CDL requirements

I was pawing through some old posts this morning and came across one old had posted asking whether cdl prospects should be able to perform basic truck service, and I had replied that all I had to do was take the test on a computer in the DMV office, jump in the truck for the driving test, pay the fee and go. The only parts of the truck I actually had to touch were all within reach of the driver's seat. As I often do, I forgot about the topic before all the replies came in. Well, trucker40 posted later that my company had "contributed" to someone to ease the test because it just don't work that way, and I would imagine he probably knows a lot more about it than I do. The the thing is, my "company" is me and my wallet, I'm not a trucker, just wanted a CDL so I could fill in for a couple guys when they get behind. So what happened, did the DMV drop the ball and forget something, did I fall through a loophole of some sort?

Way back when I still drove truck a guy had to do a walk around inspection, be able to adjust the brakes and know when they needed them adjusted. In the walk around inspection you also had to check things like oil coolant belts etc. But this was right at the time they went from the chuffers (sp) to the CDL. I did get lucky in the fact I grand fathered into it so only time I had to do the walk around etc was when up grading so I could drive more things like a bus. Never have gotten the School bus and never wanted to either

Back in 2005 when I took my tests the pre-trip inspection was emphasized just as much as the driving portion of the test. I didn't have to explain how to repair anything but had to go around the truck, point out all the parts and tell what to look for before going anywhere with the truck. Each state is different and each test person is different in what they expect of you. Some test people are very laid back and some are very particular. This was in South Dakota.
Lon

In Indiana if you srew up on the pre - trip inspection you are done you don't go any farther. This has been a few years back. I was lucky I didn't have to go through all those tests.

I have MN CDL with school bus endorsement. I"ve also delivered new trucks (non-semi) for a local truck body company.

School bus test does require you to know how to check several things. And each school bus trip does require a "walk around" to check head lights, taillights, turn signals, brake lights, 4 way flashers, 8 way stop lights and stop arm plus need to check coolant, engine oil, fuel, brakes, horn and windshield wipers. Each bus has a check off sheet for all these things to be documented and signed for.

I was never TOLD to check things on a truck to be delivered, but common sense says it should be done and I did.

I had thought seriously about getting mine a few years back and looked into it extensively, and I know quite a few guys that have theirs for either a tractor trailer or a pickup and heavy trailer combo. That being said I have talked to many others that have taken the test, and know what I was told about the test, and if you get through the test like your describing, there is something wrong. In ever case I know of you, at a minimum, have to do a walk-around of the vehicle and do a pre-trip inspection. yes, you can use a guide to do so, but you still have to know what your looking for, and at, for the inspection to be of any use.

If you haven't done that then you shouldn't be given a CDL. That's not to say it's something you can't do, but if you can't, and your given a CDL, there will come a time when you will wish you knew what to do. I say this because, depending on the vehicle, a daily/pre-trip check is required on certain vehicles before going into service. You may be like me and go for nearly 10 years without ever being stopped but that one day will get you. In my case I got stopped the other week on the way home from a job, on a Saturday afternoon. My truck is under CDL, but tagged at 38,000 so I can pull a trailer if I want. As such it's over the 10,000 commercial weight and is subject to basically the same guidelines as any other heavy truck. Thankfully I got stopped by a really nice NCHP officer who wanted to do a level 1 inspection. That required nothing on my part but having my paperwork right, but it did include a full safety inspection on the truck. Had any one of the items checked (ie-brakes (stroke on the chambers within specs as my truck does have air brakes), lights, wipers, signals, proper safety gear (ie fire extinguisher, warning triangles, etc) been inoprative or missing I would have been stuck on the side of the road "our of service" until the problem was corrected.

What I'm getting at is if you went through the test without showing your knowledge of what is required for the safety inspection, etc you were done a great disservice by the testing agency, as you will surely need it at some point in time. Again, not to say you can't do it, but it is their responsibility to know you can do everything BEFORE issuing a CDL that, everywhere else I know of, indicates that you posses the required knowledge before you recieve it. So, hope you passed, and hope you know all of this stuff, if not it could come back to bite you.

Indiana is still the same way. Still must do pretrip and explain the points you're inspecting so you need to know a little bit but you're not allowed to touch the truck (safty?) You're allowed to miss a few things. I've had my class A for several years and just got the pass endorsement to drive church bus so just recently went thru it. You can not miss the brake check or automatic failure. If forgot a couple things on the tires but it wasn't enough to fail.

WHat doesn't make any sense is i have a full class A with air brakes but since the church bus i took the test in is only a class C (super duty 1 ton) i only can drive class C buses. ???????

A friend of mine is getting ready to tow a new 5th wheel RV. It's a bit heavier than the one before, and although he is still driving the same tow vehicle, he has to do the driver's test. He said he must do a thorough walk around including checking the fluids and belts. The trick is, how do you do that on a modern 3/4ton truck. You can't even see the engine for all the shrouds. Gotta learn how to remove the shrouds too I guess. He also needs to do a driver's road test with a Government Guy. He lives in Manitoba.

Sw

I renewed my CDL last year and took no test of any kind. Since I am retired I dropped the Haz MAT part of my class A cdl.

Sounds like you dropped thru a loophole or something. You experience sure never would have happened here in NY!

In 1969 in I had to perform an extensive pre-trip inspection with the examiner prior to doing the driving portion of my CDL (a "chauffeur license" back then) road test. All around/under the truck check tires, wheel lugs/clamps, spring mounts, brake slack adjusters, test ALL lights for function, etc. Then under the hood for coolant/oil levels and belts. Only when this was complete did we go inside the cab.

And once in the cab a bunch more inspection items like steering wheel free play, low air pressure buzzer test, horn, wipers, mirrors, etc. before starting the engine. Then start up and check gages, compressor cut in/cut out pressures, service brake apply leak down, park brake test, etc.

Had to complete all this to the examiner's satisfaction before he would commence the road test. Perhaps it was because I was a teenager (you could get your truck license at age 18 and I was a long-haired college student back then). I don't know....

I should have added that I've got a good understanding of the truck itself and the DOT requirements, and was fully prepared (at least in my eyes) for at least a walk around. This all happened a while ago, I think I renew next year. When I got the CDL I already had about 225K miles pulling a backhoe, coming in right below 30K lbs, and probably four or five years part-time in a semi before I got nervous enough to get the CDL.

Yeah, your third paragraph is all I had to do to the truck.

When I got my CDL, I had to give a THOROUGH explanation of what just about every part of the truck is and explain exactly what every part of the truck does, starting at the front bumper and finishing up at the rear bumper of the trailer. This also included the top of the cab to the tire tread that touched the pavement. I had to explain what exactly everything inside the cab is and what it does. I then had to give an air brake demonstration (with the engine off). My in-town driving demonstration took over an hour and I had to do a straight backup (of about 100 yards), an alley dock, a parallel park (putting the entire truck and trailer between four cones) and a lane change while backing up. I then had to drive the guy around town for about 30 minutes. I was warned ahead of time that if I drove over a curb in any part of this test, it was an automatic fail. I drove under an overpass and after I went through it he asked me what the stated height of the overpass was and also asked me exactly what the height of the truck was. Before I started, there was a clearance light out and it had to be replaced before he ever got inside the truck.
Sounds like he wanted to get you in and out as quick as possible.

My driving test was almost exactly the same as yours, except we did NOTHING outside the truck.

Its been a long time, but I believe I took the CDL test, in '92, however I had the NYS Class 1 license that is the predecessor, so the road test was waived, being grandfathered in, incidentally, I aced the test and recall something about a bonus question, I answered all the questions correctly. Some experience and brushing up on a few topics helped, but it was not a take home test either, which I heard there may have been those too, so darned long now, hard to recall.

Relative to your post, I am not sure what exactly you are after here. The pre-trip inspection, I cannot recall in '88 or '89 when I took the road test, I am sure it was required, I don't recall doing it, I lucked out, got the last road test before lunch, I took the single axle Mack, midliner tractor and the 40' trailer, was still learning that 9 speed in the R model Mack, was a good move to not take that truck and look bad, so I went around the block, parallel parked it, passed with no errors, and that was that. I am not sure how stringent it is today.

Its likely very obvious the importance of the pre-trip inspection, engine fluid check, make sure all the lights are working,tires, loose lug nuts, visible signs of a wheel rim sliding, and in those days I did adjust my own brakes and was led to believe that a driver could do that, even at inspection, if the slack adjusters were out of tolerance, don't quote me, never had to do that, later heard after the CDL, you cannot adjust those slack adjusters unless you are a certified mechanic or something along those lines. I used to check and adjust my slack adjusters daily when hauling heavy loads in a tri-axle dump.


Few years back I did my pre trip and was hauling horses in a tractor trailer, and I found one drive axle tire, with no air in it, they were trying to push me to run with it, wanted to get to the show etc. no way, not happening, not now not never, had to get a small compressor and air it up, had a real slow leak, then made the trip 50 or so miles,they had a tire repairman correct the problem. Some people who don't drive (don't have a CDL or any experience) should not be telling those that do, how to do things, or push a driver to do something unsafe ! I have and always will do the correct pre-trip inspection to the best of my ability, really surprised at this point in time the person administering the test did not make you do that, hard to see that as not being required, you can't let people out on the road and not know they can perform that inspection, maybe in years past, but today..... not good LOL !!!!

that's about how my tests were. i had no idea they were so picky. i failed my first one before i even got in the cab. $150 gone.

I drove big buses for about 10 years. I went to get my CDL in my own bus (before I started the company). The old lady had me go through the pretrip and check the brakes. I started it up and she said, "you mind if I smoke in here?". I told her to go right ahead. By the time I turned the turn signal on the first time she had already said, "just drive around until I finish this and I will pass you."

I was kind of mad because I could back-dock that bus within 3 inches every time and was looking forward to testing. Oh well, I'm not one to complain. I was always glad that I did so much prep work and only hired drivers that drove that well. A big vehicle is not the place to learn from experience.

When I was getting ready for the test a friend told me to make idle chitchat during pretrip and find something they like to talk about. They will forget parts of the procedure. Or the whole thing in my case.

We did a walkaround before the inspector mounted the truck. They did the work, I was just there. Hopped in cranked it up, waited for the air pressure to build to the spec level and away we went.

Mark

Pre-trip soundes similar to mine. Docking and back-up not as long. Road test was interesting because I hauled several years for the township with a tandem on back country gravel roads felt and always felt really comfortable. Took my test up in Arden Hills, a suburb of Minneapolis-St.Paul. I'll be darned if the tester didn't have me head South off the side road, hit interstate 35 and took me right into the heart of the metropolitan zoo for my class A test. Passed but had a good behind pucker the whole time due to traffic!

I started driving a CDL truck pretty much as soon as I got my operators license at 16 yrs, and I drove dump trucks a lot of days. I didn't get what was called a commercial license until I was about twenty-five and then it was a quickie deal, no pre-trip and drive for about five minutes with an automatic. I don't recall there being a written test either. that would have been 1975.

They changed the test for the "walk around" and it is now one of the written tests taken on the computer. At least that is the way it is in NE. No payola or loophole needed!

From what I've seen and have been told by the thousands of drivers I interviewed, testing varies from state to state and "Brownie" to 'Brownie" as the test givers are called here sometimes. I know this much, I've seen a lot, an AWFUL LOT, of over the road truck drivers who are incapable of backing a truck, much less a tractor and trailer. I've actually seen drivers of heavy trucks who had no real clue what the low air alarm meant. I've met more than a few guys that thought automatic slack adjusters meant they never had to check brake rod stroke.

Then there are the other kind of drivers....those guys were pros and it showed. Those guys have my respect.

(quoted from post at 15:38:18 05/01/13) I drove big buses for about 10 years. I went to get my CDL in my own bus (before I started the company). The old lady had me go through the pretrip and check the brakes. I started it up and she said, "you mind if I smoke in here?". I told her to go right ahead. By the time I turned the turn signal on the first time she had already said, "just drive around until I finish this and I will pass you."

I was kind of mad because I could back-dock that bus within 3 inches every time and was looking forward to testing. Oh well, I'm not one to complain. I was always glad that I did so much prep work and only hired drivers that drove that well. A big vehicle is not the place to learn from experience.

When I was getting ready for the test a friend told me to make idle chitchat during pretrip and find something they like to talk about. They will forget parts of the procedure. Or the whole thing in my case.

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You probably impressed her with your pre-trip and just by your demeanor she could tell that you knew what you were doing, and were perfectly capable of passing the test. Experienced testers can smell out the good ones and the idiots within the first few minutes.