To those who got into trucking not knowing Shift Stick how long did it take to learn

Work on not being nervous and don't focuse so much on shifting. Let the truck get it into gear you just point it into the direction.i see a lot of people rushing to speed shift and get locked out of the next gear. Just breath. Took me 30 minutes or so to get a hold of shifting grinding etc until it started making sense to me. I learned on a 13 speed that's all I had available. But I learned to float before double clutching........ And YouTube tutorials

 

We had a guy go through my entire class and grinded all the time. He would get flustered and throw the crap in gear, usually not the right one, and throw us around in the back. Dont know if he passed his test or not. Buying a POS stick car would not have helped you dude. Listen to the instructor, humble yourself, and take your time.

 

Never drove an auto trans but a little less RPM makes em slide in easier too.
I would recomend you choose between double clutch and floating, and just focus on one of the two. I learned to double clutch when I was a kid, and think its the easiest.
This "school" should be teaching you, and not giving you a bad time!

 

whoever told you that you're failing, is failing. Keep at it, its not rocket science, find someone else to teach you, the attitude is ####....trying to do something isn't failing, quitting is, everyone learns at a different pace and some people learn some things faster than others.

 

I had a private instructor that helped me pass my test. That was pretty much it. I then bought a truck and flatbed and got my own authority with zero experience. I use to grind the gears all the time until I just plain chilled out. It took me maybe 4 months before I could down shift. I would go through EZpass lanes and have to come to a complete stop then start all over again.

 

Had no idea - and no training. Took me about a week of full time driving to learn a 10 speed, a month to become smooth. Like @Skate-Board I was terrible at down shifting. Began floating after a year or so, and only floating on down shift in the last 2.

Just had to learn a 13 speed - after 10 years experience, that took me 2 months to get smooth.

Don't sweat it. And don't believe the "I was born with a steering wheel in my hand" stories - everybody blows at shifting to start with.

 

Learning to double clutch will help from grinding and is actually preferred by most trucking companies as a way off conserving fuel.
Count slowly to 10. And then back to 1 over and over at a slow and steady pace. Once driving just count as you shift. It will soon fall in place like counting.
You can do it.....
PS. Floating is an acquired skill but not needed to successfully drive a truck. Work on the required stuff.

 

First thing I can think of is the car/pickup with a manual would have helped you but ... It has to do with coordination of your hand, and two feet moving in different directions so any of that type of practice will help.

The second thing that comes to mind is always always double clutch, do not try to float or force the gears during a shift, those who advocate floating are not thinking about you being a student so get into the habit right from the start and keep it until you get it right most of the time.

As for double clutching conserving fuel, not really.

 

Ridgeline, I'm absolutely positive that you've got tons more experience than I do, with that said, I humbly disagree with your statement about having driven a straight shift car. I'd driven str8 shift or manual transmissions for the majority of my driving life (been licensed since 1979) and it's a completely different thing. I'd get too deep in the clutch (while double- clutching) and of course the clutch brake would engage and grind the #### out of those gears. The majority of the instructors I spoke with said they'd much rather have students that had never driven a str8 shift than those guys (gals) like me that had driven them. I guess it's like teaching the old dog new tricks, a lil bit harder than teaching the young pup! Anyway, I finally got the hang of double clutching it after about 15 hrs. in the truck. After I had passed all of my tests I was allowed to drive some more and the instructor showed me the floating method and I think I did pretty good floating them. Run her up to 1500 pull her out and slide it back into gear at or around 1000 rpm. Gotta work on my downshifting on the float though! To the OP, take your time and TRY not to get flustered,I don't know anybody that was born shifting one of these rigs, be patient and don't let them rattle you!