Highest licence grade?
- Thread starter Dion
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K
KraftyPg
Guest
You didn't post again after the 12th October. Did you get it or shouldn't I ask?
I've had my MC now for about 8 years, HC before that then MR before that, did once have plans of getting a job in the mines in WA and using the MC but never got around to it (think living so close to the in-laws turned me off that idea) so now its just letters on my licence. Might go back to driving semis again when I get sick of working for myself but I doubt it will be anything other than local runs
K
KraftyPg
Guest
Congrats!
I thought getting my HC was fun until the day of the test. I first drove a tipper and dog when I was 18 and drove them at different times till I got around to getting my HC nearly 10 years later but come the day of the test I screwed up nearly every gear change I did. The a couple of years later I got my MC without stuffing up anything. Stupid bloody tests, only have to show them you can do it once and I nearly couldn't do that when it counted.
I thought getting my HC was fun until the day of the test. I first drove a tipper and dog when I was 18 and drove them at different times till I got around to getting my HC nearly 10 years later but come the day of the test I screwed up nearly every gear change I did. The a couple of years later I got my MC without stuffing up anything. Stupid bloody tests, only have to show them you can do it once and I nearly couldn't do that when it counted.
Matt - VNET Pro
Member
Motobike License, Boat Licence, Car License, Security Installers License, Forklift License, Working @ Heights/Sissor Lift Licence, Austel/Titab Open Cabling License & Gun Licence.....The only I can think of that I havent had any need for is a truck licence.......? yet
K
KraftyPg
Guest
Oh yeah boat licence reminds me I need to renew my fishing licence. Another government revenue raiser, maybe this year they will send me a fisheries bloke I can take out and do a practical test with, although even our sharks wont eat crap like that.
maddogrc
Member
this makes me consider getting a higher grade license in case i get a job in the future that requires it...
any suggestions? tips for driving a truck? difficulty?
for some reason i think HR would be the way to go?
any suggestions? tips for driving a truck? difficulty?
for some reason i think HR would be the way to go?
K
KraftyPg
Guest
If your ultimate plan it to get the MC then obviously the shortest path possible is the best one and that may vary from state to state. Of course if you have the job that requires the licence and your boss is willing to write a letter saying such then you can get any licence at any time (atleast in Vic)
The one thing you need to avoid is getting a slush box restriction, just like the difference between auto and manual car licences its better to keep away from synchros so you can drive both. While alot of rigids today come with slush boxes of some kind you find that in the bigger trucks not many companies keep an entire fleet of them so if you can't drive non snychro your worth to them is less.
Besides if you need help getting the cogs to mesh then you're just not having fun, half the fun of running with road ranger is seeing just how many of the 16 gears you can wear the teeth off before you find a gear that goes forward. Although you probably shouldn't mention that to a prospective boss.
In my experience licence testers also don't like gear changes without the clutch whether there is cog polishing or not, so if you are going for anything that requires double clutching practise in anything manual until you can do it properly. It's not always easy to get right and every gear box is different but atleast if you have the basics right you wont get told off like I did for doing perfect changes without the clutch.
The one thing you need to avoid is getting a slush box restriction, just like the difference between auto and manual car licences its better to keep away from synchros so you can drive both. While alot of rigids today come with slush boxes of some kind you find that in the bigger trucks not many companies keep an entire fleet of them so if you can't drive non snychro your worth to them is less.
Besides if you need help getting the cogs to mesh then you're just not having fun, half the fun of running with road ranger is seeing just how many of the 16 gears you can wear the teeth off before you find a gear that goes forward. Although you probably shouldn't mention that to a prospective boss.
In my experience licence testers also don't like gear changes without the clutch whether there is cog polishing or not, so if you are going for anything that requires double clutching practise in anything manual until you can do it properly. It's not always easy to get right and every gear box is different but atleast if you have the basics right you wont get told off like I did for doing perfect changes without the clutch.
What he really means to say is "Licence testers don't like people who are more skilled than they are and will punish you accordingly".
Yay for ego.
K
KraftyPg
Guest
Thats true a mate of mine got pinged on his car licence because for the three point turn the tester chose a street wide enough to make a complete u-turn. After making the u-turn the tester then took him up a single lane street and made him do it again and got out and watched the whole thing to make sure the tyres didn't even brush the kerb. No sense of humour those testers
I dug this thread up outta the grave and realised I didn't elaborate enough on getting a HC licence way back then.
To answer your question maddog, get at least an MR. LR is a waste of money, and most councils (for instance) require you to have at least an MR. I got a job at a council like three weeks after I got my HR licence, so that was lucky.
The test was pretty nerve racking for (mirror mirror) me too Krafty, not the (mirror mirror) least because my jitters had me (new street, mirror mirror) going so much I forgot for the first time ever to flick the selector down for 1-4, so I was trying to take off uphill from an kerbside park (mirror mirror) in an unloaded Hino 500 in 8th rather than 4th... stalled it twice before I realised why something felt (check the sidestreet, mirror mirror) very wrong.
I went a darn sight better than the other guy they were training in the same truck though. Let's just say he was one of those people who is not very good at anything and drives a taxi and leave it at that. I ran into him a year later and he eventually got the licence (third time lucky anyone?), I doubt anybody will hand their $90,000 truck over to him though.
To answer your question maddog, get at least an MR. LR is a waste of money, and most councils (for instance) require you to have at least an MR. I got a job at a council like three weeks after I got my HR licence, so that was lucky.
The test was pretty nerve racking for (mirror mirror) me too Krafty, not the (mirror mirror) least because my jitters had me (new street, mirror mirror) going so much I forgot for the first time ever to flick the selector down for 1-4, so I was trying to take off uphill from an kerbside park (mirror mirror) in an unloaded Hino 500 in 8th rather than 4th... stalled it twice before I realised why something felt (check the sidestreet, mirror mirror) very wrong.
I went a darn sight better than the other guy they were training in the same truck though. Let's just say he was one of those people who is not very good at anything and drives a taxi and leave it at that. I ran into him a year later and he eventually got the licence (third time lucky anyone?), I doubt anybody will hand their $90,000 truck over to him though.
scottybobcat
2014 muster sponsor
With a full car lisence you can go straight to HR and after a year you can then go for HC then MC after that
scottybobcat
2014 muster sponsor
I think MR and HR are around the same price.You are better going straight to HR so you get road ranger experience or you will have conditions on your lisence so you can only drive a syncro box
HR non-synchro was ~$200 more expensive where I went but I wasn't payin for it so what does it matter!
You're spot on about the non-synchro being well worth it.
Mick-J
Member
I have HR, Forkfift etc. it's ok until friends want to move house, then you have to help + drive. My missus has a licence for driving me up the wall, it's called a Marriage licence...
K
KraftyPg
Guest
Is LR still attainable? I thought they had removed that grade ages ago because so many trucks were being manufactured as drive on a car licence or too big to drive on a car licence.
I did my MR at Fairfield when I was living in Melbourne for a few years and had to go to Broady Vic Roads where they stuffed up the paper work after I passed the test. The idiots not only wrote down HR instead of MR they gave me the non synchro and the MR test back then didn't include non synchro testing. Not that it mattered in the end I got my MR for a job and didn't drive anything bigger until I got my HC for another job.
My biggest problem with the 16 speed box on test day was going down gears, I've driven different semis for years and loaded or not I never used to have a problem with the gears, in most of the trucks we changed gears without the clutch and only used the clutch for stopping and starting so using the clutch every gear change was a bit of a novelty for me and going down the box was bloody annoying to the point of over thinking what I was doing and missing what I was after.
But still the biggest pain in the arse of any test is all that head turning and stuff. They tell you too look down each side street to make sure there is nothing coming. Well hello I'm in 25 tonne of truck, doing 40-50ks in a built up area (because you insist safely at 30ks isn't proof enough the driver is capable), by the time I can turn my head and look down each side street it's too friggen late to worry about a car on either side possibly running the STOP sign, I'm in the intersection and having sedan salad for lunch.
I did my MR at Fairfield when I was living in Melbourne for a few years and had to go to Broady Vic Roads where they stuffed up the paper work after I passed the test. The idiots not only wrote down HR instead of MR they gave me the non synchro and the MR test back then didn't include non synchro testing. Not that it mattered in the end I got my MR for a job and didn't drive anything bigger until I got my HC for another job.
My biggest problem with the 16 speed box on test day was going down gears, I've driven different semis for years and loaded or not I never used to have a problem with the gears, in most of the trucks we changed gears without the clutch and only used the clutch for stopping and starting so using the clutch every gear change was a bit of a novelty for me and going down the box was bloody annoying to the point of over thinking what I was doing and missing what I was after.
But still the biggest pain in the arse of any test is all that head turning and stuff. They tell you too look down each side street to make sure there is nothing coming. Well hello I'm in 25 tonne of truck, doing 40-50ks in a built up area (because you insist safely at 30ks isn't proof enough the driver is capable), by the time I can turn my head and look down each side street it's too friggen late to worry about a car on either side possibly running the STOP sign, I'm in the intersection and having sedan salad for lunch.
My missus has a licence for driving me up the wall, it's called a Marriage licence...
Hahaha
Still on the menu where I went and still in the VicRoads vocabulary
Biggest waste of $450 I can think of.
Yeah the thought did cross our minds (me and a mate did ours at around the same time) that even if we did know a car was going to run a red or a stop sign, there wasn't much we could do about it.
K
KraftyPg
Guest
Did you get to take the truck on the skid pan as a part of your course?
