Question about Swift

Young man, you are sweating bullets over something that is NOT going to be an issue for you. Swift, and all the training carriers, have programs in place to take students who wouldn't know a stick shift from cow shift.

Trust me, it'll all fall into place in it's own time. Just get trained and get out here.

 

Oldnewbie is right on the money. I had a guy road test with me yesterday that had only driven automatics and didn't do very good but they (Swift) said they would work with him and told him to not give up. Hope that helps some.

 

When you go to school, whether it be an independant school like I went to or Swifts (or anyone else's) training acadamies, they will teach you the basics of shifting. The school I went to took us out in their front parking lot in a bobtail, before ever taking us out on the road, to teach us shifting. Basically we just drove around the lot shifting up and down at an idle, never touched the throttle. Then when they took us on the road, first they redid the shifting practice, but this time we had a trailer and used the throttle. The important thing is that the schools will teach you the fundimentals of shifting, the basics. They KNOW you will not be very good at it. It is the job of the mentors to work with you and get you shifting like a pro. Some of them will even have you floating the gears and you won't have to worry about double clutching. As far as shifting patterns, it's the same as your car, you just go thru the pattern twice.

 

Why not walk into the terminal and talk to the training DM? Maybe he could get you straight into working with someone who runs fairly local so you could practice shifting.

As a 915 driver (I drive them too), you are already familiar with backing and turning. Your primary concern is learning the DOT rules (weight/hours) and shifting. Perhaps there is a local school that will work with you at a reduced rate. But make sure you discuss your previous experience with schools recruiter.

Flipping gears really only takes about a week to learn if concentrated, or 2 weeks if only an hour a two a day. Heck, if you were in my area, I'd take ya.

 

So, im same boat , but can shift, but i just need big help on logs , so i plan too spend lot's time there in that room, at swift ,thats my biggest hangup on trucking, cause everyboby is differnt doing it there way , Everett

 

I'm not going to tell you what you "should" do. I will say this: since you are unfamiliar with HOS , shifting and I'm sure other things too, but you already have your CDL, talk to your recruiter about going out with a mentor for the full turn and then testing out. You do not want to have yourself thrown to the wolves until you have an idea what you're doing. I see no reason Swift would not do this. The purpose of the school is to get your CDL. The purpose of. The mentor is to teach you to be a driver...the rest of the nuts and bolts of the business.