CAREER TRAINING RESOURCES

Getting into the trucking industry, you’re going to be driving many different types of trucks and towing different trailers carrying cargo of all types. Truck drivers can find themselves towing everything from food and any sort of goods, to auto parts to entire vehicles to even houses. The trailers required to properly transport those goods vary widely, as you may imagine. Trailers may vary significantly in terms of size and have different requirements and state roadway regulations, giving a wildly different driving experience for the driver. It’s important to know, then, what kind of trailer you’re hitching to your rig. Here are 8 common types of truck trailers that you may, in your time as a truck driver, find yourself driving. The most common trailer is the Standard Freight Trailer. They are used to carry most boxed, crated, and palletized freight. They are the rectangular-shaped trailers that most people associate with semi trucks. Coming in lengths varying from 28’ to 53’ and widths from 96” to 102” and generally are between 12.5’ and 13.5’ in height. While most Standard Freight Trailers have an axle-to-wheel ratio of 2:8, heavy loads use a 3:12 or 4:16 ratio. Refrigerated Truck Trailers (commonly known as “Reefer” trailers) have a cooling unit installed in the trailer, commonly toward the front, and are insulated to transport perishable, refrigerated, or frozen goods. In general, Reefer Truck Trailers come in the same dimensions as a Standard Trailer, with the only real difference being the refrigeration attached to the front, and the fuel tank stored beneath the trailer. Container Skeletal Carriers are designed to transport international cargo containers that can range from 20’ and 45’ in length. Some come in adjustable configurations to accommodate containers of varying sizes. They carry the standard 2:8, 3:12 and 4:16 axle/wheel configurations depending on load weights. Platform, or Flat Bed, Trailers consist of a flatbed trailer with no roof or sides. They are designed to haul oversize cargo that won’t fit inside a standard freight trailer, or for materials that need to be loaded or unloaded from the top or side of the trailer. They run up to 48’ in length and carry a variety of materials. If you are carrying oversized or special cargo similar to a flat bed, you may also use a Platform Drop deck/Gooseneck Trailer. They are used for cargo with special needs with minor differences to flatbed trailers. They have a similar feel to a standard platform trailer, but also include a raised bed, or gooseneck. Car Carrier Trailers are designed to transport cars, trucks, and similar vehicles. They generally have two levels, and a series or ramps designed for the loading and unloading of vehicles. For relatively large, bulky, and light cargo, Deep Drop Furniture/Electronics Trailers are often employed. They feature a lower rear deck to allow a greater cargo capacity capability. As the name suggests, furniture and electronics are often transported in these types of trailers. If you’re working in the logging industry you may find yourself towing a Timber Trailer. Essentially a flatbed trailer equipped with vertical stakes designed to hold logs into place, Timber Trailers are sometimes called “Loggers.”

Loneliness can be a big drawback to the trucker’s life. The days and even weeks of continuous solitude (outside of short stints at the truck stop, anyway) can get to even the most hardened of loners out on the road. But there is a solution. What about team driving? After all, two bodies are better than one, right? As with any too-good-to-be-true scenario, though, it often IS a little too good to be true. There are certainly many positive and negative aspects to tandem driving, and quelling the loneliness factor is but one of them. PRO: You can drive longer. While there are rules limiting how much team drivers can stay in the truck at any one time without a rest, In general team driving gives a primary advantage of being able to drive for longer periods of time. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules dictate a single driver may only run a certain amount of time without rest. Team drivers can switch off driving duties, allowing the truck to continue rolling down the pike to its destination with fewer stops and breaks. However, beware that this does not mean you get twice as much road time if you have a partner. FMCSA rules have recently been changed, requiring 10 consecutive hours off-duty, and only two of those hours may be spent in the passenger seat of the truck. That means that driver must spend time either out of the truck or in the sleeper berth. However, your driving partner still affords you a significant amount of potentially additional time in the truck. CON: You have to share the truck with someone else. Probably the single biggest hangup to the team driving setup is the fact that you are sharing your already tight cab with another person. That means you are essentially married to that person: sharing a sleeping space (though hopefully not at the same time) and a living area in a home where neither person can stand up and leave the room. Tiffs and squabbles can become really awkward really quickly, and you have to also be aware of the other person’s feelings and needs as well as your own. PRO: Team incentives are great. Large trucking companies many times offer team driving incentives such as a sign-on bonus or a 5,000 mile-per-week guarantee, even if the team doesn’t log that many miles. They also frequently enjoy higher per-mile and safety bonus rates, and often get priority dispatch.   CON: You’re still splitting the check. Keep in mind that even though you get more money, you’re still splitting the money you earn, so you will need to calculate how many miles you need to run, and whether that number is realistic and feasible, in order to operate at a profit for both of you.   PRO: You can take your spouse. Husband and wife teams, (or simply spousal pairings, depending on your situation) are relatively common in truck driving tandems. If you don’t have children it can make for a fun and rewarding experience with your significant other, seeing the world and working together…if that is a situation you can live with.   CON: You may be paired up with a stranger. If you don’t have a dedicated partner, you could be assigned on, and who knows how that will work? Being stuck on the road with someone you don’t trust can be a harrowing experience, so partnering with someone you don’t know is a high-risk, high-reward scenario. Approach it with caution.   The bottom line is, if you think you are interested in a team driving setup, do your research first. It can be a highly rewarding situation for you and for your partner, but so too can it very easily fall apart, leaving you potentially holding a very expensive bag.

Trip planning may just be the trucker’s best friend. Planning out your route involves more than simply which roads to take; you also have to take into account when and where to stop to eat, refuel, and rest. This is more than simply out of necessity for the hungry, tired driver. It’s a regulation, a government-mandated requirement that must be done at given intervals according to the rules governing hours of service, the trucking company, and it must be tracked by the electronic logbook. Beyond that, poor trip planning can have all sorts of nasty and undesirable consequences. Of course, you can run out of fuel, or fuel at the wrong time (leading to issues with your vehicle weight and negatively affecting your schedule), or end up in a strange or even dangerous place. These things can end up costing you valuable time and money (keeping in mind, for example, that there can be a price difference of up to 10 cents per gallon between states, so be mindful of stopping where fuel prices are cheaper). Remember the inefficiency is the enemy of the truck driver. As you begin planning your route, consider a few things:

• Are you tied to your assigned route, or can you seek faster routes? Sometime carriers insist you keep to their routes, while some encourage you to seek out faster routes. However, take caution, though, on finding “shortcuts.” Often they end up more trouble than they’re worth.
• Don’t use 55 mph as your benchmark for travel, even if most of your miles are logged on the freeway. In fact, a blog posted at Smart Trucking suggests calculating trips at 38 mph, which often allows you to integrate stops into your trips. “If stopping for bathroom breaks, eating, fueling, border time crossing, traffic, [and] weather are taken into consideration, you’ll find it fairly accurate,” the blog states.

Beginning the Plan: the Route First, gather your tools. In the age of cell phones, GPS, truck routing software, and online resources that can help you plot out truck stops, rest areas, groceries and services, route planning is easier than ever. However, don’t discount the value of a good atlas, and make sure you have one for reference. Consult your GPS software and plot out your stops carefully, taking into account when you will need to stop to refuel, eat, and rest as mandated by regulations. Before you leave, be sure you have items like food, emergency supplies and extra clothes in the truck in case you break down in a remote area. Packing for an emergency is essential, especially in the winter, when the supplies you have can literally be life-saving. Know throughout your trip where you can stop along the way. Take note of the truck stops, restaurants, department and grocery stores, and rest stops, and always know how far you away you are from one as you drive. Finally, always leave yourself plenty of time, which means to allow more time than you think you will need. Under promise, over deliver. Give yourself plenty of time in case you run into weather or traffic delays. Sticking to the Route It’s important to try to stay as close to the route as possible. Again, giving yourself additional time to account for traffic delays, small breakdowns, or other issues that can crop up is paramount. Getting a little ahead of schedule is great, both for the possibility of arriving to your destination early and to account for slowdowns down the road. And for crying out loud, don’t be your own worst enemy. Delaying yourself by savoring that cup of coffee, showering, or oversleeping will only hurt you in the long run. You will have enough external issues trying to delay you on the road; don’t make things more difficult on yourself. It’s important to always know where you are going. You don’t want to find yourself stuck in severe weather, or lost in a bad neighborhood at night, or having to stop to rest on the side of the interstate. Becoming stranded in a winter storm, for instance, can be deadly. Again, always having emergency supplies on hand can save your life. All in all, good trip planning can mean the difference between success and failure on a single run. Good planning can mean arriving on time, but hitting the road blind can end with you arriving late, or worse yet, not at all. Do yourself a favor; plan ahead.

The trucking industry news site Trucking Info has a video feature on their visit to the Goodyear Tires proving grounds in San Angelo, Texas, where they conduct testing on tires, including those designed for tractor trailers. The testing facility sits on 7.000 acres of land, where the company conducts testing on such areas as traction control, fuel economy, and durability. The company provides and quality control on both their own tires and those of competitors. The video breaks down several control tests Goodyear conducts as they continue to develop and improve on their product and develop tires that offer peak performance in a variety of areas, doing their part to make life on the road safer for truck drivers. To view the video and more trucking industry news, visit Trucking Info at this link.

YES, stunt driving semi tractors is a thing. It is always cool to see a driver jumping semi trucks. July 23-25, 2015 was Evel Knievel Days (it’s an extreme sports festival) in his hometown of Butte, Montana. In front of hundreds of cheering onlookers, Gregg Godfrey shattered his 2008 world record by jumping his semi-truck 166 feet in the air. His 2008 record was a 50-foot jump, which was broken in 2014 with a 83.7 foot jump… Oh, and that one just happened to include an attached trailer…. And, just because he could… he ended this world record shattering jump by kindly parallel parking his rig. (which most people can’t pull off on a normal day, with parallel park assist!) World Record Semi Truck Jump! YouTube video by Colton Moore  

A photo posted by Evel Knievel (@official_evel_knievel) on Jul 25, 2015 at 12:35am PDT

 

A post at Laboratory Network outlines how material scientists in Argonne, IL’s Argonne National Laboratory have developed a way to weld components made of high-temperature superconductors. The bond that results from this welding technique is strong enough to preserve uniform electrical flow across the joints and can be used for current leads, fault current limiters, energy storage devices, high-energy-density motors, and high-current wire or cable. Discovered in the 1980s, superconductors are known for losing electrical resistance when cooled with liquid nitrogen. However, superconductors do hold the potential for generating more efficient magnetic fields and transmitting electricity without losing resistance. Thus far researchers have been unable to grow large high-performance superconducting structures that are able to uniformly carry current, and they have found it difficult to join smaller sections together without interfering with electrical flow. The hope by researchers is that a new welding process may overcome this limitation. The new welding process will bond pieces of yttrium-doped barium-cooper-oxide (YBCO) using layers of thulium-doped barium-copper-oxide (TmBCO). The melting point of TmBCO is about 20 degrees Celsius cooler than YBCO. The materials are then heated to a temperature about mid-way between the two melting points. The YBCO “seeds” the liquefied TmBCO, while the joint cools, which provides a template at the TmBCO interface as it cools. This leads to a weld that preserves the YBCO crystal structure to a mechanically-strong weld that carries high current. While superconductors are materials that lose resistance to electrical current at reduced temperatures, the first of those identified were made of metals that became superconductive when they were brought near absolute zero (-270 degrees Celsius). The high-temperature superconductors found in the ‘80s lost its resistance at temperatures that allow the use of refrigerants such as liquid nitrogen. YCBO, on the other hand, becomes superconductive at -181 degrees Celsius. If you are interested in more information on this topic, you should read the original article by clicking here. Independent Welding Distributors Coop hires new hard goods product manager In hiring news in the welding industry, the Indianapolis, Indiana-based Independent Welding Distributors Cooperative (IWDC), a cooperative of independent welding distributors, has named Sean Norton their new hard goods product manager. In this role, Norton will be responsible for driving the growth of key programs, vendor partner brands, and the Weld mark brand, according to an article in The Fabricator. The IWDC was formed in 1994 to leverage the strengths of independent welding distributors across North America. The company’s heritage dates back to 1948, when the IWDA was founded. That company served the industry for many years before becoming the IWDC in 1994 as a larger cooperative that had additional means to serve the industry. Member companies look to the IWD for industrial, specialty, and medical gases, along with related equipment, hard goods, and consumables. The distributors use their national sphere of influence to aid in purchasing and marketing programs. The IDC features a footprint of more than $2 billion in retail sales over more than 260 locations. Before coming to the IWDC, Norton spent 15 years at ESAB Victor as district manager for Victor Technologies, mostly working in the Midwest. He now joins the welding cooperative as hard goods product manager, a move that will give him additional responsibilities in the industry while allowing him to increase profitability for the company. For more on the Independent Welding Distributors Cooperative (IWDC), you my visit their web site here. The Fabricator is a publication of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, Intl., which works with welding and fabricators, providing industry news and updates designed to serve people who work in the welding and fabrication industries. For more about The Fabricator and the welding industry it serves, visit their website by clicking this link.