Downshifting and braking at the same time, proper technique?

Funny you should ask i've never ever had to do this (with a manual gear shift ) i'll either brake only or change down only, although now that i think about i can do both with an auto shift however i'm doing all three braking, changing down and using the jakes as well. All this depends on what speeds i'm doing of course and how far away from the turn off i am.

 

Float the gears, shift without using the clutch. You only need the clutch when changing directio (foward to revers, etc) or starting from stopped.

 

Illegal to coast the truck? Who in the heck told you that? Tell them to cite the code. If you coast during a cdl exam, you will fail but there is no laws that specify how you drive your truck.
Even so, you worried some cop has a camera in your truck and writes you a ticket for coasting. Do what ever it takes to slow your truck. Learn your truck and how to maintain control of it. It’s unfortunate that drivers of commercial vehicles are out on the roadways today aren’t sure how to maintain control of their truck.

 

Has anyone been cited for coasting and not causing the state to burn down?!

Sometimes i miss a gear coming to stale traffic light over 10 lengths. Big bad copper gonna site me, oh noes. pound sand, Fix the pot holes, wouldn't miss the shift.

 

Me personally in some instances where I need to stop a little quicker than I usually do I'll be on the jakes and while that is slowing got a foot on the brakes and when I need to catch another gear I'll blip throttle and back to the brakes. Seems to work just fine with me. Now I will also say there will come a time when you get put into a situation where there's no time to downshift you gotta grab all the brakes you can get to shut her down and I'll clutch in about 6-700 rpm after warming the brakes up.

 

I use the slap to kick the revs up. A moment in braking off service does not bother me.

Sometimes if the situation demands it, I'll jake her down and float at the same time down the tree.

Most ramps have a small post with one reflective dot, two and three. The three is your last warning before entering ramp at a relatively safe speed.

Otherwise it takes some really fast footwork to snub her with formal downshifting with the jacobs going and on the service brake at the same time. You are essentially tap dancing in that cab floor. That is one reason I wore boots with that inch heel square. You can manage all three pedals in short order with them.

Also the trolley valve might buy some time if I must have some form of braking.

Barring all else if this is a whoa nellie stop!!! I'll use the service brake and clean it all up after the stop and start over. There is one exception, the early autos we had would follow the truck down the tree and have a gear constantly ready to go.

 

It depends on how fast am I going, what's behind me, what's in front of me, how much weight am I pulling, how long is the ramp, what's at the end of the ramp, and what are the road conditions.

 

How do you do it if you have 18 gears or 13 even?!

 

The way I've always told people I've helped get their CDL over the years about like this.

"You learn how to drive to take the CDL Road Test, then once you pass that you really learn how to Drive Truck!"