CDL school?

Brando CalPankian

Brando CalPankian

Carpal tunnel level member
Location
Pine City, MN
I've got a class b CDL. We're hamstrung on some growth opportunities because of that. I really need to put myself and apprentice through school to get our class A.

When I got mine I just showed up with a truck. Now we've got to do school. And we are not close to training centers so 6 week classes make no sense, as well as 5-10k to get them.

Does anyone have any recommendations on schools? There's one that's got a 4 day class for me for $3500 is about the cheapest I've found. Would be willing to travel for it too.

Thanks!
 
Unfortunately, you're not going to be the only one hamstrung by that. It's really going to hurt a lot of small businesses.

Anyhow, check at community colleges and even high school vo-ag programs...some of those (at least around here) also do adult education.
 
Good call. Thank you.

It's a shitty deal for sure. At least I have my B. I have the opportunity to buy out another company but need an a do be legal. They haven't been running legally apparently, scary shit
 
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Depends on what they are running as to how scary it actually is or isn't... F350 or 3500, etc... towing a 14K rated trailer isn't all that scary....and many people doing that probably don't realize they are breaking the law.

28K rated truck and 30K rated trailer with air brakes is more concerning without any training. (Not that I think 40 hours in a classroom is necessary...but something!)
 
If you go the full class route, I used 160 driving academy, they have multiple locations. Luckily we have a couple of options available here. This company was always available when I called with questions and they start a new class each week. At the time a Class A was 4 weeks and around $5,000. I scheduled mine for march-april as it's often to wet around here to work much.

The other place I called barely answered the phone for enrolling, they only had a new class once a month and were already booked for 2 months out.

As for making the class shorter, from what I understand anyone with a class B still has to take the full class to upgrade. Also there is 40 hrs of class room and 120hrs of hands on. I believe you're required to have 100 hrs of hands on in order to test.

Somehow a place in MO is issuing class A CDL in only 2 days, I'm not sure how they legally manage to do that.
 
I took the written test right at the deadline before needing the class. Put off the driving part because was having trouble coordinating getting a truck and trailer combination to take the test in (testing center had air brake trunk to rent which I should have done, but figured I wanted to keep it simple and could add that later if needed).

Finally got that done, but didn't pass first time and didn't have time to test again. I thought I did OK, but didn't use exact enough language when inspecting each element. (I learned after the fact that I was supposed to say something like "there is no excessive corrosion, and there are no dents, deformities, or broken welds" for each and every part. I just described what part I was inspecting.

Haven't needed CDL, just wanted to have that door open. Oh well...
 
ATH said:
I took the written test right at the deadline before needing the class. Put off the driving part because was having trouble coordinating getting a truck and trailer combination to take the test in (testing center had air brake trunk to rent which I should have done, but figured I wanted to keep it simple and could add that later if needed).

Finally got that done, but didn't pass first time and didn't have time to test again. I thought I did OK, but didn't use exact enough language when inspecting each element. (I learned after the fact that I was supposed to say something like "there is no excessive corrosion, and there are no dents, deformities, or broken welds" for each and every part. I just described what part I was inspecting.

Haven't needed CDL, just wanted to have that door open. Oh well...
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Yeah there’s a script to read from on the walk around inspection. Hated it. Felt like I had to do their little dance,,that always annoys me.
 
The place I went was a “truck rental” service. They made no claims to be a classroom but provided an instructor for most of the day who coached me on what to do and say as we practiced driving all the scenarios that would be on the test and then took me to the dmv office so I could take the test. Pretty sure that’s all changed now and it has to be a formal class.
 
ATH said:
Depends on what they are running as to how scary it actually is or isn't... F350 or 3500, etc... towing a 14K rated trailer isn't all that scary....and many people doing that probably don't realize they are breaking the law.

28K rated truck and 30K rated trailer with air brakes is more concerning without any training. (Not that I think 40 hours in a classroom is necessary...but something!)
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More like 10k rated truck and 16k rated trailer with 18k of equipment on it. Lol. Not a good or legal combo.
 
chiselbit said:
The place I went was a “truck rental” service. They made no claims to be a classroom but provided an instructor for most of the day who coached me on what to do and say as we practiced driving all the scenarios that would be on the test and then took me to the dmv office so I could take the test. Pretty sure that’s all changed now and it has to be a formal class.
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Times have changed with CDLs, although I never dealt with them before the class was mandatory. I was told it was almost a requirement to be failed your first attempt. I passed my first attempt after taking the class.

The class I took, the exam was next door in a shared parking lot and was given by an ex-employee of the driving school. I don't believe he gave any special favors, but since all of the instructors knew him, they knew what he'd look for.

The pre trip does need some exact verbiage. At first it seemed like a daunting part of the test, then it just clicked. You're allowed to miss some items on the pretrip and in-cab inspection, but you must get all of the air brakes 100% correct.

As for parking maneuvers, the instructors really "dumbed it down" to the point of counting how many turns of the wheel you'd need, then backing until you see a marker in your mirror, then turn the wheel the other way. If you could follow instructions, you could do the off-set and parallel parking with no issues.
 
Jehinten said:
Times have changed with CDLs, although I never dealt with them before the class was mandatory. I was told it was almost a requirement to be failed your first attempt. I passed my first attempt after taking the class.

The class I took, the exam was next door in a shared parking lot and was given by an ex-employee of the driving school. I don't believe he gave any special favors, but since all of the instructors knew him, they knew what he'd look for.

The pre trip does need some exact verbiage. At first it seemed like a daunting part of the test, then it just clicked. You're allowed to miss some items on the pretrip and in-cab inspection, but you must get all of the air brakes 100% correct.

As for parking maneuvers, the instructors really "dumbed it down" to the point of counting how many turns of the wheel you'd need, then backing until you see a marker in your mirror, then turn the wheel the other way. If you could follow instructions, you could do the off-set and parallel parking with no issues.
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I remember the pre trip on my class b was a bugger too. I passed my first try but they dinged me on missing door seals. Lol. Checking in to state grants to see if there's a way to subsidize it.
 
So part of what's bringing this up is we're buying out another company, and he's got a forestry package cat and forestry mulcher. It weighs about 18k fully dressed.

I'll need a 10 ton trailer, and a truck... It looks like an f550 may do it, or may not.... 07 f550 gvwr 19k is what I found and looked at.

I could get a straight truck to tow it, then I'd be in class b range all day no issues. But then the truck is limited to that, whereas the f550 could realistically put an arial lift on the back and tow a trailer....

Interesting conundrum I guess.
 
Brando CalPankian said:
So part of what's bringing this up is we're buying out another company, and he's got a forestry package cat and forestry mulcher. It weighs about 18k fully dressed.

I'll need a 10 ton trailer, and a truck... It looks like an f550 may do it, or may not.... 07 f550 gvwr 19k is what I found and looked at.

I could get a straight truck to tow it, then I'd be in class b range all day no issues. But then the truck is limited to that, whereas the f550 could realistically put an arial lift on the back and tow a trailer....

Interesting conundrum I guess.
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To tow the trailer...with an F550?

Combined truck + trailer over 26,000 AND trailer rated for 10,000 lbs requires Class A.
 
ATH said:
To tow the trailer...with an F550?

Combined truck + trailer over 26,000 AND trailer rated for 10,000 lbs requires Class A.
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Correct. I'm dedicating to getting my class a. I have access to a driver for a while as well while I get mine sorted.

I just am now trying to figure the most useable and effective truck/trailer combo for our scaling. I've seen folks use the f550 chassis for putting their spider lifts on the back of then tow a trailer with it. Someone posted it on here recently. Maybe @VenasNursery
 
Brando CalPankian said:
Correct. I'm dedicating to getting my class a. I have access to a driver for a while as well while I get mine sorted.

I just am now trying to figure the most useable and effective truck/trailer combo for our scaling. I've seen folks use the f550 chassis for putting their spider lifts on the back of then tow a trailer with it. Someone posted it on here recently. Maybe @VenasNursery
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What questions do you have
 

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How does this affect your towability? Max payload for the truck I'm looking at is 12k, but having a hard time finding trailer tongue statistics to play into that equation (I.e 14k dump with tractor in it).

How does setting up off the truck bed work if it's slick/cold?

Are straps solid enough for tie downs?

Anything you'd wished you'd known before going this route?

Truck has a 33k gcwr, but 16k rated hitch tow. Is that 16k on the tongue or 16k gvwr?

The machine I'm buying with the masticator...
 
I only tow a 7k trailer with my f550 lift truck. I wouldn’t suggest towing any thing heavier it’s pretty maxed out. I’ve never been pulled over in that truck so who knows.

The lift sets up fine off the truck.

Ratchet straps is what CMC recommends for tie downs with their lifts.

No regrets with this setup.

Your Cat is very heavy so maybe a 33k truck is what you need imo with a class an and then your lift on your truck and skid steer on a trailer
one rig.
 
I went to Idaho CDL Training last year for a 4 day course to get my Class A with Manual endorsement. There was a state grant program at the time which paid for a lot of it (one condition is that I have to remain employed in the state for 1 year or I pay them back) and my employer picked up the rest. The school offers many different course durations from 2 days up to maybe 3-4 weeks. 4 days seemed like overkill for me because I've driven trucks and trailers for years. I assume most on here would be in a similar boat. The pre trip inspection was definitely the hardest part due to the specificity. The driving was cake. It's kinda crazy that anyone can just go buy any old truck and RV trailer combo and roll on down the road but if you look into it, the CDL requirement kicks in at some pretty low weights.
 
Analog said:
I went to Idaho CDL Training last year for a 4 day course to get my Class A with Manual endorsement. There was a state grant program at the time which paid for a lot of it (one condition is that I have to remain employed in the state for 1 year or I pay them back) and my employer picked up the rest. The school offers many different course durations from 2 days up to maybe 3-4 weeks. 4 days seemed like overkill for me because I've driven trucks and trailers for years. I assume most on here would be in a similar boat. The pre trip inspection was definitely the hardest part due to the specificity. The driving was cake. It's kinda crazy that anyone can just go buy any old truck and RV trailer combo and roll on down the road but if you look into it, the CDL requirement kicks in at some pretty low weights.
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How long ago was that? (Edit: Never mimd, just say you said last year). Federal mandate starting in Feb of 2022 have more strigent requirements. I thought that mandate dictated hours, but it doesn't look like it does. Ohio requires Class A to have 80 hours of training (classroom and road).
 
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