I MADE SOME BIG MISTAKES! Life Of A Trucker (Part 2) 

After 40 years there isn't enough space on here for me to confess my mistakes! Seriously....sad.

Ive got a good one. This was years ago. When i was younger i lived on the east coast. One of my jobs was as a garbage man. The truck was an old International that had a c10 and a 13 speed manual. The driver knew i liked trucks and wanted to learn how to drive. So on dirt roads in between stops he would read the paper and let me drive. Was an old POS but i felt like a million bucks gearing it. So the one day we finish up and head for the dump, which is situated at the top of a big dirt hill. We got up loaded (way overloaded actually, we never scaled it LOL) . Dump was already shut down for the day . Driver said hed let me take the truck back down the hill loaded to practice. I was nervous but agreed. I start down the hill and about halfway down she got away from me. I kinda panicked, going between trying to get a gear, not heat up the brakes and steer out of the ruts. Well i got her down there, brakes smoking. I was so scared when it finally stopped i didnt even push the clutch in lolol Stalled dead maybe 3 feet from a ditch. The driver laughed and laughed. Swore up and down id never drive again but i climbed back up there the next day

I was driving A-Train hoppers with a shitty old Westcan Ford L9000 Daycab tractor loading for the first time at a limestone plant near Banff (Exshaw) Alberta. First time there and not really with it....tired and desperately wanted a coffee as it was about 2 AM. This plant is on Highway 1A just off the main TransCanada 1. Fully loaded, I was driving the short connecting road back to the main TransCanada and really wanted a coffee. Saw the sign for a small hamlet called Seebe which I mistook for the route back to a small truckstop down the road on the main highway. I turned off and proceeded down a steep hill but got the very foreboding feeling that I fucked up badly. Narrow road coming to a old bridge over Kananaskis River with a 10 Tonne limit. Well I frigging panicked and swore prodigiously. Did not want to chance this very dicey looking bridge with fully loaded A Trains which are also very hard to back up. I had a very narrow road with fairly steep ditches. I did about a 50,000 point turn around with both trailers wrapped like a pretzel. Needed about three more feet so I pushed back again only to have my brakes dynamite as I managed to cut the supply line on the pup. So here I am at night in the mountains looking extremely foolish blocking the road..though no other fool like me was on it. I remembered that two other trucks from my company were loading behind me and about an hour later I heard and saw them driving up above me. Frantically got on the CB (no cells then) and luckily they heard me and stopped. They were thoroughly confused as to where I was but had a tremendous laugh when I explained where I was and why. They walked down and helped me cage the brakes on the pup. Luckily no other lines or electrical cords damaged so still had all lights and brakes on lead. Small puncture on the pup hopper which began to leak this powdered limestone like a sieve. This anhydrated Limestone had a great affinity for water so luckily with some water and duct tape we made a field repair. They escorted me slowly back to Calgary (a little dicey with no brakes on pup) where I, exhausted and feeling very very foolish had to explain and receive repairs. Lots of laughter from shop staff and a few drivers that overheard. Whenever I drive by the area whether in personal vehicle or trucking, I always cringe at what a moronic thing I did. I drove across the bridge much later in my car and was glad that at least I did not attempt the bridge or I would have been in the river. If by fluke I would have got across, the road dead ended in the very small hamlet with extremely limited turnaround space. Sorry for the long story but you just made me think and cringe again.....

Just tripped across your videos! I now know why we get along so well with Canadians! You could be an Aussie any day of the week, laid back & tell it like it is! It's great to see young guys having a go !! Go gettem !! 👍

Fessing up to our mistakes is not easy to do. I respect you sharing yours

I bent my front bumper on a 379 trying to do a favor for the loader operator at a concrete plant. He was real busy, they had a big pour going and he was moving constantly. I had 30 tons of sand that would have taken him all of 5 minutes to move. The plant was designed for dump trucks and I was in a tractor trailer, so things were really tight. The loader operator asked me to place the load where he could get to it easier and I said OK. Long story short, I hooked the edge of the bumper on a 1 ton block of cement and bent two feet of bumper 90 degrees. I took a lot of crap from the other drivers for months. LOL

Man u always put me in a good mood when u post, keep it up

I'm sure that lady nicked her little car when she nicked your bumper. She would have had to notice. Maybe she got home and said somebody had hit her in a parking lot ;-) I love your stories, and you have a great relaxed way of telling them.

Moose guard would have taught her a lesson at 8:07 lol 😂. But seriously though your videos always put me in a great mood. 😎 can’t wait for the next video

Hey brother, love the content. SuperB trains with a gorgeous 389. Great camera angles in all your vids. Entertaining as all hell. Keep the vids coming!

This is my first video,well I watch part 1 also but my first time watching a video of yours & I must say I enjoyed them!!! You keep the stories interesting & also hearing the Jake is awesome also lol I have subscribed to your channel and can't wait to check out more of your videos. Keep up the great work & stay safe out there!!!

Oh wow! This is a great video, thanks!

Great video!👍👍 I'm a little late today but it's better to be late than not to get there at all.😎 I was told that I had picked up the wrong trailer on a live load.🤔🙄 Come to find out, the genius who put the numbers on the outside of the trailer didn't pay enough attention to the numbers that were already painted on the inside. Luckily, I noticed it before I shut the trailer doors! When I informed dispatch about it, some how it was my fault?! I remembered this when I was picking up new trailers from Great Dane, did this for about a week. That was the best week ever! Found 2 more just like that on lot where they stored the outbound trailers. There was some guy there applying numbers to our trailers, so I pointed out someone's mistake and they actually fixed it right away. I hit a deer one time as i was grabbing gears steppin' on the big road, think I was doin' about 50MPH. It did take out the plastic grill (but it was still attached and hanging on!) and some small dents in the front bumper. I stopped at the next truck stop that had a water hose at the fuel island and sprayed off the front of the truck but about 3 hours later, I could no longer stand the smell and spent $50.00 out of my pocket to get my company truck washed. Stay safe and healthy out there driver. Spoke to ya later, I'll be 10-10 on the side.😎

Great video bud. I hope to start school soon. I'm your newest subscriber and fan.

IVE BEEN TRUCKIN FOR 2 DECIDES NOW AND I'M NOT GOING TO LIE I NEED YOU TO TEACH ME HOW TO BACK UP ONE OF THOSE B TRAINS BROTHER BECAUSE YOU'RE GOD'S GIFT TO IT.

My biggest mistake so far was swiping a parked car in the city. Had my CDL for only a few months. But the lane narrowed and didn't realize it so was staying on my side of the road assuming I was ok on the right. The tire lug grabbed the back pannel of the van and sucked me in. We only drive single axle pups but city driving isn't the easiest

Another great video

I had my first scare last winter going down a hill when leaving the yard in a snow storm at 5 am. Plows hadn't fully cleared the roads yet. I seen a tow truck go by at a intersection that are yard meets the road we use to go to the 401. There are a few bigger hills on this road. I was loaded with wheat to go to mississauga. I'm approaching the hill slowly as a crest to go down I could see the flashing lights of the tow truck and cars stopped behind him. I hit the brakes and the truck took off. The only thing that went through my mind was Holly F$$$ I'm screwed. I somehow dodged all the cars and the gravel trucks trying to come up. Luckily one guy was paying attention noticed a had no control over the truck. Or the 40 tonne I had in the trailer. I do not know how I did not jack knife or put it into the ditch. That was the ride of a lifetime. Also note that was my first year driving a tractor trailer. I'm know on my second year driving learning b-trains which I hope to be pulling full time at some point soon. (Sorry for the novel)

I know someone who got all the way to WI with a trailer heading to GA. They mixed up one number on a seven number trailer ID. It happens. I was once asked by the CBP if I had more paperwork for my load. I said no, so they shrugged and let me into Canada. I get to the receiver 3 hours from the border and learn that my load is two shipments on one trailer both going to the same receiver, and I only cleared one of them. Lost an entire day going back and getting the other half of my load cleared...

I was trying to get past someone who was half in a busy junction, plenty of space, just didn't account for the small (about 9ft long) trailer on the back of the van. left a pretty mean scrape. learned my lesson

Great Video

👍🏻👍🏻 stay 💪🏻 buds.

that was a great save

That's crazy, the clip of the crazy lady cutting you off look like M59 in Utica mi, where it turns into express way. I work at 94 (Gratiot) and m59, there's nothing but nut cases on that road, safe travels my friend.

Genius!

Good save on that last one. Had someone else from that same company unintentionally brake check me in Toronto a while ago while I had a 20 ton excavator on the back. It wasn't a big deal, I just had to jab the brakes a bit, but all of a sudden I notice all the cars in the lane to my left peel away. Huh, that's odd. Check that mirror, then look in my passenger mirror and see the excavator 3/4 of the way off the float. Threw on the four ways, dynamited the brakes, and ran out to try and put enough chains on it to keep it from going all the way off. 100% my fault for using shitty chains (2 broke and the machine slid on the slippery deck of our new trailer), and to this day I don't know how the machine stayed on, but I'm glad it did and that the guy who brake checked me didn't do it on the 401. Another time, when I first got my license, I was hauling dirt out of the city when someone decided it would be a good idea to slam on their brakes for a crosswalk countdown that hadn't reached 0 yet. Luckily, they reacted quickly to my horn and shot through the red, because where I ended up stopped was at least a truck length past where they were parked. Left a trail of rubber, wound up in the middle of a very quiet (luckily for me) intersection with no air, tarp up, lift axle up, truck screaming at me as I desperately tried to build enough pressure up to release the brakes and get going again. While it's obviously our responsibility to drive safely, you'd think the common person would have a bit more common sense with regard to driving around large vehicles. I sometimes wonder if you told them they basically wager their lives to get a little further ahead if it would make a difference. Probably not. Anyways, that's enough of an essay for today. Thanks, as always, for the good video.

I had a similar experience once, was driving a one ton Chevy (if I remember correctly it was a late 70s) in the Phoenix area. Came over a rise that revealed a corner hiding an intersection. Well as I came around the bend the light was red and the breaks were anything but good. Oh and I was pulling a 16’ flat bed trailer besides (and I was in the left lane) thankfully the left turn lane was empty so I was able to get it stopped just before the intersection.😬😱 I’m not sure just exactly how much that combination weighed but it could possibly have been overloaded.🤔

Hit 2 posts and scraped a shed but in a farm tractor. Keeps me up at night. I try to be as professional as possible but anxiety and lack of natural talent hinders me. Always wanted to drive truck but better leave it to the real men.

Nice video that lady that cut you off Utica mi crazy

This one isn't my personal mistake but my co-driver. I obviously used to run team, and we were hauling freight into Minnesota for a fairly large outdoor machinery company, Toro. We're a few miles south of the state border on I-35 and I'm in the back sleeping when something happens... You get used to trucks moving in very specific ways right? so if they suddenly move in a different way it's hard not to notice... we and just about everybody else out there were sliding at about a 45 degree angle forward and to the right, came to a stop on the shoulder in such a fashion that we couldn't have parked it more perfect if we'd tried... There had been some freezing rain just a few minutes beforehand and it's a very slight incline which is probably the only reason we didn't leave the road entirely. It only took about an hour for plows to hit it with salt/sand and we were able to get back on the road... it was an interesting area to do our post/pre-trips to swap drivers. stopped a short while later at the Petro in Albert Lea, MN...they have these Habanero beef sticks I used to always get... mmmmm.... anyways drive safe drivers!

Wow after 35 years of trucking there has been a lot of mistakes, LOL, one that stands out is one winter I was pulling a wide load Atco trailer on a step deck from Calgary Ab, to Prudhoe Bay Alaska, first time doing that along with 2 pilots cars. Everything went well until we got onto the Dalton Highway in Alaska and the roads were snow covered and steep grades. We were fully chained up and running fast as we could so as not to spin out on the climbs. I started noticing my lead pilot car was not keeping far enough ahead of me so I radioed him to increase the distance so I didn't have to worry about running into him or have to slow down on the hills. He did that for a bit then all of a sudden on one hill/mountain climb he just stopped, by that time though I had a pretty good head steam going and had to hit the brakes half way up the hill. I came to a stop just inches from hitting him and then my truck just slide down the hill until I was jack knifed all the way across the road. Not fun...LOL

Put the (what da @#$&* on T shirt )priceless trucking moments

Numerous mistakes made while trucking! Hopefully I learned from them!

I was driving my first time by myself in California regional I was local in la area i ended up in Ventura ca taking the 33 free way down all the way to the other side of the mountains it was a 2 way street/freeway with half under construction and other was like 50ft drop no railing then a bunch of tunnels that I squeezed through in a 53 ft trailer 2017 13 speed freight liner somehow made it out with only smaking one end of the tractor aerodynamic stuff on the driver end due to a tight turn and jagged sticking out rocks of the clifside on one side of the mountain it was not fun but was calm trying not to panic but somehow no one was hurt oh and this was middle of the night with one headlight going in and out no animals were (cough) hurt in this run ...

New to your channel loving it by the way!! So is this you're truck or the companies truck? I'm going through past videos so might find my answer but still don't know at this time

Just watched one of your old videos...what issues did you have with the kenworth wl900 vs the peterbilt you’re driving now?

So I guess the one dislike is the guy from the weight station that remember you from before... lol

I passed a farm tractor going up a hill with a blind corner at the top, immediately after I did it I was like wtf did I just do that for!!! Very lucky I didn’t come head on with another vehicle.. definitely made me stop and think hey maybe I better take her a bit more easy

Thought I spotted you driving in Michigan on I-96 the other day

One time I was driving out of 700 I was loaded with about 8 times it was dump truck and then I had a trailer about 30 ft long total bumper pull had a s750 bobcat on it I was driving on this little neighborhood so I'm pulling out 4th gear around 30 mph and there's this term and usually it's never filled with cars so there's this red truck well there were two but I noticed the first one I didn't know I didn't realize the second one so then I take that turn I see that second truck right behind I took the term real wide to avoiding the truck and I was probably like 3 in away I think I went from 4th Street 2nd the note I'm only 14 I'm pretty good driver I'd say for my age and my dad was right behind in the car and I don't think he saw but I almost hit the truck so luckily that's about the only mistake I've probably had so far

I went from a company that drove truck s that were older than dirt and were manual transmission my back up skills were still developing as they all way s are .I started a new job and was put in automatic Pro star to make a long storey short I was trying to put the Trailor in a pretty tight spot and had to a 90 degree well the truck would jolt because you had to use the throttle in reverse so it Jolted and I bent the faring at the bottom that was the worse sound ever ,

I had always crossed Sarnia for first couple years of USA driving. One trip boss wanted me to cross at the Ambassador. So I asked him for directions to do that. He said he didn't know he had never done it. So I typed it in to GPS read him couple streets and he's on google said yep. I ended up at the tunnel. You try going through the booths and turn around and come back through the booths the wrong way with a 53' reefer and a long hood Pete. Border officer was laughing his ass off but was very helpful. Needless to say I have a pinpoint saved on the Ambassador bridge now so that don't happen again. There is dick all for signage coming from the south to Detroit for that bridge.

could always be worse brother, just got my car towed for no ins.....so much for my cdl dreams lol

Well it was only driving a car but I was in stop and go traffic on a two lane highway and there was a state trooper in front of me so I was trying to keep a distance away. Suddenly off to the left was a huge crane which I just had to look at. Somehow my foot eased off the brake and I rolled into the troopers car putting a silver dollar sized dent in his bumper. He got out called me a dumb ass and to follow him up to his nearby barracks where he gave me a ticket for careless driving.

Call the mullet. J/K bro. Retired coal bucket owner and and pete dealership tech.If i can help you with CAT issues or Pete advice let me know 🇨🇦🇺🇸

Have you ever ran down to South Carolina?

After two or three years your company made you a trainer !?!?!!? That is why we have so many "drivers" who get into accidents, they have been taught by someone who is still learning also.

What upgrades would you do if you had the cash?

Казахстан. 👍

Damn man. That sucks. Really likw to talk to you. You got a Facebook or something man.

Driving with one hand?? Ya that's safe.

Would you ever drive an automatic?

You've had a very uneventful trucking career. That's what you want!!!! Keep up the work and NEVER cut your hair!!!

Hey man really like to talk to you. You got a Facebook or email or something.