Today was my first day ever driving a Tractor.

I’m training in a 10 Speed- I’ve never driven manual in my life basically.

I can shift fine to 5 but still having issues jumping the clutch, makes for a jerky ride but I’m getting the double clutch rhythm down I think, 5 - 6 is getting easier every time I do it, and downshifting is difficult but I did do better for the most part throughout the day downshifting.

I was able to straight back and swing right/left well enough to get satisfactory on my progress report, I had a ton of trouble with off-hand left and right, it seemed the more I did it, the harder it became and the more mistakes I would make, but I never gave up and I’d always find my danger spot, pull forward, and try again, the only cone I ran over was at the ### end of the day, and I just had to tell my trainer “I think I’m tired”. LOL!


I made a lot of mistakes but they weren’t as frequent in the early hours of the day, as the day went by they happened more and more and I knew what I needed to do instinctually, but I would do the opposite of what I wanted the trailer to do, I’d stop, have a little Jesus moment, and proceed to do what I needed to do, only to screw it up again.


From what I can gather I’m making a lot of mistakes, I know I’m making them and I just have to keep reminding myself, smooth is fast, fast is slow.


What a kick-### day.

 

Its only going to get easier

 

Noticed you mentioning the trailer doing the opposite of what you wanted. In you future…
After driving a tractor trailer over four years. Company asked me to do a little city quickie with a box truck. That darn thing! When I’d back to a dock. Turned the wheel. It kept going the wrong direction!

 

This made my day!!!


I’m fighting against myself/thought process the entire time! It’s difficult to catch on to but I think when I got it I got it, it’ll become second nature.

This is only with 1 PUP!

I won’t so far ahead of myself but, another PUP is going to be a fun challenge!

Dry Van I feel will be easier in some aspects, it’s funny because when I had to offset back in, after unhook, I did it so naturally and had good control, I think the main thing for me is focusing on tractor control/clutch control and the trailer will come quickly!

 

Tip that helped me: Be OK with yourself sucking at the beginning. We all sucked at the beginning. There's a phrase in German I like: Ubung macht dien meister. (Not positive I got the spelling correct). It directly translates to: Repetition makes the master. It's roughly equivalent to the American phrase: Practice makes perfect. But, I find the German phrase to be more accurate and wiser.
Just keep at it, don't give up and don't get discouraged because you are not doing it as well as you think you should.

 

Some of the 10 speeds in training I tested in were kind of worn out.Made it a little hard to shift.After a week or so of driving one you'll be a lot more confident.Dont shift when turning or crossing a railroad track.

 

10 speeds are the red haired step children of the manual transmission family, not amazing on a good day and full off strange quirks that make you wish it were a 13 speed. Oh well.

There's a tipping point as far as learning this stuff -could be 3 weeks or 3 months, everybody's different- but you'll know you reached it when not thinking about how to do a maneuver somehow has better results than if you had. Repetition is the key.

 

What you are exeriencing is normal for almost everyone. EVERY newbie seems to push the clutch to far down toward the floor. When moving you only need maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the full travel to the floor. Pushing beyond half-travel and you risk engaging the clutch brake. You only need to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor when the truck is stopped or when changing direction between reverse and forward gears.

EVERYONE has more difficulty downshifting when slowing than when upshifting wen accelerating. The truck engine and transmission is so sturdy you don't have to be perfect. It is also normal to feel not quite ready with shifting and backing when you go to pass your official road test. As long as you are making progress, you are doing OK.

 

I've had difficulty backing a bobtail before after time off. Nobody has to be perfekt to succeed.