To those who got into trucking not knowing Shift Stick how long did it take to learn

I had an instructor give me a plunger and tell me to close my eyes and double clutch with the plunger sitting on my bed. I did that for 2 hours the first 3 nights. I also studied road speed and rpm match points for 1 hour a night. Every truck will be slightly different but you need to know what speed and rpm match up for a good shift.

Up shifting should be the easiest thing to do. Downshifting or missing a gear is where knowing your shift points is crucial. I had a hard brake where I hit a deer and had pushed in the clutch a while back. It took me a second to recover a gear that worked and that's with 18 years experience.

 

The school I went to was a 12 week program. We had plenty of time to drive in the low range around the campus...me and a couple of the guys could back a trailer in a straight line at full throttle, as we got bored just idling in reverse. So it was with all the backing exercises, we had more time to do them than we wanted.
We probably drove 400 miles, but found I needed more miles to be more proficient with the stick.

After about 10,000 miles I was much better with the stick. You keep teaching yourself after school how to shift better. After 25,000 miles I had reached the next level in shifting, as I went from double clutching to single clutching to floating the gears.

I would say you need a couple thousand miles to be really good at double clutching. the one thing really important about double clutching is that it forces you to slow down and take a full second to shift....timing is important and dc helps slow your shifting down. I tend to shift too fast, and I tend to rev the rpms up too much....on a high torque engine I tend to bounce around much more than necessary, but I learned to take it easy on the throttle and all is well.

 

Wow yeah I bet that was a scary experience. My teacher would tell me and another student "Why are you pushing the clutch when you brake?" You brake and then gradually hit the clutch.

 

Where I went to school the instructor drove us to an abandoned big box store that had a huge parking lot. Another student and I took turns driving and for about a week of 8 hour days we just shifted around the lot. Rarely got over 6th gear before we had to back out and downshift. After that week I would say I hit the gear 90-95 % of the time once we actually got on the roads. So yes 4 hours is way not enough time to learn.

-Steven

 

I’m just starting school (1st week) and have never driven a manual transmission ever. I’m having the worse time getting my feet in unison with shifting. I’ve had the gears grind, truck cut off…. Was told maybe I should go to a school with automatic trucks it may be easier, plus my fiancé drives and has an automatic. Can’t afford to give up, but as a female I’m not feeling very encouraged. More frustrated than anything.

 

Its not something you can learn overnight. Not having any prior experience driving a manual car is actually a good thing because the shifting is different.

Myself I found I was too jumpy and eager, shifting early when I first started learning. Just takes time to get everything in tune and get the rhythm down.

 

The key is knowing the numbers, knowing the timing and on the emergency stop don't flipper #### yourself. Put that flipper down so you're in 2nd or 3rd when you take off again and not in 6-8.
I never drove manual before school. Even after three weeks in school I wouldn't consider myself a master. I even failed my first drive test after passing air brakes, pre trip, and backing. It's because I floated gears and coasted. Then I knew I failed, asked if we could just go back I was so frustrated. Then I killed it at a stop sign. I managed to do a practice drive before my next test, and then passed my second test.
My teacher says "you know what you're doing, what you're supposed to do, and I know that you do. You just need to SHOW THEM that" which built my confidence.

Not sure how long your program is, in WA it's 1 week classroom, 3 weeks drive. It's only the first drive week for you, so hang in there. Watch what other students do wrong, if you go out with the instructor in pairs.

Then think Adams family song timing. *Snap snap* not sure if they're teaching that rhythm part of shifting.

 

Each person is different. I'll tell you I passed ony 7th try and a lot of it was shifting issues, some was being nervous and making bone headed mistakes. But I eventually passed. I never became an expert, but I have been from California to Tennessee and Missouri to Maine so I guess I learned enough.

 

Since in this age of automatics, shifting is falling by the wayside I'll offer this up. While double clutching is the preferred method, if you are on the straight flat (like say a shift track) floating is probably the best place to start as it takes the clutch out of the equation when learning the timing. There are usually 3 sets of RPMs for shifting (4 if you're operating with a high RPM engine but we will keep this simple as it is fairly universal) 600/1000 750/1300 and 1000/1500.
This take a VERY light touch (three fingers to accomplish) ease into and out of the throttle gently. As you reach 1300 RPM start very gently pulling out of gear and ease of the throttle. It will slide right out. Then when the RPM starts to fall gently slide it back into the next gear around 700. Rinse and repeat with each gear. If you miss don't panic just ease into the throttle lightly brushing until you feel the gears start to align. Don't grind or try to force it, it will end badly. If it feels like something is binding or hanging bump the clutch a bit to finish the job.