Hi guys.
been offered my first assignment from my agency for class 2. It’s night shifts starting at 11pm sunday and one drop in pool then return, it sounds simple enough. I’m a bit nervous I was hoping to work up from 7.5 ton but I’m happy to jump straight in. Anybody got any tips or advise for me. I’m a bit worried about different gearboxes and will be my first outing with a digi tac
Thanks a lot
adam
- Edit - forgot to quote. Re-sent*
cooksey6084:
Hi guys.
been offered my first assignment from my agency for class 2. It’s night shifts starting at 11pm sunday and one drop in pool then return, it sounds simple enough. I’m a bit nervous I was hoping to work up from 7.5 ton but I’m happy to jump straight in. Anybody got any tips or advise for me. I’m a bit worried about different gearboxes and will be my first outing with a digi tac
Thanks a lot
adam
There’s a fair chance it could be an auto which would be ideal! If not and it’s a manual - and its not a normal 6 speed - then there’s a thread on this explaining how to use different types of gearboxes, go onto “New and wanabee drivers forum” type in gearboxes. It shows as “rob w” but I think its by “diesel dave”. That should help a bit. There will also be one explaining the digi buried in there somewhere no doubt. Best advice I can give u (coming from a newbee) is take ur time, theres no rush, if you’re not sure about the space around u get out and check. Dont let car drivers stress you out. Better safe than sorry, at the end of the day if you hit something its you that deals with it and the car will just drive away. Also the site will no doubt ban u and the agency wont send you back there. So put on your hazards and just take the space you need - safely, obviously. Any questions about the job itself, whether it be route advice or load restraints etc, dont be scared to ask the other drivers or the office staff.
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If it’s an 10, 12 or 18 tonner (very likely) then there’s a higher chance it’ll have a 6 speed gearbox just like a car so won’t have to worry about those range switches etc. I would recommend setting off in 2nd for unloaded and 1st for loaded and don’t try to rush the gears as trucks like to take things slow.
Tacho’s are actually easy. Put the card into slot 1 photo side down (chip end first) and give it a couple of minutes. From the Seimens and Stoneridge ones I’ve seen they’ll ask “Rest since last insert”, “Ending country”, “Printout” and “Confirm entries”. You use up / down buttons to select but usually it’s just “OK” on Stoneridge or the return button (right side button on Seimens) 3x.
It should say something like “ready to drive” or show 4 sets of figures which means it’s ready. Press button 1 repeatedly until it shows cross hammers, do your walk around checks and then when you’re ready to go just drive and it’ll select drive mode. When it’s break time, use button 1 to select break (chair symbol). Stoneridge ones count down your break time, Seimens count upwards.
If you’ve got to do stuff after the end of the drive, I’d make sure the tacho is on “other work” again even when the engine turns off. End of the day, you eject the card by pressing 1 on both Seimens and Stoneridge tachos. I forget what it asks, but just select “OK / return” usually and after 10 seconds it’ll eject the card.