Double clutching

I am currently in Central Refrigerated's school. The first day of the double clutch was killing me. Up shift I had down pat. Down shift was... well I missed the rpm/gear and now I am in panic mode lol.
I spent all night completley frustrated with myself. It was the first time I had failed to do anything in the class. I kept going over the patern, over and over again.
Finally said, to hell with it. I knew what needed to be done, it was just getting that info down to my feet. Like patting your head and rubbing your tummy.
Slept on it, not very well, but the next day I did so much better, that I don't know what I was so stressed about.

I just kept saying outloud what I needed to do, and it came to me.
Upshift:
Rev
Clutch
Shift out
Clutch
Shift in

Down shift: way harder for me.
Drop rpm
Clutch
Shift out
rev up
Clutch
shift in
Rev and drop rpm

Saying it outloud really helped. I got lost in 7th to 6th a couple of times, lol not sure how. Started saying the shift pattern outloud till it felt natural.
I am home now, and you're gonna laugh. But I double clutched the wife's car and almost smacked my head on the wheel the other day... lol

It's all about re programming what you know, what you think you know, and what you have to work with. Try the outloud mantra, it really does help.

 

Great Info Fozzy appreciate that

 

I start class on Monday and this is all new to me. Thank you very much for the info Fozzy.

 

Thanks so much for the info.. Fozzy you really have helped. My husband is trying to train me, ,,, well, enough said there. I am much better at down shifting than upshift. And as all know.. clutching too deep has messed me up really bad.... I am sticking it out and will keep trying to reprogram. I grew up driving VW's and my last vehicle was a Ford Explorer. Thanks for explaining things so well. It reallly helped to hear about not needing to rev as you clutch up.. I guess I got that right. I hope to now go find your lessons on parking. Thanks again..

 

Fozzy:

Am in third week of an 8 wk course and next week we are to approach the altar of shifting and offer our sacrifices. Your postings are very appreciated... (two and one half weeks of right turns, straight line and alley dock backing, inspections, brake checks, maintenance, logging, trip planning and various book-working so far. Did I mention my respect for you guys/gals grows daily?).

Thank you so very much for the information Fozzy!

 

I graduated in May from truck driving school, and it sounds like you all are coming along pretty well with your training....

After you get your CDL and get your first job, depending on who it is with, you may have to relearn to shift without clutching. My boss wants his drivers to shift without clutching....so, I first had to unlearn double clutching and just clutch once....and then when I realized the gears were lining up so well, I was convinced I could shift without clutching and I took the big step of trying it...and lo and behold- it worked - and no grinding of gears.

This was after 12,000 miles of driving...so now, I can shift with the clutch or without....suh-weet....and I drive 18 speeds with no skip shifting, so I get 16 gear shifts every time I start out at a light or from a stop, but 8 of the shifts are with the thumb button so no clutch is needed anyway.

You will be amazed at how much bettter your shifting gets after driving 10,000 miles.

Keep grinding those gears!!! Once you get more experience, you won't worry about missed gears either or getting stuck in neutral....as that won't happen to you anymore!!!

Just wanted to give you all some encouragement, as you will get so much better at shifting, you will be amazed.

 

On our tractors the rpms drop pretty #### fast during the downshift, is this normal for a diesel engine?

 

What's a clutch?

 

Do you mean when you are between gears the rpms drop faster when downshifting?

The rpms would drop at the same rate between gears regardless if you are upshifting or downshifting...

When you are downshifting you are likely to not have the engine rpms up as high as when you upshift, so you would be correct, as the engine rpms would not have as far to drop, so it would take less time for it to do so.

Not sure if this answers your question or not.

 

Fozzy? Is that you? This is Truckertom from newbiedrivers....It's a small world after all.