Tanker is the best gig, 99 % of the receivers are happy to see you, unlike gocery warehouses.

I agree! tank yanking is alot better. I liked going to the ice cream dairies. all the ice cream you want free. but i don't think he will be seeing any dairies with a hazmat tanker.. soon enoungh he will be standing up on top of the tank. walking around and enjoying the view.. every body gets nervous the first time on top of the tank.. it's nothing when it's dry. wait until it is wet or iced over. gets fun then... take care. and i wish you the best of luck..

Thanks for the responses

Well they let me pull my my first loaded tank and it rattled my nerves just a little. It was a smooth bore load. I pulled out of shipper and had to climb a steep hill and stalled. It felt like some one was tugging on the trailer. My trainer just sat there kind of staring at me. I finally got it moving again. Then we had to go down a big hill and it felt like someone was pushing me down the hill!! That LOUD boom when the product hits the back of tank will take me a while to get use to.

I was sweating pretty hard during the first 5 minutes of the trip.

I don't smoke but I asked my trainer for one of his cigarrettes after this first trip. I was use to pulling light trailers on my previous job. You hit the brakes and it takes a while for these things to stop.

This is almost like starting all over again, learning how to shift and everything else. I have been driving two years, but it sure didn't look like it this week.

My trainer drove one load, he has been driving for a long time. He would fly around exit ramps at the posted speed limits even when we were fully loaded. I NEVER saw him take any exit ramp 10 MPH below posted speed limit. I will ALWAYS go 10-15 mph under the speed limit.

Could anyone share some advise on shifting when climbing hills, and in traffic?

Shift earlier as tanks pull harder up the hills, you don't want to get in a position where you need to make 2 shifts to catch up. Take a Coke bottle and pull it up a 45 degree angle and you can see why tanks pull harder, all that liquid sets right in the back almost pulling you backwards.

Always remember you can take a curve/turn too slow everytime, but you can only take it too fast once.

On a steep grade starting from a stop run the rpms up higher than you normally would then shift quickly. The international I drive is set up with the rpms governed at 1800 except in a hard pull. Then they will hit 2200 or so. On a steep hill the surg will still bring the truck to almost a stop when it hits the back wall but the transmission catches up on the front wall.

Young Lad, be patient. Liquid has a way of making olde time drivers look like rookies from time to time.

Mike and the rest have been giving you sound advise, as pertains to handling curves, stops, and starts. LOL....You learned one lesson in starting out with a load already!

Good luck...Be safe!!

now you understand when i said the first time that load hits you in the back. will be the last time you don't wear a seatbelt... have found releasing the swing lever on the seat helps take the shock out of the surge??? lmfao... well be safe what the traffic. and plan how to to stop.. and enjoy the whiplash...

There is alot more to driving a tanker than I thought. I took a bath in methanol today. I connected a hose to the tank and had a hard time getting the ears to fit tight, I then had to get the right fitting to connect 2 hoses. My trainer is watching as I try to figure out what fitting goes where. I know I looked like an idiot while trying to figure out the correct fitting to use.

I walked the hoses out after we were done pumping and I disconnected the 2 hoses leading to the pump from the tank and took a bath in methanol (actually about 1 gallon). I did fine on the driving end but once we started working on unloading all hell broke loose. He gave me a little lecture on proper fittings after we got back to the terminal.

Sounds to me like he needs to do his lecturing before turning you loose unloading. Its called teaching.

OHIO, I am personally glad I became part of the tanker yanker club!! Personally 53ft. boxes dont even compare to driving a tank. It did take me a couple weeks to finally realize what I'm doing wrong when backing into a bay to get unloaded but sure enough now I do blindside backins with maybe 1 pullup on a bad day. I'm sure you know now like everyone says, it's a different ball game than a 53fter, tanks handle so much differently. Even though sometimes the morning rush hour here in Phoenix may call for me to use my brakes and I get the famous "surge" Id rather be pulling a tanker than anything else. Another lesson I learned in my first few weeks, pay attention when your on top of the tanker! Like a dummy I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see what time it was and it caught my pocket liner and it fell all the way to the ground, some 9 or 10ft! I was pretty surprised to see that my phone still worked! Another fine tip from everyone that I highly agree with....take your time! Theres no grades or big curves here in Phoenix but when I do see a curve with a posted sign believe me I slow way down and gradually speed up as I get more comfortable with the turn and the way the product is handling during the turn. I dont haul any hazmat, all I haul is raw bulk milk from local dairies but I thoroughly enjoy this job and like I've said before on one of my threads, I consider myself very lucky to have a job that pays decent with benefits and a job that I actually look forward to doing...even after a weekend off. Good luck on your new job and hope everything works out for you.