Automatic trucks

I have never had the pleasure of an automatic so they would have to retrain me!

 

p.a.m transport has all auto with option for sticks... i work for decker transport we are all auto's and they accept students email me with any questions

 

I have driven 20 years cars (and some trucks) with manual transmission but did my training and road test in Calgary at an auto Freightliner. It is manageable. But I had a feeling that do not have enough control over the truck.

 

Watkins Shepard has a terminal around Dalton. I75 exit 328 I believe. First exit south below exit 333.

At school I was told by a couple of recruiters that automatics did not fulfill their promise of hope. Gas mileage was not better than manual and they still had to pay for clutch repairs. And they also said that their respective companies were going back to the ten speeds, no more autos for them. I was also told that once in a blue moon they will have a computer brain freeze and not shift at all. Could be going up hill pr down hill. I am sure I could get used to it but until I drive one that acts better than the ones we had in chool, I would rather have a ten speed or a super ten.

 

like its hard to shift?

 

Do you get a restriction placed on your liense for being trained in an auto shift? Here in SK, if we are trained in an auto shift truck, we get some kind of restriction on our license. Not sure what it is and I don't wanna find out.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread yet but I think the auto transmissions are just one more step to companies being able to compete with pizza delivery places for drivers. Putting more and more auto shift rigs out there makes the job less of a "skilled" position in the eyes of most people. Since the need for technical know how may be reduced, we may get people who are less conscious of their responsibilities on the road, see driver pay drop and accident rates increase.

I hope that's way off the mark but I dunno.

Cheers

 

But my point was if you had to use the clutch for starting and stopping, what would be difficult for shifting with clutch otherwise. But maybe you mean that just because you use clutch to start and stop doesn't mean you are doing any actual shifting? To me, I take it that most people who object to a clutch is because of taking off for them from a stop is difficult. And what I did not relay first post, in school they would not let us shift them manually because they didn't want us to damage something? Tells me they were worried that we could mess it up somehow. I mean we shifted ten speeds why couldn't we manually shift the automatics?

 

No, I have no restrictions and my Alberta DL looks like before but with digit 1 after the class. As you can guess in Canada every province has different regulations regarding that. I could bring to the test any truck with no dependence to my training. I also heard that training or road test at auto trucks in Ontario is not permitted.

 

I think some driving schools offer choice to get training at an automatic aiming faster and cheaper graduating of new drivers but the qualification of these guys is not good enough in all cases.

 

I drove an autoshift/ultrashift for 2 years and never had a second's trouble with either. if you think shifting a tranny is a "skill" and the most difficult aspect of being a truck driver, maybe you SHOULD stick with delivering pizzas, 'cause you ain't ready for truckin'!!!

an auto in a truck is just something that makes the job more pleasant - like cruise control, air conditioning or air ride suspension. if you want to make the job as difficult and unpleasant as possible, I'm sure you'll find plenty of oppurtunities for that in trucking as it is.