Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

[ManInBrown]

My first month or two in feeders was brutal. I was very tired going from working normal hours in package to starting at 8 or 9pm was very rough. I adjusted pretty easily thankfully after the initial shock. I rarely get tired now, but i also start a little earlier now. The toughest jobs for me were the road jobs. By Thursday or Friday it was torture.

 

[Johney]

My first month or two in feeders was brutal. I was very tired going from working normal hours in package to starting at 8 or 9pm was very rough. I adjusted pretty easily thankfully after the initial shock. I rarely get tired now, but i also start a little earlier now. The toughest jobs for me were the road jobs. By Thursday or Friday it was torture.

My first year was brutal, one week in feeders, two weeks back to package, so on and so forth for an entire year. Dam near killed me.

 

[ManInBrown]

My first year was brutal, one week in feeders, two weeks back to package, so on and so forth for an entire year. Dam near killed me.

Oh wow. Yeah we dont have that in the 177 thankfully. Theres no flip flopping back and forth. Youre in feeders, thats it. That would be horrible. I couldnt even imagine.

 

[Indecisi0n]

My first year was brutal, one week in feeders, two weeks back to package, so on and so forth for an entire year. Dam near killed me.

Like brown mentioned we don't have that here . Once you change classification you are done with package car . There is no way in hell I would be able/want to go back. I'd quit before that would ever happen . I had an old package sup ask me one night when I was in feeders "can you do me a favor and just move that package car for me". My response "sorry but no. I'll never step foot in another package car for as long as a live" . PTSD is real !

 

[Feeder665]

Oh wow. Yeah we dont have that in the 177 thankfully. Theres no flip flopping back and forth. Youre in feeders, thats it. That would be horrible. I couldnt even imagine.

Nice, here we have to go back and forth as relief. It can be brutal at times.

 

[brostalss]

Nice, here we have to go back and forth as relief. It can be brutal at times.

I've been blessed. A little over a year in Feeder. Never went back to Package and never will. Just about 100 drivers below me already in my Local. I'm moving up fast. More retirements coming in August.

 

[Rick Ross]

If this exemption is turned down we know what excuse they'll use for not meeting their hiring numbers and using contractors.

UPS Seeks FMCSA Exemption From 2020 Driving Instructor Requirements

 

[Hadjabear]

If this exemption is turned down we know what excuse they'll use for not meeting their hiring numbers and using contractors.

UPS Seeks FMCSA Exemption From 2020 Driving Instructor Requirements

I hope they dont get the exemption, the blind should not be leading the blind.

 

[Feeder665]

I've been blessed. A little over a year in Feeder. Never went back to Package and never will. Just about 100 drivers below me already in my Local. I'm moving up fast. More retirements coming in August.

Nice. I’ve been in feeder for 2.5 years. We are a smaller building. We had 7 runs and 10 drivers, but they’ve recently cut two jobs because they’ve closed our main hub. Tried to follow the flow of work but other inbound jobs pulled some trailers from our building and they wouldn’t let us keep the work. Luckily two guys are slated to retire this year.

 

[Indecisi0n]

New driver tip: Do not fart while stepping out of the tractor. When you get to the ground it's pretty much like farting directly into your own face .

 

[Poop Head]

The hub called feeders and said I pulled the trailer with a loader in it.

We had a guy show up in a trailer one morning. He helped finish unloading, and actually double shifted for a few days. Then, poof! Vanished into thin air

 

[robot]

Alright anyone know any tips to get out of “transmission failure” on those POS Kenworthless CNG’s?

Sometimes it’ll go back into gear after I put it into neutral and back into drive several times. Other times that doesn’t do jack and I gotta pull over and hope to jesus it goes back into gear after shutting it off and restarting .

 

[Jones]

Alright anyone know any tips to get out of “transmission failure” on those POS Kenworthless CNG’s?

Sometimes it’ll go back into gear after I put it into neutral and back into drive several times. Other times that doesn’t do jack and I gotta pull over and hope to jesus it goes back into gear after shutting it off and restarting .

red tag it, get another tractor.

 

[robot]

red tag it, get another tractor.

Yeah I was in a spare earlier this week and it got stuck in 3rd gear. Drove the side roads back to the building with that engine screaming

 

[ManInBrown]

Alright anyone know any tips to get out of “transmission failure” on those POS Kenworthless CNG’s?

Sometimes it’ll go back into gear after I put it into neutral and back into drive several times. Other times that doesn’t do jack and I gotta pull over and hope to jesus it goes back into gear after shutting it off and restarting .

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago in a new KW. Not a CNG. Im sitting on 11th backed up going to 43rd st and i go to put it in drive and nothing. Instead of it switching from N to D it said friend which i assume is fault. Turned it off and restarted and it was fine.

 

[robot]

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago in a new KW. Not a CNG. Im sitting on 11th backed up going to 43rd st and i go to put it in drive and nothing. Instead of it switching from N to D it said friend which i assume is fault. Turned it off and restarted and it was fine.

Yeah it sucks when it happens when you’re on the road and going uphill and when it downshifts the transmissions faults and you get caught in neutral/low gear limbo. Sometimes no place to just pull over. Dangerous if you ask me

 

[Jones]

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago in a new KW. Not a CNG. Im sitting on 11th backed up going to 43rd st and i go to put it in drive and nothing. Instead of it switching from N to D it said friend which i assume is fault. Turned it off and restarted and it was fine.

Completely unsafe. I would have redtagged it at 43rd st and made them give me a spare.

 

[Rick Ross]

Alright anyone know any tips to get out of “transmission failure” on those POS Kenworthless CNG’s?

Sometimes it’ll go back into gear after I put it into neutral and back into drive several times. Other times that doesn’t do jack and I gotta pull over and hope to jesus it goes back into gear after shutting it off and restarting .

We've had a bunch lock in gear while driving...not fun to have it lock in a gear in the wrong spot. I think they all had a bad harness on the transmission. You usually had to wait 10 minutes with the key off for the fault to reset.

I've also heard of the issue where it won't go into or change gears after it's rolled with the key off. I think guys were turning off the key before it came to a complete stop. I believe that was an issue you could cycle key on and off 3 times to clear.

These are all issues with the Eaton 10 speed automatics that have the shifter on the console

red tag it, get another tractor

These issues usually resolve themselves after the tractor sits for awhile. A guy in our shop said half of our Kenworth issues can't be duplicated by the dealership,.

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

Alright anyone know any tips to get out of “transmission failure” on those POS Kenworthless CNG’s?

Sometimes it’ll go back into gear after I put it into neutral and back into drive several times. Other times that doesn’t do jack and I gotta pull over and hope to jesus it goes back into gear after shutting it off and restarting .

Not sure if this is the same issue you're having.

Twitter

 

[ManInBrown]

I think the transmission fault, at least the one i experienced had something to do with the idle shutdown. When mine faulted i never got the countdown to shutoff for idling. The 300 seconds. It just shutoff on its own. And when i started it back up thats when i couldnt get it into gear. For my money, the new Freightliner’s seem so much better than the new twin screw KW’s. I really never experience any issues when i cover a job that has that tractor.

I dont know why the company feels the need to buy all different brand’s of new tractors. Makes no sense. Buy one kind. And then the mechanics will only have to worry about fixing one kind of tractor. We still have a bunch of old tractors but we have plenty of new. Mechanic in my building told me the KW’s are the biggest pieces of sheet.