Learning Something New

When we bought this coach the only experience I had on a vehicle like this was a 34’ Class A gas coach.  While that coach was a learning curve for me as I had never driven anything that large before, this coach presented an even steeper curve.  It has a rear mounted diesel powered engine, air brakes instead of hydraulic, is 43 feet long and has a maximum weight limit of 46,000 pounds.  For perspective that is ten times the weight of our car.  If I was going to be safe and comfortable driving a vehicle this size and weight I wanted to have some training and experience.

Do I Want To Be A Truck Driver?

To legally and safely drive a vehicle like this in Ontario you are required to obtain a Class D licence with an air brake endorsement.  Some jurisdictions just allow a general licence to drive something like this, but Ontario has a standard that means you need to have, and demonstrate the knowledge to do so.  Not necessarily experience, but after taking a training course I can certainly see the benefit in taking the training.  In other words, it is entirely possible to purchase a vehicle like this, study the material that is available on the braking system, write the test and take the road test without having any training.

I booked myself on a course last April in Brantford at a Truck Driving School.  I don’t live anywhere near Brantford but that was the closest I could find a course that would get me in and trained before we took delivery of the coach.  The course had full attendance and was three days the first week to obtain an air brake (Z) endorsement on my licence; while the second week was three days of street driving in a transport truck.  I was the only student there that was not planning on driving commercially and the only one over 30.  The demand for truck drivers is extremely high, there are far too few schools to handle the number of drivers out there, and I think a lot of employers are hiring people with minimal experience and pushing them through the system.  My instructor was 72 and had driven his own trucks for fifty years and retired when he was 70, so had plenty of thoughts on the state of the industry today.  The truck driving school recruited him to teach and he said if I passed, even at my age, I could have my pick of companies with trucks looking for drivers.

I can tell you from my experience of taking the course, if there are any readers contemplating a vehicle like this, or any that have a vehicle like this and haven't received any training - book yourself on a course.  There were things I learned on the course about the braking system, and driving a heavy vehicle in general I would never have known or been able to feel confident about if I had not taken the course.  Now don’t get me wrong, this was a truck driving course and so a lot of the practical things learned cannot be done on a coach like the one we have, but the principle is the same.  For example, reading about the slack adjuster on the brake components on each wheel is not the same as actually seeing if the adjustment is correct for each wheel on the vehicle.  Thankfully our coach has a system built in that allows me to adjust the brakes before each trip without having to scramble underneath.

The road test in the truck was a bit daunting as it has been just over fifty years since I got my licence and I have developed a lot of bad habits in that time.  I had to do a walkaround on the truck and was subject to random questions about the braking system and daily checks that needed to be done, then taken on a road test.  The road test was the most stressful as the truck just fits in the lane and you cannot go even one kilometre per hour over the speed limit.  If you go too slow you are cautioned by the examiner.  Cutting off cars or pedestrians is an automatic failure, and running a yellow light is a potential problem depending on where you are when it turns yellow.

The road test went quite well and I was pleased I didnt hit any yellow lights or cut anyone off.  I was cautioned once to speed up as I was going too slow trying to time a light ahead.  I was feeling pretty good about myself and came up to the last intersection.  The light was red as I approached and there were no vehicles ahead of me.  I came up to the stop line and waited.  Looking to my left I did not see any cars coming up on the green.  My examiner told me to never be in a rush to turn right on a red, and as that thought went through my head a blind person with a cane walked from left to right in the crosswalk.  As he passed in front of the truck I couldn’t even see him.  I obviously waited until he was clear of the intersection and by then the light was green.  As I turned right I chuckled mostly to myself but the examiner asked what I thought was funny.  I told him I thought the blind guy was a plant.  He didn't laugh.

In the end, I passed the Z, wrote my test at the test center and passed, and passed my road test so was legal in Ontario.

Spartan RV Chassis

With that training out of the way, I now needed to get some experience on the coach.  Driving around is one thing but I wanted to know about the systems and how they worked, and whether there were things I could do on my own from a preventative maintenance perspective that would minimize the requirement for certain things on service visits.

2023 Newmar Ventana - Patty’s Wagon

Most diesel coaches in this class are built on either a Freightliner or a Spartan chassis.  The chassis is built at the factory and shipped to the coach manufacturer to add the components you see on the road.  The walls, furnishings, appliances, etc.  The vast majority of coaches are built on the Freightliner chassis and there are all kinds of Freightliner transport trucks on the road so any service requirements will be fairly easily met if you have a coach built on the same chassis.

Our coach was ordered by the dealership, was in the showroom when we purchased it and was ordered with a Spartan Chassis.  Spartan produces truck chassis primarily for utility trucks for electrical and speciality purposes, but is perhaps best known for producing most if not all of the chassis for fire trucks in North America.  Spartan RV Chassis is based out of the small central Michigan town of Charlotte.  It was quickly pointed out to us that it is pronounced Char-LOT and not SHAR-lot, like the city in North Carolina.

Fire Truck Bodies and Completed Unit in the Background

Both Freightliner and Spartan produce marketing products that tout the unique benefits of each, and if we were in a position to order a coach from the factory we would have had to make a decision one way or the other.  However, the coach we purchased was built on a Spartan chassis, so we got what we got.  Spartan builds their chassis with heavy duty commercial components, designed to go hundreds of thousands of miles, so the ten to fifteen thousand I might put on each year are a fraction.  They offer a robust technical support network and I am impressed with their level of after market support for the engine, transmission, and components installed by them.  As these are sophisticated commercial grade products, Spartan also offers a week long course on systems related to safe operation of the coach as well as a day long road training defensive driving style course in our own vehicle - for both the primary driver and their spouse.

The week long course includes a stay in their campground, thorough inspection of the coach with individual wheel weighing and some basic service, recommendations for optional service items, breakfast and lunch provided each day, and a full agenda of training elements.  Shortly after we purchased the coach we booked the training course for the middle of October, 2024.  We drove from our home campground in North Bay, arrived the day prior to training and set up in the campground.

The training course was comprised of eight couples, ranging in experience from those like us just starting out to a few with ten to fifteen plus years driving coaches like these.  So I think that is a testament to the benefit of training being provided.  We also had a factory tour to see the chassis being assembled.  All of the operations at Spartan are unionized, except the RV Chassis assembly line.   Also, the RV Chassis are built by hand - no robotics, no automation, and the technicians working the line bid internally to get the opportunity to build them.  A very impressive facility and the people working the line are seasoned and show a tremendous amount of pride in the product they are producing.

Miles of Air Lines, Cummins Engine, Allison Transmission

Interestingly enough one half of a day was set aside for training on the air system for braking and the air bag suspension.  The course was almost the same as the course I took back in Branford for the air brake side of things - I think primarily because in most jurisdictions in the US you do not need any formal training to drive an air brake equipped vehicle.  You only need a special licence if driving commercially.

Spartan brings in an external instructor to teach the road portion and he was excellent.  He had the patience required to make sure those that typically don’t drive felt comfortable behind the wheel when it was their turn to hit the road.  Pat did well and although she has no intention of driving the coach, doing so under these circumstances at least gave her comfort knowing she could if she needed.  Despite her wanting him to call her by name, he insisted on saying ma’am.  It was okay “ma’am you are going to take out those mailboxes ma’am, you need to move left ma’am, good ma’am, that is good.  Now don’t forget ma’am people will move out of your way ma’am when they see you coming, so you should ride right down the yellow line ma’am.  Good”……

Easy Does It Ma’am

Having taken the course we now have the right to attend any future course at any time without question.  Just show up, park the coach, learn something new or just get a refresher.

The various training courses were a wealth of information, and I have developed a number of checklists that I use before each departure.  These checklists incorporate some of those items identified on the courses as well as manufacturer recommended checks.  I will write more about that in an upcoming blog.

Thanks for reading.