Thread: Got my Heavy Rigid (HR) License yesterday, in a HUGE Hino

Originally Posted by spudboy

Had an excellent day yesterday, driving a big old Hino dump truck.


Never been so terrified doing 50Km/h!! It is unbelieveable how different it feels when you have to manouver 20 tonnes of steel and dirt compared to a car. MUCH respect to people who do this for a living! Especially the big semi drivers.

Spent the day learning how to operate the gearbox, reverse using only mirrors and wrangling the air-brakes.

Did my test at 4:00PM and passed even though I did the whole reversing bit in high range slipping the clutch 'cause I didn't remember to put it back to low range first

So, now I can drive big things up to about 26 tonnes I think, as long as they have a synchro gearbox (but not Semis - that is a different class again).

Was excellent fun

Cheers
David

That truck, young spudly, isnt that old!!

congrats!

Congratulations after you have had a fair bit of practice then try to learn on a "crash" box, where one has to be able to match the engine revs to that of the gearbox,using the double de-clutch method,and then you will be able to drive older trucks and Ex-Military vehicles


cheers

Got my truck license in 1960 in a Studebaker US-6

Congrats from me too,,

Did you go straight from car to HR, is that why you have "L" plates on?

When I got my MR, (next up from car) in NSW, I didn't need L plates. Humm,, maybe I did

Originally Posted by Chops

Congrats from me too,,

Did you go straight from car to HR, is that why you have "L" plates on?

When I got my MR, (next up from car) in NSW, I didn't need L plates. Humm,, maybe I did

About 10 or 12 years ago I went from car straight to HC. The truck had L plates on it.

Congratulations Spudboy, they are fun to drive. The bigger you go, the more fun they get (I have driven two trailer road trains in Alice Springs).

Congrats on the license. Doing it in a syncro box is pretty straightforward, if you are getting the license for employment purposes, go to an unrestricted one as soon as you can as it will increase your employability greatly.

I spent a few years driving rigids and semis, including oversize work, and it certainly teaches you a great deal about the road, driving and others on the road. All the best with it and stay safe.

Originally Posted by Chops

Congrats from me too,,

Did you go straight from car to HR, is that why you have "L" plates on?

When I got my MR, (next up from car) in NSW, I didn't need L plates. Humm,, maybe I did

Yeah - went from Car to HR in one go. L plates were there when I turned up so I assumed I had to have them. It's pretty quick - all over and done in one day's training.

Originally Posted by PeterM

Congrats on the license. Doing it in a syncro box is pretty straightforward, if you are getting the license for employment purposes, go to an unrestricted one as soon as you can as it will increase your employability greatly.

I spent a few years driving rigids and semis, including oversize work, and it certainly teaches you a great deal about the road, driving and others on the road. All the best with it and stay safe.

Well, for someone who has never driven a split gear box ever before, it was quite stressful trying to work out the gears to begin with. Flipping between high and low ratios on the 4-5 and 5-4 changes.

Also, I did a lot of stopping in high range, and forgetting to flick back to low range to take off. Took me a while to get the hang of that.

Did my test at 4:00PM and passed even though I did the whole reversing bit in high range slipping the clutch 'cause I didn't remember to put it back to low range first

I couldn't see the "driver under instruction GEARBOX under destruction sign on the front"