First time on the practice range, not so great. advice?

I going to drive for day3 this morning. I felt exactly the same as you after day 1. Everything I knew bout driving flew out the window. I had to be told to turn my signal light off. I only drove for 40 minutes in the practice range. He started to teach me overdrive and direct drive changing as well which he never does with anybody....He told me I was one of the best he had ever started to train. I did not believe him. Day 2 we drove straight into town and drove all over the place in town with traffic. I did awesome. My shifting was way more calm and relaxed. I had a few problems of course, but it went well.

Relax, breathe and count one-two while double clutching, it helps slow you down. Trust your instructor.

 

my Dad drove big rigs since the 1950's, just retired at age 81, he has always double clutched it, said he tried to float gears once but couldn't get and didnt bother to work on it. I figured out how to float gears on my own, but in certain situations - like heavy traffic - I double clutch.

 

Shifting is an "acquired" skill. It is not just a learned skill. You can know what to do in your head and still not know what to do in your foot. You are using both feet and boot hands to properly double clutch. That takes time to develop the muscle memory involved. Try something that sounds easy. Tap your left foot 1,2,3,4, Tap your right foot 2,4,5,8. Do that both at the same time. It can be done but it takes time to learn.

I come from a long line of pilots. Well not that long. My grandfather owned the first airplane in the state of Missouri. His pilot license was signed by Orville Wright. My father and I both fly as do my kids. When you learn to fly the first major step is going Solo. The average time to solo is 8 hours. Or so I have been told. My father soloed after 1.5 hours. So, I am way smarter then my dad (as all sons are, with the exception of my own) so I figured I would solo in half the time. Well on hour 13, I was still not getting it and was ready to give up. I went home and just tried to relax. On television that night was "Ironsides" with Raymond Burr. He was locked in a Beech 35 and had to land or DIE. No rudder pedals for him. Wheelchair and all. I watched him land and ####, I can do that. I soloed the next day. I have flown everything since then without a problem. My T-33 instructor called me a natural pilot. Little did he know.

You will get it and in a few years everyone will be asking you "how do you float those gears so smoothly."

If I can do it, you can.

 

Driving a truck is a lot different than a car and a lot different than a manual shift car. The truck is bigger, has a much wider turn radius, takes longer to stop, takes longer to get up to speed, requires a lot more room to make turns, & has a lot more blind spots (just to name a few). As for the shifting, the clutch is nothing like a car other than that there is a pedal involved, in car you depress the clutch all of the way to shift, in a truck you barely push it in and shift. If you press the clutch to the floor like you would in a car you will grind the gears every time. It does take a lot of practice learning how and when to shift, but I don't think anyone ever got it right away without a lot of frustration.

 

I think that the more experienced you are at shifting a car, the harder it is to learn to shift a truck. So different that you have to relearn not to do all the things that you worked so hard at to become a habit. That can make it real tough at first.

I think that it's sort of like backing, as you have to find that little thing that makes everything connect in your brain. To better explain, I couldn't back up a truck to save my life, until someone told me the phrase "turn toward the problem" and it all made sense when nothing else did. Done a lot of training since and found that it only helps a few of the trainees with problems. Some like "turn opposite of the way you want to go" or the trick where you put your hand on the bottom of the wheel so it's not all backwards. Just need to find the thing that speaks the language of whatever part of your brain needs the help. That may come quick, or take a while to find. One of my instructors would make me say out loud "clutch-neutral-clutch-gear" and it really helped me get down the timing of it.

Nobody does it well in the beginning. That comes with practice. So, stay in that truck and practice until they kick you out of it, so you can get every minute practice that you can.

 

A lot of great advice here, the bottom line is that BIG powerful 80,000 LB machine operates on a DELICATE, SMOOTH and well coordinated TOUCH ! That can only be obtained with training and applying what you have been taught, but as we all had to go through the process you will be FINE . Just remember your JUDGEMENT when you are behind the wheel on these dangerous roads start from DAY ONE !!

 

Go buy 3 toy semi's, if the wheels turn to steer all the better, practice backing the one between the other two and think about which way the wheels have to steer to make it go in the hole.

Use a box to create an obstruction to make the space tighter and tigher, practice pulling up and backing in, what you do with the toy trucks will translate to the real thing.

 

Clutch to the floor when starting the truck and putting it into gear and when coming to a stop just like a 4-wheeler but only about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way in when shifting. In school they will want you to "double clutch", clutch in to shift out of gear go to neutral clutch out, clutch in rev the engine slightly and shift to next gear then let out the clutch again. Confusing as h*!! when you first try to do it. After a while you will pick up the rhythm and it will come more naturally.