Anyone else hate shifting?

When I was in CDL school, I tried to learn manual, hardest thing I've ever tried in my life, eventually, I switched to automatic so I could just focus on backing and passing my test.

 

GREAT NEWS:

Most fleets now are automated manuals.

No shifting required!!!

The fleets still with manuals mostly seem to be:

• The off-road crowd (loggers, oilfield jobs, etc)
• Heavy haul, multi-axle flatbedders
• The auto haulers
• Some tanker fleets

Past all that -- it's an automatic world now.

-- L

 

You get used to it. It’s all we used to have.
I still drive the KW, manual, leave the auto shift to others that can’t.

other two are auto, international 10 speed auto, Mack 12 speed

 

I like to shift, took awhile to master. But now I've been in the automatic for 220,000 miles I find I love it especially in traffic. Rumor I hear is that before to many years it'll be almost impossible to purchase a new truck with manual. Just like it is impossible to get a pickup truck or car with one.

If I was an o/o id probably stay Auto seeing that it gets an average of 1-2 mpg better fuel economy.

 

Manuals are still speced for heavy haul and construction. That's about it as far as I know.

 

Is that a Holland trailer?

 

yep, a stoughton. Got it and a roadway trailer.

 

Shifting thru the gears is what makes trucking fun. Especially the twin sticks.

 

As Lee Corso used to say: "Not so fast!"

I happen to know a lot of specialized modular trailer fleets (think video production and mobile imaging) fleets have 13- and 18-speed manual transmission tractors. I know that NEP in Pittsburgh (and I think Game Creek Video up in New Hampshire) has 18-speed sleeper tractors. Thankfully, mine is a 13-speed, though I used to split time between a 10-speed manual and a 10-speed automatic. For the jobs we do (read: the absolutely ridiculous backing/maneuvering jobs we have to do with these things to get them in proper positions), we need that mechanical linkage, else we may risk burning the auto-clutch. (It has happened before.)