I took road test in terrible PC & flunked!

The E-brake had some give to it just testing it in the yard, he said take it out anyways...I can only imagine lol.....

Felt sorry for the guy testing after me, said he had never driven anything big, and was practicing manual transmission the week prior...probably didn't go too well
 

Sid-in-brown

New Member
Proof once again that the job is not for everybody.

Don't feel bad about the 1st and reverse mixup. I drive several cars with the same issue. I usually start in 2nd gear anyway so it's not much of a problem. But it does make for a thrilling suprise when the car lurches backwards unexpectedly when you do start in reverse thinking it is in first.

Yea this is what the other guy did when he took the road test & he passed with just 50 pts. I'm not sure what he got pts on but it didn't matter because made it anyway.

I think flunking this test was good for me because it taught me a lesson that maybe I'm not quite ready yet because even with other options of gears to choose I didn't think on my feet now I can only imagine :censored2:ing up like that on the road in serious traffic & the pc rolls back & slams into a car or person crossing. I mean holy :censored2: on that u know.
 

oldngray

nowhere special
Usually the people who do best are ones who have a chance to get some practice driving around the building. When I went driving most preloaders car shifted package cars so had a lot of experience driving and parking them. They almost always qualified as drivers because they could drive without thinking about it and could concentrate on other details. Now things like being an air driver really help also.
 

ups1990

Well-Known Member
Junk is what you'll have to drive. Your ability to adapt is what will seperate the men from the boys.
If there was ever a word that describes what we do during the day and separates the good drivers from the bad its adapt. Adapting all day long beginning at the building to making our deliveries, load , ORION, pick-ups, weather, construction, OCA.......
 

Rico

Well-Known Member
I took my test 27 years ago, in a 1959 P-400 with wooden shelves, manual steering and drum brakes that locked up every time you hit the pedal. The tester offered to let me run it around the yard first, but since I learned to drive in a 1967 friend-100 with the same drivetrain as a package car, I didnt have a problem.

I don't remember if it was a test, but I remember driving a P600 which had windows in the sides and a bunch of bench seats installed in the cargo area. The testor? Instructor? commented on how confident I was driving the package car, and asked where I got that skill. I told him from driving the Deuce and a Half that we used on our farm.
 

cosmo1

Perhaps.
Staff member
Wait til you cover a rural route out in the sticks with a POS manual. On steep hills no matter how tightly you tighten that E-brake the truck slowly wants to creep down that hill. Those are the only times I start in 1st gear.


I'm sorry, but anybody who needs to use the parking brake to start out on hill shouldn't be driving a manual.

Flame away.
 
Wait til you cover a rural route out in the sticks with a POS manual. On steep hills no matter how tightly you tighten that E-brake the truck slowly wants to creep down that hill. Those are the only times I start in 1st gear.

If that's the case write the e-brake up for adjustment.
 

brownrod

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately UPS's fleet of vehicles includes a lot of pieces of sh-t. For them to give you a test in a new one with power steering, power brakes and a smooth shifting automatic wouldn't be fair either. Your chances of getting one of those cream puffs is about slim and none when you first start driving. It sounds like you just need more practice driving a manual transmission.

My road test was in a brand new automatic. When I went to driver school at the regional hub a guy couldn't drive stick and destroyed the transmission. We were sitting on the side of the road waiting for rides. He still passed. hahahahahaha.
 

bham brown

Well-Known Member
A fair test would have started out by letting him drive around the yard a couple of times in order to figure out the transmission and clutch before going out on the road.

I took my test 27 years ago, in a 1959 P-400 with wooden shelves, manual steering and drum brakes that locked up every time you hit the pedal. The tester offered to let me run it around the yard first, but since I learned to drive in a 1967 friend-100 with the same drivetrain as a package car, I didnt have a problem.

Reminds me of my first package car. Except it was what I called a straight frame 800. It had no drop in the floor in the rear. Biggest clunker there was. Freaking brakes locked up every time you touched them in the rain. Was a '57 model if I remember correctly. I was happy the day they finally crushed that thing. But I couldn't drive that thing now. I have been in my auto way too long.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
I'm sorry, but anybody who needs to use the parking brake to start out on hill shouldn't be driving a manual.

Flame away.
I am quite capable of starting out on a steep hill in a manual transmission without a parking brake...but in the interests of safety I use it anyway.
 
If you have one of those E-brakes that clamps the driveshaft just forget it. That piece of crap never holds.....

That's no reason to tolerate it. If it's red tagged enough they'll swap it out.

If it rolls and kills someone the first thing they will all ask is Why did you continue to drive it?
 
Z

ZQXC

Guest
That's no reason to tolerate it. If it's red tagged enough they'll swap it out.

If it rolls and kills someone the first thing they will all ask is Why did you continue to drive it?

Swap it out with what?
A bigger piece of crap.
 
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