First ever Class 1 interview and driving assessment

Apply again, all they can say in “No thanks.” But they may appreciate your keenness.

Being turned down isn’t good, but from the feedback it wasn’t any form of disaster, so it is all more experience for you.
From what you’ve said previously you are getting more driving experience all the time, so will (should :wink:!) only be getting better all the time.

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do you know why you had such real difficulty? time to get some homework done.

Pats on the back and emotional support won’t take you beyond where you are now

Disappointing, sure, but don’t beat yourself up too badly, the competition for jobs at the minute is intense, potential candidates number 100 or more for every single vacancy.

If you were around the north east there’s a few places I would recommend that are open to giving a chance to those with less than the required two years of experience. You just need someone with similar info for your locale.

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Yes, I do, not strong enough, so it would seem strength training may take me beyond where I am now.

I’m pretty sure someone else had trouble getting airlines connected?
Was it @animal ?

Wrong, it is not about strength, it is about technique, skill; both about positioning your body and knowing how the whole air system works

Sorry to hear that you didn’t get the start you were looking for there, but as others have said, no harm in applying again!

The airline connecting is more technique than strength and you’ll definitely get better with practice. At the moment are you just pushing it on? If so, try pushing it on, while also pulling down on the cover (the bit that you then turn to secure). That makes it a lot easier.

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@driveress
As @goff118 and @jd are saying/asking what is your technique?

Not easy to use words to describe what is an apparently simple thing, anf having it many times for many of us it is somewhat automatic rather than summat we think about.

With the red line hold it in the right hand and pull the collar back with the left, place over male connector and put a bit pressure on it, the ball bearings are now partly recessed.
Keeping that light pressure on, put your left hand over your right, so you can use both hands to firmly shove the connectors together.
The collar will then spring back and you twist it a half turn.

If your arms aren’t strong enough then get your whole body behind to lean your weight into the push.

In your post you say you were pushing up? In that case try to get under it with bent legs (depends how tall you are!) lock arms and push up from your thighs as you try to stand straight.

OK lots of words for a couple of seconds job, but what can you do? :grinning:

Ed to add
Is there a mixed fleet where you currently are? Can you play with their artics at all?

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The collar. That’s the word I was looking for. For a while I was only pushing it on without sliding the collar down at the same time. It became a lot easier when I started doing both.

Do you have a tractor protection valve, in the cab?
On our trucks, application of the park brake automatically isolates air supply to the trailer air lines. Connection of the lines is so much less strenuous without air pressure in the line.
What does the Brom button do, in a Volvo? I believe Scania have something similar.

Nope. Nothing fitting that name springs to mind.

Absolutely right.
When we still had air taps we could connect the air lines with zero effort. Now it is always with full pressure in the red, and often with full pressure in the yellow.
Fitting of taps is not a legal option so far as I know.

The Brom/Brake ? The black button beside the handbrake? I think that Broms is Swedish for Brakes?
I don’t know if that is still current on the Swedish trucks but on the older ones it pops out of the air system drops too low.

Operation is potentially dangerous if you don’t understand what is going on. Mind you I s’pose that is true everywhere!

If air drops low, overnight perhaps, then the button pops out.
With engine running the air builds back up, the button can be pushed in, and handbrake released as normal.
However if you try to release the hand brake with the button out, the lever will be in the off position, but brakes remain on. Air builds up with engine running, and the button will require a hefty shove to push it in if lever is in off, but goes in easy if lever is on.

If you don`t understand what is happening, and it is a very early cold morning, in the early 80’s with a bit of ice in the system…
Enough air builds up to release the brakes, you get out the yard and pull onto the sloping slip road for the A33. The air drops a bit (icing in the system) and the brakes come on again. Button pops out,
A police car pulls up behind the truck and turns on the roof lights because of the obstruction. Friendly and helpful copper walks up to the cab of the F7. Driver opens door and explains that the brakes are on, the handbrake is off, but it ain’t moving. Getting on the step the copper casts an eye over the gauges etc, looks at the handbrake, and asks “What is that button”…the driver gives it a shove…

For those newer to the game, we never had self draining air tanks, nor efficient air dryers, and the air system needed regular draining to keep water out of the system.
A small bit of moisture in an air valve can easily freeze and completely bllx a system. Today the air is usually kept clean and dry by better design but it can still happen.,

I’m thinking we’d seen summat like this in another thread.

Never seen one in the flesh to be honest. Shown on hydraulic lines but equally could useful on air, I would say.

Fair chuck of cash if it doesn’t work.
More time consuming if doing it ten times or more a day.
But interesting to see such things are made.

Franglias, rather than derailing Driveress’s thread, see here.

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A carpenters clamp with some modified shoes to go round the suzie ends. I think most of the 89usd is down to the customizing and small market demand.

Apologies if it has been said already, but when I am at odds with the red line coupling I will just pump the brake pedal (engine off) multiple times to get the tank pressure low enough to make the connection a breeze.

Particularly this time of year the collars can get crusty and corroded so they don’t spring back, checking and lubricating up before hitching can also make a big difference.

Ensuring the collars are lubed and free is good advice.

Agreed that pumping the brakes to dump the air, will get you out of a hole.
But I doubt that would go down well at an assessment.

She did say the lines were at shoulder height. I’d struggle at shoulder height. Not seen one with them that high before, maybe she’s a midget?? I always get my knee behind tough ones so my leg pushes too I’ve also found leaving the engine off can sometimes help so it’s not continuously building pressure. Also a spray of wd40 can make a big difference too. Seems unfortunate they said no, unless you’re doing trailer swapping it shouldn’t be an issue.

I have a feeling the op said it was fridge work but could be wrong. As stated on a different post if there isn’t a Mavis rail fitted that comes right out and arcs downwards it’s neigh on Impossible to get up on the catwalk if the 5rh wheel is positioned correctly. It’s also very hard to get the airlines on when standing on the ground unless you are tall or Jeff capes. I also suspect that as the op is new to class 1 they won’t have been taught how to split couple or any other modern tricks

@driveress was it a Mavis rail (slides side to side) and we’re you told to use it??

Thanks for the replies

No, it wasn’t a Mavis rail. Yes it was the red one. Other lines were no problem.

It was a milk tanker and the assessor commented that the connections were higher on the trailer we were using and therefore more difficult. I couldn’t get any weight behind it as it was too high.

No, I’m not a midget, yes, I am new to class 1, no, the assessor didn’t want me to dump the air :smile:

Where I am at the moment is outbased, lorry parked in a small yard and the couple of artics belong to a different company and are out all week so difficult but not impossible to have a play. Good idea, will try to organise before my next go as my agency also operate a yard where I could do that.

I did try to do a bit of homework, saw a video of someone connecting the red one one handed😄

Can someone advise my faulty memory, but are palm couplings illegal in the EU nowadays? Although I recognised that there wasn’t much space because of the frigo motor at my last job, unlike many of my mates, I didn’t have a problem coupling the already coupled trailer, so maybe we had palms. :thinking:

On the other hand, if we had the sliding sleeves, perhaps the nearness of the back of the cab enabled me to brace against that, but I can see why connecting at shoulder height would be very difficult.