Bad news for manual lovers

Yeah, I just completed my CDL-A test today (YES, I PASSED--in a Peterbilt 579 w/10speed), and crawling back home through Dallas holiday rush hour r affix was a BISH!

 

I have also heard that if you test with an auto you get a restriction on your cdl. I just went through swift school and they didnt have any autos yet. There is alot of hate for swift, but most of there drivers are just out of school and noone is a pro starting out.

 

This dosent prove that the end of the manual transmission is near. But it is proof of the type
of people they are hiring to drive their trucks.
If you dont have enough coordination to shift
the gears are you going to be any better at
backing up or any other maneuver in a truck?

 

Why do guys think shifting is some grand hard masterful thing to do? It's not hard. Stop thinking it is.

 

It is what it is. What I can tell you is that as an instructor, shifting is what new drivers struggle with the most. They worry about space management the most and then find out it's not so bad, but almost all of them have to really work at shifting. The people who THINK they know how to drive a crash box more often than not struggle the most. So it might not be "hard," but it is a learned skill.

 

I've got both: Alison auto in one truck, Fuller in another and a 13 speed in the Argosy. I think I prefer the manuals, but I wouldn't say the Auto sticks out as being bad or annoying.

 

Funny, I've always seen drivers struggle with backing 100x more than moving a gear shift from one position to another.

I've lost count of the number of poor abused cones I've witnessed being slaughtered by trainees.

 

It's rare, but I agree with this guy.

 

Your post brought back memories when my father taught me how to drive. This was after he gave up on my sister because she scared both of us to death.

We were on a gravel road going down a hill, at the bottom was a long narrow wood bridge with iron rails that was way up above the creek. I was setting in the back seat, half way down the hill I laid down in the floor board, because the car kept picking up speed. Father had taken over the steering wheel, the car was fishtailing going down that steep hill & I just knew we would soon be in the creek.

Some how we made it across the bridge, father them took over the driving. The next time he put me under the steering wheel. Wow driving was not bad, but shifting that 3 speed column shift seemed to be a night mare to me. Yet a week later I was driving by my self, & I quickly learned how to shift fast from low to 2nd gear & squall the tires on that 6 cylinder 1954 Chevy!

Them my sister got me to teach her how to drive & she scared me worse than she did the 1st time & I quickly gave up on her.

 

I drive an autoshift with a clutch. I like the truck because it also has the option to go into manual transmission mode as we'll. I think it's an 07 freight liner . It's like driving a large yard goat at highway speeds.