How do you recover gears?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by TheRedskinsWay, Aug 13, 2011.

  1. CondoCruiser

    CondoCruiser The Legend

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    Super10 ought to be a little easier. Until you get use to it, downshifting come out at 1000 rpms and back in at 1600. That's good enough to get you started. From even number gears, flip the switch forward, let off the pedal and it wll go into nuetral. Bump the rpms up to 15-1600 and it will downshift all by itself.
    Odd number gears, Flip the button back, 1st clutch pop out of gear at 1000 rpm's, raise rpm's to 1600 and 2nd clutch downshift into next gear.
    Or double shifting, stay off the button, slow to 700 rpm's, 1st clutch out of gear, 2nd clutch bump rpm's to 1600 and back in 2 gears lower.

    If you lose track of what gear to go into, look at your speedometer and use this formula. 10-19mph =1, 20-29mph= 2, 30-39mph = 3 and so forth. Now add 4

    Say you are doing 45 mph. That is 4. Add 4 and thats 8 or 8th gear. Now bump up your throttle to 1600 and you should be close to right.

    Making turns you should be around 3rd to do safely. 4th when you get more experience and the situation.

    Most students will over rev the motor downshifting. When really all it takes is a light bump of the pedal to raise the rpms. The engine is causing one gear in the transmission to spin one speed. Your drive tires and drive line is causing the other gear in the transmission to spin another speed. What you are trying to do is make both gears spin the same speed. Then they can mesh together. When they are spinning different speeds is when you get all that grinding. Each gear uses a different size gear inside the tranny.

    Once you know the right gear and in nuetral, you can actually hold light pressure against the stick and slowly raise the rpms. When the tranny gear speeds match, it will fall right in. All that forcing the shifter is what causes the grinding. Don't panic and just be smooth how you handle the shifter and throttle.

    Don't do this, but to give you the idea of how things work, I knew a guy that did things backwards. It works good all except you need to brake with your left foot which is a no no. In nuetral, the guy would hold a steady 15-1600 rpm. Then he would left brake to slow the truck while holding steady stick pressure. Once the gears matched (road speed = engine speed), it fell right in. You experienced truckers can try it for the fun of it. It's smooth and sounds cool.

    Normally a driver matches engine speed with road speed. He was matching road speed with engine speed.

    Practice makes perfect. You won't learn overnight. Learn the double clutching properly and when you get that down, then you will start learning to float the gears. Which is what you'll do the rest of your career. Don't try to cut corners.
     
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  3. tinytim

    tinytim Road Train Member

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    It's been a while since I rode a bicycle but I have always related the two.
     
  4. TheRedskinsWay

    TheRedskinsWay Light Load Member

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    I swear this forum have taught me better than my school! Thanks Condo, that formula sounds sounds so simple can't wait till tomorrow to actually use it.
     
  5. mscan5

    mscan5 Bobtail Member

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    Half your shifts are just a button move and throttle bump going down. When you are moving down to an even number, you need to be moving the stick into the hole as you bump the throttle. The button should be up. Until you get some practice, you will get a little grind before it slips in. This kind of grind is better then the whale the throttle and try to shove the stick home as the rpms come down.

    If you hit 1600 rpms and it did not slide home, then one of 2 things happened:
    You down shifted too soon.
    You down shifted too late.

    Since you are new, your probably watching the rpms at every gear, so too soon is easy. If you were not at 1000 rpms when you moved the stick, you were going too fast for the gear. To recover from this mistake, break a little more and bump to 1600 rpms as you move the stick into the hole. Move the button down if it's still grinding after breaking.

    As a last resort, slow to under 5 mph, position your button down, bump the throttle to no more than 1200 rpms as you push home to 3rd. It just takes a tiny bump to hit 3rd at any speed over 0 but under 5 mph.

    The speed you need to be at for each gear to match depends on the gearing in the rear end. Your instructor likely gave you something in all those papers with mph-rpm-gear. Knowing those numbers for the truck you are learning on will not hurt. No two trucks will shift exactly the same. The gears have worn differently with use in each truck. Shifting smoothly just takes doing.
     
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  6. TheRedskinsWay

    TheRedskinsWay Light Load Member

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    So my rpm should be at 1000 before starting ny downshift? My instrutor(s) just say "slow your speed, then downshift".
     
  7. dave26027

    dave26027 Road Train Member

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    On a normal 10 speed, you use the first 8 gears under 35 mph. So if you're going faster than 35, chances are you only need 10th or 9th.

    If you lose count and get completely lost, take a deep breath- check your speed. Try again. Don't panic, don't rush- someday in the future it will all be an automatic response.:thumbup:
     
  8. Ranger70

    Ranger70 Light Load Member

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    It's all about RPM's, Try it 1000rpms for a single down, you can even get lower say 900, if you want to double down, go down 2 gears then take rpm's down to 700. Now don't be to heavy on the throttle when you bump up the rpm;s also.
     
  9. T-RIX

    T-RIX Light Load Member

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    "you can actually hold light pressure against the stick and slowly raise the rpms. When the tranny gear speeds match, it will fall right in"


    That's the ticket, right there.
     
  10. Sequoia

    Sequoia Road Train Member

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    When I was in CDL school, I made some flash cards. On one side was the gear, on the other side was the mph range. I then punched a hole in the top left corner of each and put them on a ring so they could be flipped through easily.

    My instructor loved the idea so much she had me make some up as a teaching aid.

    (this was on a straight 10 though, but the concept still applies)
     
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  11. Powell-Peralta

    Powell-Peralta Road Train Member

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    Does this super 10 have top2?
     
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