Help a trucker wannabe out!

65 miles! That's how many miles I drove on the ROAD today for the first time in my life driving a Class A Truck with a 48 foot unloaded trailer! Let me tell you, that was a tough 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was a huge psychological hurdle I had to climb over to get on that road.

Our instructor is this short black guy named John who's been driving for almost 40 years, and instructing for 12 years. He's as smart as a whip, and knows the Tobyhanna, Jessup, Mount Pocono highway system about as well as possible.

When it came to start things out, I let the mechanic begin driving because he seems to grasp this stuff quicker then I do. Let's just say he basically threw a can of whipass on me today. He was upshifting into the correct gears, and rarely missed a downshift. He did so good on the road that John had him pull off exits and back onto the highway at pratically every exit. He also had mechanic guy (I'll call him Chris from now on) go down some backroads with some practice upshifting and downshifting. The whole 1.5 hours I'm sitting in the jumper seat in the back very quietly taking in everything John is saying.

Then it was my turn.....So shifting in the yard is one thing, but shifting out on the road wasn't easier for me. My shifting was very weak and needs work. For some reason I couldn't get my head around the fact that 6th gear is the same as 1st gear, but with the slitter up on the shifter. Also, when I would have to move from say 7th to 8th gear, I would for some reason move the shifter around instead of simply moving it into neutral and then moving it into 8th gear. I would frequently lose my gear, or not be in gear. I would also move my arm away when I was in neutral instead of when I was fully in gear and then have to recover.

For some reason upshifts (I didn't do as many) came easier to me since I'd rev it up and then seemed to hit my gear okay, but with some grinding of the gears. Since we were so far out and since the instructor took the wheel to show me how to shift again, we ate up a lot of time.

Here's where things got a little better for me. We got out on the highway and had to use the highway to get back to the yard in Mount Pocono. That was a good experience for me because I got to practice getting into 9th and 10th and back again, and did so pretty well. John also showed a lot of confidence in me, and was extremely relaxed.

At first I would get down in speed to around 50-55 MPH but after awhile I was able to stay at 65 MPH without a problem, even going up or down a hill. I also had to control my trailer more by using my right mirror, and also not being afraid that I was going to somehow freak out and run into the left lane which never came close to happening. So for the first 10 or so miles on the highway, I was really fighting keeping the trailer off the white line on the shoulder. But after awhile I got my feel of the truck and the feel of the road, and how much I could comfortable move to the left while safely staying in my lane. I also mastered keeping my trailer off the white line around left hand turns which really meant I needed to bear to the left a little in my lane. I learned there was plenty of room.

The visibility was awesome on that truck. Those mirrors really kept my visibility excellent. As long as I paid attention, I always knew if a car was in my blind spot. One particular car was obviously drafting me (driving close behind a tractor trailer in order to attept to save on gas mileage), but I knew he was there the whole time. By the way, Jeep Wrangler who was tailing me, it's really stupid to tail a truck that says Northampton Driving School on the back of it. I suppose he had that must confidence in my driving because when you tail somebody you are letting THEM making your decisions for you, including when to stop, accelerate, etc.

The most important aspect of driving on the highway for me was I was able to relax, get the feel of the truck, and really gain my confidence. Not only did I manage to not hit anybody, let's face it, I was a safe driver on the highway and clearly John felt that way as well and began to really relax and chat it up with Chris and I. With John's guidance, I did fairly well with getting to the side roads and managing a very sharp turn to get into the truck yard. I even did decent with my shifting at that point.

I learned how to control the truck, make sharp turns, and I learned that my shifting needs a lot of work. When I master shifting, I'll be in fairly good shape. I'm just pround that while I had my struggles, I kept my cool, I kept safe, and never even came close to endangering anybody on the road today. It was a learning experience, and while Chris gave me a whole can of whipass today, I held my own and I've learned from my experience on the road. I did a good job on the highway, and was very safe, and tomorrow will be another day for me to master shifting a little more. One step at a time!

To those of you who drive a truck day in and day out, I'm heading your way, but I have nothing for respect for how much concentration and confidence you need to do this every day.

 

Today I went out on the road again with 2 other people and my instructor. This meant I got an hour in the hot seat, and I went second. John clearly selected the three of us because he felt we needed work with shifting. He started with the first guy Rob, and started Rob out in the emergency lane of Route 380 near Tobyhanna on an entrance ramp. This was a smart place to start out because a driver of a vehicle would have to be drunk, asleep behind the wheel, or have a seizure or something to manage to hit the truck.

John worked with Rob to teach Rob the art of the clutch grab. Rob hasn't driven a stick shift before, so this was very hard for him to learn. He had a lot of trouble letting his right foot off the brake, and when the truck would begin to roll backwards he would either let the clutch out completely and stall the truck, or hit the brake again to stop the truck from rolling back. He would also let go of the clutch too far and we would bolt forward with the trailer in tow, which would create this bouncing, banging effect inside the tractor.

I have to give him credit, Rob mastered his fear and was able to find that perfect clutch grab where he wasn't moving an inch forward, nor moving an inch back. It was a zen-like experience, and he managed to do it twice. John really did a great job by teaching Rob this technique because it will help Rob (and me as well) to find that clutch grab, and hold it in place before rolling forward.

John had me go second, and I think he really did this to help Rob relax. John paid me a compliment by saying he bet this would come easily for me. Just to back up for a second, I was introduced to shifting a car when I was about 18, and my best friend introducted me to it. He parked me on a huge hill, and told me I couldn't begin to drive until I managed to stop the car from rolling back. It was a tough lesson to learn, but let me tell you it has been invaluable since I've had four different manual cars over years so far.

Needless to say, it took me about four seconds to find clutch grab. What I did was I let the clutch go until around where I was holding the brake in place, relaased the brake and when the truck rolled back slightly, I released on the clutch by less then an inch. Sure enough the truck stopped rolling back and didn't move forward. It just stayed in suspended animation. John proceeded to talk for the next 10 minutes about what I did while my left foot throbbed holding that clutch steady.

He had me attept the same thing in 2nd gear, 3rd gear, 4th gear, 5th gear, and 6th gear, all on the shoulder of this entrance ramp and each time I would have it in clutch grab in about 1 to 2 seconds since I was now getting used to it. That experience with driving manual transmissions really came in handy for that exercise.

The third guy Lou was up next, and he had similar difficulties getting it into clutch grab, and only managed to do it once. What's interesting is when it came to upshifting on the open road, he was better then Rob and I, and actually had some extremely smooth shifting.

Anyway, when Rob went on the road, he was clearly very nervous, and sometimes had that "I wish I were somewhere else" look as he was driving, and John was giving some pretty strict intruction. The fact is, Rob has never shifted a manual tranmission until 2 days ago, so John is working hard to get Rob to understand the concept of shifting. I have a lot of respect for Rob, being introduced to manual shifting with a 48,000 lb Class A vehicle while using the double clutch method takes a brass pair, if ya know what I mean.

Anyway, my turn was up next and all I have to say is, MUCH BETTER. But here's the funny thing about WHY. Yesterday I had a death grip on the wheel to the extent that my shoulders hurt this morning. If I could have ripped that gear out with my left arm, I would of, believe me. The fact of the matter is, I kept telling myself that I'm driving a 60 foot weapon of mass destruction that could wipe out all four wheelers in its path. That's a lot of pressure to put on one's self!

You know what I realized today? I'm driving a 48,000 lb weapon of mass destructions down the road so cars are going to have to look out for ME. Now that doesn't mean I was reckless, let me explain myself. So If I'm shifting down a four lane highway and I'm in the slow lane, and I miss a gear, it's not like the cars behind me are going to slam into the back of the trailer. And if they do, it aint my fault, although I'd certainly feel bad. And it aint as if I was going 45 MPH and missed 9th gear I was suddenly only going 20 MPH, I would slow down to 40 MPH. And If I was turning slowing into my lane while coming off an exit ramp, it isn't as if that car that came around the bend AFTER I began my turn was going to hit the accelerator and drive to his/her death by plunging into the side or back of my trailer.

To put it in John terms so you'll better understand what I mean, "Let that Mother****er pass on the left lane. He has the whole left lane to pass you." Or, "Don't worry about giving space on your left hand side, go close to that middle line, that Mother****er knows he's smaller then you." Or, "We're at a four way stop sign, that Mother****er has to stop, and he'll wait for your ### to get across that intersection." So to summarize the John theory of driving a really large truck; We are driving a big Mother****'in truck and all of those Mother****'in four-wheelers are responsible for not crashing into us, we have enough Mother****'in ###### to worry about without worrying about them recklessly plummetting into us.

You know what, he's right? And now that I realized that, I'm a much safer driver for it, and way more relaxed. As a result, I shifted better today by far. I still missed my share of gears, but I was way smoother when I made gears. I also was not jerky when starting the truck from a stop because I was using the clutch grab technique and letting the truck go into gear to begin getting the truck rolling before I gave the truck gas.

I also learned to shift without hitting the gas, and putting the truck into gear by simply letting off on the clutch and allowing the truck to engage gears. This was extremely useful when I needed to downshift. Other then revving the engine to get into a lower gear, I was letting the transmission do the work for me, and shifting at the top of a hill to prep the truck to get into a lower gear to get down it.

The best I can explain it, it all came together today. I was able to downshift to slow down, I was able to upshift to go faster. I knew how to turn in tight spots while tracking a turn wide enough to guide the trailer through and not even come close to hitting the curb. When I was turning right on a two lane highway, I would turn into the left most lane (which is required on our skills test by the state) without allowing one inch of tractor or trailer to encroach on the right lane. Then when safe, I was able to quickly but safely move into the right lane.

In short, I felt like I had ALMOST complete control over my truck today, and I was extremely relaxed. I also did some highway driving and did a great job of keeping the truck at or near 65 MPH without my trailer coming even close to encroaching on the solid white line of the highway.

Today was a GREAT day and a real breakthrough for me.

 

I think they pretty much know the clutch will get worn out. They just want us to learn how to use the transmission to move the truck forward before hitting the gas. Apparently on new trucks the gas is very sensitive.