was the fan that rattled on the dashboard and you turned it toward the glass when it rained, hoping to clear it to see.

Let's not forget the tubes that balled up inside the tire when they went flat and you just stopped where you were. Driving any speed was like a 10lb weight was on one side of the tire.

Maybe all this is why my neck and part of my back is all Titanium, both knees have been almost rebuilt and I have a hole in my tongue. Never stick your tongue out while driving. Sitting on top of that axle will throw you right up to the ceiling.

Trucking used to be soooo much fun.

if it wasn't a cabover for me back in the day, it was what we called a "cherry picker"

UPS had a fleet of them if i recall.

talk about not only sitting on top of the steers, but up close and very personal with the windshield too...

they looked like these.

 

[Uncle Birchy]

At Roadway, I ran out of the Chicago Heights terminal.

The mechanics there had a more expensive union contract or something, so they would purposely send us out in malfunctioning trucks so they could be fixed at other terminals such as Nashville and Memphis.

There was an unwritten rule: if you walk out to the ready line and find your truck is already running, don't shut it off because it might not start back up.

I saw them pulling a truck with a switcher and dump the clutch to start one, and then I had to take it on a "Nashville meet" meaning Carlisle, IN where I'd meet & switch with a guy from Nashville. We'd get out & swap whole trucks, not just the trailers.

Nashville guy said he was going inside to eat. I told him not to shut it off, but he said "bullshit, they have a shop in Chicago Heights, they wouldn't send out a broken truck" & he shut it off. I told him to try starting it and it didn't crank. We looked at it and it was an air starter and it simply didn't work. No idea what was wrong with it but I just said "good luck with that" and took off.

At the Grain Elevator they told us never shut off those old trucks or they might not start again too

 

[quillcom]

I saw them pulling a truck with a switcher and dump the clutch to start one,

While yall were popping the clutch to start them there rigs back in the day, we were poppin those clutches on the school 'ses.
Those gears were synchronized so it was much easier to learn.

Never thought I would switch over to semi driving back then. Took me forever to learn when they put me in a 10 speed unsynchronized Eaton.

My trainer had asked me can you drive a stick. I said heck yeah I learned in a school bus, plus my car was a stick.
He says well this is a little different type of shifting than your use to.

Clutch to neutral clutch to shift.

 

[389 Hood]

if it wasn't a cabover for me back in the day, it was what we called a "cherry picker"

UPS had a fleet of them if i recall.

talk about not only sitting on top of the steers, but up close and very personal with the windshield too...

they looked like these.

View attachment 87405

CherryPickers were IHC cabovers with more of a bull nose to them. That Mack was known as a "CrackerBox".



There were many years of the CherryPicker trucks, but all had that bullnosed front end, which at least gave you the radiator at being first in the accident and not your hands with the death grip on the steering wheel.

 

[GAnthony]

CherryPickers were IHC cabovers with more of a bull nose to them. That Mack was known as a "CrackerBox".



There were many years of the CherryPicker trucks, but all had that bullnosed front end, which at least gave you the radiator at being first in the accident and not your hands with the death grip on the steering wheel.

ok, i knew UPS had them, and the school i went to, had ONE, and it was a yard truck, which was still a killer on my back, as the yard had more potholes than the moon has craters...

i couldn't find any pics of the cherry pickers, so the mack had to do for illustrative purposes.

 

[AK7]

Well,the official crackerbox was a GMC.

 

[389 Hood]

There you go @AK7, showing your age like the rest of us!

 

[Spread Eagle]

I remember in the “old days” when I would go out with no cell phone, no gps, no driver facing cams, no e logs, but a few extra logbooks just in case.

My boss would literally not know where I was at any given time.

Technology has been turned against us.

Now I get called into the office if I make a U-turn.

I want out.

 

[Hillbilly Canuck]

I remember in the “old days” when I would go out with no cell phone, no gps, no driver facing cams, no e logs, but a few extra logbooks just in case.

My boss would literally not know where I was at any given time.

Technology has been turned against us.

Now I get called into the office if I make a U-turn.

I want out.

I don't have facing cameras, elogs , or log books. Guess that's a step in the right direction.

 

[Spread Eagle]

I don't have facing cameras, elogs , or log books. Guess that's a step in the right direction.

We got driver facing cams. A couple of them got blacked out with a sharpie and managers are on a quest to catch the culprit.

 

[AK7]

A dab of Vaseline.
Make them look through frosted glass.