typical newbie missing 7th gear!

Here is what I do when shifting to 7th, and I never have a problem hitting it. When you come out of 6th into neutral the lever will wiggle between 7 and 9, so I push the lever to the right side of neutral and then to the left side of neutral....and then into 7th gear. It takes a bit more time to do that, but you have time while the rpms are dropping. I still do it as an experienced driver and it always seems to work for me. 7th should be just as easy to hit as 8th.

Try it and see if you like it!

 

something my instructor did with me, and looking back I honestly do think it helped a little. with the truck parked. go through all the gears just as if you were rolling down the road. as you are "mock" shifting you should verbally say what gear you're in or going into. do this a few times before driving. it somewhat trains your mind into the motions needed to hit your gears. it helped me. I remember my first on the road experience well, it felt like there was 5000 things going on at once, I was mentally exhausted after just an hour behind the wheel.

 

6th to 7th in a 10 speed is just about learning the motion of your hand so you don't take the shifter too far and into 9th. You should probably practice with the truck shut off for a bit. Don't get too excited and grab the shifter too hard or try to force anything, your muscles will remember the motion and it will become the easiest gear change of all. Because that's the gears you use when making turns at intersections without stopping. You know, you drop down to 6th at 10-15 mph let it go down to 1100 then take the turn.

If you miss it, how to recover is just learning what kind of road speed matches each gear and rpms. I wrote this info down when I was in trucking school. But this is something your mind and muscles will remember automatically once you have driven the same truck for over a month or two, then it's all a piece of cake.

Also don't get too impatient and frustrated. It doesn't matter how long you have had your CDL, sometimes if you are given a completely different truck, engine and transmission than what you have been using you are going to feel uncomfortable for the first few days. Check back a week later and you are already gotten so used to it it feels like you have had it all your life.

 

cabwrecker,, you stated "When you do miss; Foot off the accelerator, drop the RPM, clutch break, raise RPM to according turns for speed...<snipped>".

I assume you mean clutch brake. If so, that is wrong. You never want to go into your clutch brake, unless you're sitting at a dead stop,
in neutral, before entering your starting gear. Or did I misunderstand you?

OP, I also believe you are simply rushing things that also brings on additional nervousness. But another tidbit that might help you is...
while sitting in the truck, at a stop, put it in 7th, and then 9th gear. Use your index finger extended from the shifter (must hold same angle on finger each time) and carefully note the exact position that your finger is pointing to in each of these 2 gears.
Use "landmarks" on the dashboard for reference. Such as "in 7th gear it's pointing at the left radio knob" and "in 9th it's pointing at the heater temp control knob".
This will help you "aim" your shifter better, so you won't be too far off.

But as TheDude1969 had said, there's a spring loaded gate on the left side, resisting you from putting it far left (in 1st, Rev, and 6th gear positions). Just try to ride that left edge, with barely any left pressure, and follow that "spring-bordered" gate right into 7th.

 

When in school and my 8 weeks with a trainer I was coached to NEVER rest your hand on the shift tower while driving down the road it you are not about to shift. The transmission has a slot for each gear but those slots can be worn away if you rest your hand on the shift lever. Every time you hit a bump in the road your hand will jiggle the shift lever ever so slightly and despite thinking that this would not be a big deal it is after hitting tens of thousands of bumps in the road. After a truck has been driven this way you will now need to HUNT for where the 7th speed gear slot was supposed to be.

 

Not that I know anything...as I just graduated school myself, but I had the same issue with 7th. I would miss it and then panic. It was all about alignment. The way I gripped the stick and the direction of my arm movement would push the stick to the right towards 9th. The instructor showed me a trick for 7th. I put my hand flat like I was going to shake someone's hsnd and gripped on the right side of the shifter..instead of the top. It makes your arm movement go more straight up instead of towards the right. Worked for me. Getting it back into gear comes easier with practice. Just don't panic and slam it into gear.

 

If I see you riding an auto, I'm gonna laugh at you!
Even though one of the trucks I have to drive for my weekly route is auto...it's a residential garbage truck, wouldn't want a manual in that beast! Start/stop 1-1500 times a day, three days a week in it! God my left knee would be crumbled to dust by now.

How do you, in the process of driving for 11-14 hours, not rest your hand on the shifter at-least once for an extended time?
I kept my hand on that shifter, a lot. In inclement weather I'm sure as hell keeping my hand on that shifter.

 

If you lost your job, why not try to switch to the weekday class then so you can hurry up and get done? Wouldnt hurt to ask your school director....get ya on the road faster!

 

Hey, congrats on a new career! You will get the hang of it in no time. Nobody is born with a steering wheel or a stick shift in their hand, although some seem to think they were by they way they talk Sh** to new drivers. Driving schools usually don't have the best equipment. Once you get a truck assigned to you you will learn just by the RPM's or sound of the engine when to shift and downshift with that truck.

If you keep missing 7th gear you need to "QUICKLY" glance at RPM & Road Speed and if freewheeling coming out of 6th gear and RPM's fall below 1700 but road speed has not changed much its as simple as just kicking RPM's up a little over 1700 and putting it into 7th gear. If you have picked up speed coming out of 6th gear same procedure kick RPM's up above 1700-1800 put into 8th gear. Before long you won't even need a clutch for nothing other than stopping and starting.

Good luck to you in your new Job!!