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ChrisP94

I went through CDL training in December and have been on my own since mid February and would like to explain some of my driving habits and how you guys think I could improve. I want to lease a truck in August and drive for my company as a lease operator for about a year or so but I just want to ensure that I become an efficient driver first.

I drive a 2017 Pro Star with a Cummins. I’m not sure what model. It has an Eaton 10 Speed. It’s governed at 65mph and it also seems to have a governor on the tach because the truck also stops spraying fuel above 1500 RPM.

I always start in 3rd gear and shift at around 1400 RPM. I’ve tried progressive shifting but every time I’m loaded and pop it into neutral under 1400 RPM it just sounds like the transmission has imploded so I stopped even attempting to progressive shift.

I cruise down the highway at around 1250-1300 RPM running 62-63mph.

When pulling hills I always keep it at about 50% throttle and downshift at around 1000 RPM. I’be tried downshifting earlier but it’s governed at 1500RPM so it’s pointless. I’m working with a range of 900-1500 RPM. So I try not to pedal to the metal dog it up mountains just to get up it maybe a tenth or two mile quicker than just holding a steady 50% throttle.

I used to just let it coast down hill up to 73 or so mph but recently I’ve been using engine braking to keep it under the governed 65mph and it seems to improve my fuel mpg and give me better momentum going up a hill rather than coasting halfway up the hill above the governed speed and then it was like hitting a brick wall.

I’m not really sure how to drive these trucks to be honest. My company didn’t go over how to drive they just cared about not hitting anything.

tree98

Its obvious your either trolling Rawze's forum or your a complete idiot and quite possibly both. Everything you said that you do, is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. Something smells fishy here.

ChrisP94

(04-11-2020 )tree98 Wrote: Its obvious your either trolling Rawze's forum or your a complete idiot and quite possibly both. Everything you said that you do, is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. Something smells fishy here.

What should I be doing?

Rawze

Assuming for a moment that you are not actually trying to troll my forum...

It sounds exactly like your fighti9ng against a horribly spec'd truck that is governed wrong to boot. Not much you can do except maybe drive it a gear down and see if it will let you get up into the 1600+ rpm range when climbing hills. If the engine will not let you do this, then you are not going to fair well no matter what you do, because what your doing is killing that engine to an agonizing slow death by lugging it everywhere all the time in the bottom 1/3 of its actual working range.

As well, practising better management of time = higher profitability, so that you can slow down a bit, save fuel and wear, etc... and still get there on time.

Learning how to own a piece of equipment is also vastly different than learning how to drive it efficiently. Owning equipment = working on it yourself as much as possible as well. Otherwise your giving away the bulk of all the mo0ney you earn every time that CEL light comes on, or something happens.

Although it is a bit dated material... Read my Book. Link at top of page.

ChrisP94

(04-11-2020 )Rawze Wrote: Assuming for a moment that you are not actually trying to troll my forum...

It sounds exactly like your fighti9ng against a horribly spec'd truck that is governed wrong to boot. Not much you can do except maybe drive it a gear down and see if it will let you get up into the 1600+ rpm range when climbing hills. If the engine will not let you do this, then you are not going to fair well no matter what you do, because what your doing is killing that engine to an agonizing slow death by lugging it everywhere all the time in the bottom 1/3 of its actual working range.

As well, practising better management of time = higher profitability, so that you can slow down a bit, save fuel and wear, etc... and still get there on time.

Learning how to own a piece of equipment is also vastly different than learning how to drive it efficiently. Owning equipment = working on it yourself as much as possible as well. Otherwise your giving away the bulk of all the mo0ney you earn every time that CEL light comes on, or something happens.

Although it is a bit dated material... Read my Book. Link at top of page.

Yeah our company video on being fuel efficient literally tells us to ignore the truck shaking it’s not bad just keep pushing it down to 800-900rpm up I-77.

I am experienced on the mechanical side of things I’ve just never driven them. But know when something is wrong and the way they trained us to drive these trucks just feels wrong. I’m burning through a gallon of oil every 10,000 miles or so and see visible leaks where I see gaskets have given out I don’t think from temperatures but just from the sheer amount of pressure built up and vibration this motor has taken for 360K miles. And no service has been done to it everything is still factory Cummins red the last oil change and air filter replacement was almost 150K miles ago now.

I’m looking at lease options for a used truck but I feel like they will have the same treatment as this truck received so I am considering to just lease a brand new truck through the company with a X15 and Eaton Endurant 12 speed automatic.

I was just hoping there was something I could do to improve things right now because it truly sucks driving this turd.

Mattman

How often does your company service their trucks?

Most folks are going to say you don't want to be a company lease operator.

Buy you a truck and lease your truck on to a company.

Lonestar10

cummins warranty declares 35,000mile oil changes for OTR even though they are beating the crap out of em like an offroad truck with the low RPM lug. you will not find a single trucking company over probably 20 trucks that changes oil like they should all will only change when its required to keep the warranty.

Cummins - 35,000 Miles, 200-300k for first overhead to insure best engine performance
Freightliner - 60,000 Miles, 350k miles for first overhead
paccar - IDK dont know anyone stupid enough to have one of the little headaches as an owner op in normal fields.

As an owner op never go past these mileages if you go over these numbers your warranty is void.

big companies typically go 8-15k miles over on maintenace as the drivers dont get paid for it so they dont go in untill forced and their warranty will always be intact due to their size.

and most companies are running the new oil standard 0-40 or something like that. when i drove for crete i saw a 10PSI pressure drop at operating temperature driving down the road at 1450RPM when they started using that new oil.

Magard

So just one thing with all the ridiculousness here. If you we’re driving my truck and I caught you starting off in third gear I would freak. You would get a tongue lashing about clutches and all. I wouldn’t fire you. I would teach you right. If I caught you again that would be it. I realize the stupid dmv and truck school says start in a really high gear so you don’t have to shift through a intersection. Yeah that’s bullshit. I would teach you how to do a hybrid float shift. That would probably eventually turn into a full float and that’s ok with me. I start a load in low a lot. Float from there. Low rpm rise in lower gears and work my way up rpm wise. That is true progressive shifts. Your truck only goes to 1500rpm. Yeah they would change that or I would be finding new employment ASAP . Working for idiots is not how you learn anything. You should be looking to downshift at 1500 rpm when pulling not governing out at 1500. Maybe find a small company that runs more of a owner operator type operation. Maybe find a old owner operator to learn from. Put off your dreams of being a owner op for a minute until you get some good driving habits. I’ve taught a few people from the ground up and hired them. Mostly family. Its frustrating watching the abuse your truck takes for a minute but the ones I have taught go on to be good problem free drivers. Learn to not tear up equipment before you try and get fuel mileage.

ChrisP94

(04-12-2020 )Magard Wrote: So just one thing with all the ridiculousness here. If you we’re driving my truck and I caught you starting off in third gear I would freak. You would get a tongue lashing about clutches and all. I wouldn’t fire you. I would teach you right. If I caught you again that would be it. I realize the stupid dmv and truck school says start in a really high gear so you don’t have to shift through a intersection. Yeah that’s bullshit. I would teach you how to do a hybrid float shift. That would probably eventually turn into a full float and that’s ok with me. I start a load in low a lot. Float from there. Low rpm rise in lower gears and work my way up rpm wise. That is true progressive shifts. Your truck only goes to 1500rpm. Yeah they would change that or I would be finding new employment ASAP . Working for idiots is not how you learn anything. You should be looking to downshift at 1500 rpm when pulling not governing out at 1500. Maybe find a small company that runs more of a owner operator type operation. Maybe find a old owner operator to learn from. Put off your dreams of being a owner op for a minute until you get some good driving habits. I’ve taught a few people from the ground up and hired them. Mostly family. Its frustrating watching the abuse your truck takes for a minute but the ones I have taught go on to be good problem free drivers. Learn to not tear up equipment before you try and get fuel mileage.

How do you shift at low RPMs in the low side? It’s either near impossible to get it out of gear without sounding like something is dropping to the ground and going into the next gear it near jerks me out of the seat. I just gave up on trying to progressive shift. I can do it fine empty because that’s how I was trained but when I’m loaded it just sounds and feels painful to push it into neutral in anything under 1400 RPM