Manuel transmission training

Here is a person whom made the change and loves it.

 

What ever opens more opportunities for you is a good thing.
Don’t listen to those who poo poo driving a manual.

 

All transmissions are H patterns. Add a few buttons or 2 sticks, piece of cake.

 

I spoke with a Fedex Freight driver, he said they keep a manual truck in their yard for training purposes.

 

Suddenly we're all spelling bee champions

 

My company is a local company that pulls bulkers. We are 70% auto. The autos are newer Volvos whereas the manuals r old Kenworths. The KWs are pos. Nobody wants to drive them. Newbies are forced to drive them unless they have a restriction.

 

CDL schools barely give any instruction in manuals even when they are using manual trucks. My school had us driving manual trucks around the yard and backing before anyone got to drive on the streets with an instructor. Most ofvthe instruction was delivered at great volume while coasting through an intersection and grinding gears.

 

The way things are going I suspect in another 20+ years a manual tranny will be almost as rare as a driver being paid hub miles is today!

 

I went to CDL school at my local community college and trained/tested out in a manual. Then I went OTR with a company that had 100% autos for company drivers so I drove an automatic for 2 years. I then went into LTL and I was honest with Estes in that I had no restriction on my license so legally I could drive a manual, but that it had been 2 years and I was very rusty/would need additional time with a trainer driving in a manual.

They were (and still are) desperate for drivers so they took me on and trained me not only for my job, but on how to drive a manual again. They would not have taken me on if I DID have the restriction on my license. They also, in my own personal opinion, would not have hired me if this was an employers market. Thankfully this is 100% a drivers market.

Last, other posters are correct in that automatics are the way of the future. It's already 99% automatic over in Europe for the semi trucks. It's trending that way here in America and by the end of my working lifetime (another 35 years or so I guess) I believe manuals will only be used for specialized and niche trucking, such as oversized flatbed loads or something like that.

THAT SAID, as far as I know Saia is the only 100% automatic LTL company. So if you're wanting to do OTR dry van and reefer for the rest of your career (which is 100% fine), you probably won't have to worry about having a manual restriction. If you're wanting to get into LTL though (and this includes both local P&D and OTR linehaul), unless you go to Saia or maybe a FedEx Contractor, you'll need to know how to drive a manual for the foreseeable future.