I have a problem help please

Buying a car/pickup just to practice seems a bit extreme, and I don't think it's really the same.

I had a similar problem. I was trained on a super 10, and at my first pre-hire road test I drove a regular 10 speed for the first time. It was very confusing.

 

This situation goes to show how weak the training is of some CDL mills. They just barely get a student to the point where he can pass the CDL test and then it's over. Less than 2 hours of shifting experience out of 168 hours (or however many hours it is) in the school is not enough to develop a solid muscle-memory. I remember when I went through a mill I just barely passed the CDL test because I stalled the truck twice at intersections due to mis-shifting. I figured I failed, but the tester said I was able to recover quickly enough and was not a danger so he let it slide. Like the original poster I then went on the an auto-shift truck and expect problems when I do a road test in a manual transmission truck. Mentally I know how to shift but it takes just small amount of practice to get to a point where you are not going to fail a road test with a new company. If the OP can't go back to his original school for some retraining, perhaps he can sign on with a company that takes new drivers and see if they are willing let him take the road test and if he fails let him take a refresher course in their school (I am thinking of Swift specifically, who operates their own training schools). Worst case scenario would be that he would have to pay full tuition for going back to the school just to gain the needed shifting experience. That, however, could be an unfortunate reality. I recall a couple guys who, when I was going through the mill, already had their CDLs (but out of driving for too long, thus requiring retraining) and they tested out of the driving portion of the training in one day while everyone else needed one to two weeks to build the skills to pass the driving test. And those experienced drivers had to pay the full tuition price.

 

Good info gashauler. Only thing I'll add is something that worked for me when I had been in a automatic for a while and went back to a manual. What I did was double clutched the truck for a while to reinforce the timing and then it was an easy transition right back over to clutchless shifting.

 

Yes, good point. I missed that one. I highly recommend to use the clutch since you do not know the truck well enough not to bang a gear. Banging a gear is when it jumps out and makes a loud noise or you just miss the shift completely and it doesn't rub or grid. That's where the damage will occur the most and that's when you'll see your instructor cringe or stop you. If he or she doesn't then they don't need to be there. Other than that it sounds like the OP has no worries and just needs some practice.

 

I have taked to a few roat testers at some of the bigger companies. They do not want you to float. They want to see if you can shift the way the truck was meant to be shifted.
Just thought I would add my two cents.

Larry