The Vanishing Art Of Truck Driving

We are of the age that most of us remember truck driving of the past. A time before automatic transmissions, computer logs, GPS, and cell phones. A time when most truckers were skilled drivers and courteous. A time when kids on vacation leaned out the window of their folks station wagon and did the old pumping action with their arms and the truck driver responded by blowing their air horn.

How many of you without googling or searching any source, can tell me what "Georgia overdrive" referred too?

How many of you drove rigs that required double clutching?

Even truck driving songs have died out.

"My rigs a little old but that don't mean she's slow. There is flames from my stack and she's blowing smoke black as coal. (Take that you oil hating poop heads.)

 

I remember all that, I was apart of it for a number of years.

Georgia overdrive ? ....... Just bump it up into neutral , and let it roll.

 

Yep! On a gentle grade down that was a fuel saver. The old drivers didn't need anyone telling them to save fuel. It was their dollars and just good sense (cents).

 

This could be a category under “the vanishing art of working hard”.

I’m on a forum with a lot of mechanics and fabricators and the majority have just given up trying to find decent help. They finally accept that they will just have to do what they can themselves. Congress wants 3 more destroyers in a year.

“Defense Department comptroller Mike McCord told United States Naval Institute News that shipyards can’t even produce two warships a year, making Congress’ request for three unrealistic.

…”“It’s not what we wish to be true. But everybody’s struggling with skilled labor. Everybody’s struggling with supply chain,” he continued. “So it’s not getting better very fast from the data that I’ve seen – whether with submarines or DDGs.”

“… we don’t see the yards being able to produce three a year. We don’t see them being able to produce two a year,” McCord said. “And that’s just data.”

https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...nough-cant-even-build-2-a-year-official-says/

 

There are still a LOT of hard working truck drivers out there, whether they are OTR or local drivers. It's the stupid ways that car and pickup drivers drive that scare the heck out of professional truck drivers.

I worked for a plastic injection molding company years ago. They had a resin tanker that was a double-clutch, but I never drove it. The company made office stuff, as in plastic trash cans, letter holders, files, etc., as well as the tops/sides/bottoms for motorhomes. They bought a brand new "high-low" flatbed truck that I drove at times delivering those motorhome parts to a company that manufactured motorhomes. It was a total pleasure driving that truck! I even learned how to tie-down the tops, sides and bottoms to the flatbed.

 

Our engine mechanic has his own shop and the biggest problem, that he told me he has, is hiring someone to take care of the Customer Desk. Some of the younger people that he's hired for this desk, does the "hunt and peck" thing on a keyboard and that can just take too long while a customer is waiting to check in their vehicle. We've had work done by him, and his mechanics, for the last three years.

The owner/mechanic use to work for Toyota for a number of years, before quitting and getting his own shop going. He even offers a "take home and pick up" service for customers, that, like us, only have one vehicle.

Today, compared to years ago, there are a number of young employees of any company that want good-to-great pay, but don't necessarily want to work for that pay. The cell phone industry hasn't helped either. Numerous employees want to be texting and/or talking on their phones all of the time during working hours.

 

Yeah, the old flatbeds with the hi lo were a 5 speed tranny with a 2 speed rear end. Nice coming down a grade with the rear in high and then going automatically to low instead of braking and trying to clutch gear down. Most of the drill rigs I drove had that setup, but one had an 18 speed with a two stick tranny. Once I mastered it, it was fun on especially down shifts where the clutch wasn't needed just a quick acceleration and sliding the auxiliary tranny section into desired gear. Since all the drill rig driving I did, was in mountainous areas, caution on down grades was paramount.

I am sure @Yvonne Smith is familiar with the roads around Wallace, Idaho. I had to drive the big rig from Wallace to Northern Nevada one spring. That fall coming back the trip down Cabbage Hill took the sass right out of me. I got behind a slowing out of control truck with its brakes on fire and couldn't pass since the right lane was full of vehicles. I had no choice but to try and shift jam the main tranny down one gear without using the clutch. So I braked heavy then hit the accelerator and jammed it down. To my surprise it went smoothly and then with more braking slowed enough to avoid rear ending the idiot with his brakes on fire and then the right lane cleared enough I could get around safely.

After a long restroom break and donning fresh undies, I enjoyed a bison burger at Arrowhead Truck Stop restaurant. I went to pay my bill and the waitress said the old couple that just left paid your bill. They were retired long haulers and said they were impressed how you avoided what looked like a serious multi vehicle accident in the making.

 

A friend [driver] used to tell a story about using G/Od on a hill too steep out west .... since he survived it, it was a laugh riot to here him tell the story. He said , once on the flat, he coasted for a mile .... He used to say he used that time to change his short .. LOL.

Remember the old joke about a driver driving with a partner asleep in the birth ? Same scenario, and a cow is blocking the road !

On a test he was asked in that situation, what is the very first thing ya do ?

He replied .... Hell I reach around & wake up Clem cause ,... he ain't never seen a wreck like that .

 

I don’t know trucking but, it seems to me, long haul is not going to be replaced by electric anytime soon…unless the democrats ram it down everyone’s throats. It doesn’t make sense to me.

 

My late brother-in-law was a long-haul truck driver AND a serious alcoholic, which was a scary combination. He only had one accident, though, and it was a doozy and nothing to do with his drinking.

He was going down a long grade, hauling huge heavy sheets of metal about 1 1/2" thick on a flat bed semi trailer. About a quarter of the way down, his brakes failed. He put out a call to the other truckers to hold back traffic behind him and tried to slow down. He was only able to slow slightly. There was a run-away truck lane at the bottom of the grade but if he tried to go onto that, he'd stop too quickly and the sheets could break loose and slide forward and slice the cab (and him) into several layers. His only hope was to try to swerve at the bottom and rip the trailer off so it would roll to the side of the road, while trying to keep the cab upright. When he got to the bottom of the hill that's exactly what he did. Successfully. The trailer rolled into the trees and though he was up on his right wheels for a long time, he managed to set the cab back down.

The family hoped that being that near to dying might inspire him to stop drinking, but no luck there. He drove for many more years.

 

I used to drive all nighters (in my car) a lot and I would hook up with a truck, at a respectful distance. No street lights; I could just follow theirs.
I do remember the jackknifed trucks each time I drove the Poconos in Pennsylvania in the winter, though. (daytime)