Logging a straight truck

[dotson_chuck]

How do you straight truck solos log your down time between loads? Do you go off duty or to sleeper berth? Do you just stay that way until the next load? I know they are going to more and more elogs now so I was just curious. Been awhile since i logged and my last driving gig was local so that is the reason for the question.

Any other advice you may have would be helpful as well.

 

[highway star]

If I'm in the truck it's sleeper, if I'm out it's off duty.

 

[cheri1122]

Mostly sleeper, off duty on the occasional weekends when I do a 34 hr restart.

 

[ATeam]

How do you straight truck solos log your down time between loads? Do you go off duty or to sleeper berth? Do you just stay that way until the next load? I know they are going to more and more elogs now so I was just curious. Been awhile since i logged and my last driving gig was local so that is the reason for the question.

Any other advice you may have would be helpful as well.

Log it as you drive it. When it comes to off duty and sleeper time, log it as you live it. If you are at a truck stop laying over for say a day, log yourself in the sleeper. If you go inside for lunch and stay an hour, log one hour off duty.

The nice thing about these new electronic logs is the new level of accuracy they provide. The log it as you live it guidance remains, only now you can be more precise. Log yourself in the sleeper and off duty for lunch as before. Later, if you make a 6 minute trip to the bathroom, you can log those six minutes off duty and log yourself back in the sleeper when you return. So too with a three minute trip in to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Compliance is king in this CSA day and age. Professional drivers can now take great pride and the general public can find peace in the new accuracy EOBR's provide.

 

[zorry]

Learn how to split your break.
If you can spend a few more minutes in the sleeper to make 8, it may make the difference between being able to take a load,getting two more hours later, or turning down the load.
This is very important as a solo.

 

[dotson_chuck]

Thank you all for the responses. I figured that was how you do it, but didnt want to get out there and make a mistake logging.

With the downtime you get do you ever cut it close on hours or is this a week by week thing?

 

[cheri1122]

To answer your questions, no, I never cut it close on hours, [but I agree with Ontariovanman's philosophy of business: run less, make more.]. And yes, it is a week by week thing, every week.
Even with the proposed limits on the 34 hr restart, it's something I do pretty regularly, even if just for the simplicity of the math.
Calculators are for sissies, lol.

 

[Olko]

We used to have all this logging stuff down back around 2001. I don't think I would have a clue as to do any logging. One of the big things that stopped us from returning in the past was the change they made for teams splitting hours. Now life maybe soon allowing for us to make our own decisions, and who knows maybe we will have to start all over.

From what I read on here it seems they have totally messed things up, and made things less safe. Maybe the real world is a lot different from the scenario I have built up in my head.

 

[TruckingSurv]

I am still in the research phase and haven't started driving, so a few questions come to mind:

1) How do you log time while in service waiting on a load? Say you wait three days, since you are watching a load board or waiting for a call from dispatch is that off duty or on duty not driving? I understand if you go out of service because you want time off that would be off duty or sleeper time. With being "on call" it seems that couldn't be logged as off duty?

2) How is deadhead on your own dime counted, say you end up in a place, sit a couple days and then decide to deadhead to a better freight area, not under dispatch?

3) What about deadheading home for a few days R-n-R? You are out of service and may be out for a week+?

4) If driving team, does the 34 hour reset have to be done simultaneously for both team members? Can driver one start a 34 hour at the start of driver two's last driving shift and then driver one go back to work while driver two finishes their 34 hour reset? Each driver would be off duty 34 hours, BUT part of each drivers reset would be while the truck was rolling.

I guess some of this comes down to is there anytime while driving a CMV that it is actually as personal conveyance rather than a CMV?

I have taken my CDL written tests in preparation for obtaining my CDL and have studied the FMCSR handbook quite a bit since then and am still unclear on some of the logging rules, it seems teams and especially expediters that are all O/O and living on the truck don't necessarily fit the mold of a solo driver in a semi.

TS

 

[Slo-Ride]

Really not that had figure out a log book. Each line tells ya what they are asking for..Don't overthink it. Do your sleeper time then flag a change of duty status (off duty) and do what you want to do until you'd next trip. No need to go in and out of the sleeeper each time ya climb back in the truck. Update the time often. Most mistakes will be stupid little ones that we over look and fail to double check before closing out that page.

 

[tenntrucker]

Eclipse is a great laptop log program that take a lot if guessing out of HOS.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Olko]

Eclipse is a great laptop log program that take a lot if guessing out of HOS.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Howdy

I figured I would give the Eclipse program a try. I just made up a run the way we used to do it and ended up with violations all over the place. It's going to be hard to teach this OLD GEEZER new tricks, if it comes to that.

 

[tenntrucker]

Howdy

I figured I would give the Eclipse program a try. I just made up a run the way we used to do it and ended up with violations all over the place. It's going to be hard to teach this OLD GEEZER new tricks, if it comes to that.

They will let you download it and try it for 30 days free, it was only $59 to buy it back a couple years ago when I bought mine. It is very easy to use. If your driving a st8, you can get them to change the inspection template from a tt to a st8. It will make doing the pretrip easier.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Olko]

They will let you download it and try it for 30 days free, it was only $59 to buy it back a couple years ago when I bought mine. It is very easy to use. If your driving a st8, you can get them to change the inspection template from a tt to a st8. It will make doing the pretrip easier.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

We pretty much just did 5 hours driving and 5 hours in the sleeper, especially on the cross country trips. For us we found that the 5 hours was about our limit for a sleep period while the truck was running. Some folks liked to do 8 or 10 hours but we felt the most refreshed on our plan. Of course we got "creative" if one of us wasn't feeling well it might mean the other one would end up doing 20 or so hours.

We always did our job up to the point that safety was not compromised. Sometimes after a few long back to back cross country trips we might tell dispatch we were going OOS for 8 hours to get some rest, and to get that safety edge back. A lot of the dispatchers wouldn't even put us OOS when we explained our need for a mini re-set after doing 7000 miles or more without sleeping in a bed that wasn't bouncing across States like AR or LA. It also helps to have a good working relationship with your dispatchers because they knew that once we got that break we would be bugging them for a load, and if they really had an emergency we would get it handled for them.

All that to say we want to make sure these new laws are something we can work with that we consider safely, and generally within the scope of the law. Not what some Bozo sitting behind a desk in Washington decided would look good on their resume.

 

[layoutshooter]

I would NEVER use MY straight truck for logging, it would not haul enough logs to be worth the trouble and it would make a REAL MESS out of my truck! (I could not resist, it's not my fault, it's OVM's fault. (I have to blame someone))

 

[Olko]

I would NEVER use MY straight truck for logging, it would not haul enough logs to be worth the trouble and it would make a REAL MESS out of my truck! (I could not resist, it's not my fault, it's OVM's fault. (I have to blame someone))

Maybe you could haul "Miniature Logs". They have miniature cows, miniature pigs, miniature dogs, and miniature goats. From what I have heard some of the ranchers around hear saying is one thing that isn't miniature about them, is the price they get for them.

A miniature cow goes for about the same price as a full size cow. When asked why the best answer seems to be "duh"

So maybe if you could get some of those miniature logs, you could make a killing, and be able to afford to hire someone to clean your truck for you.

After you make your fortune hauling the miniature logs, you can be sitting on a beach in NJ slurping down your margaritas while someone else continues driving your truck hauling around those miniature logs....What a Life

 

[Ragman]

Maybe you could haul "Miniature Logs". They have miniature cows, miniature pigs, miniature dogs, and miniature goats. From what I have heard some of the ranchers around hear saying is one thing that isn't miniature about them, is the price they get for them.

A miniature cow goes for about the same price as a full size cow. When asked why the best answer seems to be "duh"

So maybe if you could get some of those miniature logs, you could make a killing, and be able to afford to hire someone to clean your truck for you.

After you make your fortune hauling the miniature logs, you can be sitting on a beach in NJ slurping down your margaritas while someone else continues driving your truck hauling around those miniature logs....What a Life

He could even build a miniature log cabin.

 

[moose]

If i try to imagine a cozy exotic beach to down a margarita in...
a New Jersey one do not comes to mind...
sorry.

 

[layoutshooter]

Maybe you could haul "Miniature Logs". They have miniature cows, miniature pigs, miniature dogs, and miniature goats. From what I have heard some of the ranchers around hear saying is one thing that isn't miniature about them, is the price they get for them.

A miniature cow goes for about the same price as a full size cow. When asked why the best answer seems to be "duh"

So maybe if you could get some of those miniature logs, you could make a killing, and be able to afford to hire someone to clean your truck for you.

After you make your fortune hauling the miniature logs, you can be sitting on a beach in NJ slurping down your margaritas while someone else continues driving your truck hauling around those miniature logs....What a Life

Not NJ. I prefer Lake Erie for walleye and duck hunting. THAT is MY idea of the "Good Life".

 

[Olko]

If i try to imagine a cozy exotic beach to down a margarita in...
a New Jersey one do not comes to mind...
sorry.

Don't they have some TV show Jersey Shores, or something like that with a bunch of HOT young women running around half naked with the Governor in his tight little speedo suit. What could be better than that. I'm beginning to think that my wife might be onto something with her talk that includes me, and the word insane...


Ragman: You need some of those miniature cows for your miniature log cabin.