Floating gears?

Done alot, yes. No need to be taught, it will come to you.......GOOD LUCK on that test...........................

 

Pass the test first and your trainer will tell you how to "float" those gears "IF" you get to see a manual xmission! LOL. There will be quiet a few of those "no shifting" situations where you WILL be shifting and the first thing your trainer will tell you is to forget half of what they taught you in school! Even I told students that would happen when they got in their first truck!

I know you've had morons pass you just after crossing an intersection yelling at you to "get a real job" cause you went creeping through the intersection without shifting! That is just one of a few "rules" that need to be changed because if every truck out there didn't change gears going through an intersection traffic in the cities would come to a freaking complete stop! We all know this but the college educated who write these driving laws have no clue! Even at R/R tracks. tip: for now while in school, stop at the max distance from the tracks then shift using short RPMs so you have a little more MOMENTUMN to cross the tracks without stopping if for some reason you do miss a gear!Another tip: when getting your CDL road test and you are in an automatic, put the stupid thing in MANUAL at intersections and R/R Tracks! I had a student so scared on his driving test he forgot to and failed his first road test! Then there was the one who forgot to put it back in manual when he crossed the intersection but it really didn't effect him then!

 

A few years out of trucking school, I figured out floating, and that was pretty much that. When I was training students, I would have 'em go with what they could do best. If a student could float without turning my tranny gears into oatmeal, more power to 'im. Otherwise, I'd have 'em double clutch. They could work it out on their own later, like I did.

In the end, it's up to you and what you think will be easier on the truck.

 

Why not? Is there an FMCSA regulation or Virginia state law that says you can't? I'm asking seriously.

Yes. Personally, I was taught to leave the clutch alone except when starting and stopping.

 

Floating gears should be left to the drivers that know how to shift at all times. They've got gear selection down and they know what gear to be in on any given situation.

You should first learn how to shift with the clutch and know what gear to be in, that includes skipping gears. There's three incidents that can happen when shifting. 1. rub a gear,2. grind a gear, and 3. bang a gear. Thne first one is no big deal and we all do it once in awhile. If you're grinding then you're not matching road speed with engine speed. Banging a gear is the worse. It will, alot of times, pop out of gear and you'll feel it throughout the truck. You won't bang a gear if you're using the clutch.

Master on before moving on to the next.

 

Good job, and the best of luck!