Starter companies with manual transmission?

Automatic or standard,it doesn't make the person any less of a driver.Its what he or she prefers.Some companies though will want the driver to get retrained if he has no exp on the manual.

 

Can I get retrained to drive an auto ? I only have manual experience.

 

You silly,lol

 

They are slow. An autoshift will add 1 full hour to my 480mile route. Add that up over days and it is a big deal. If I worked for CPM it would be a much bigger problem

They are much more unreliable. Every automatic truck I have seen spends much more time in the shop. Some companies have gone to removing automatics from the fleet to save maintenance costs and reliability problems.

They are a hassle backing up and swapping trailers. Sure they have gotten better but not better then a clutch. Low gear helps but is still a pain in arse.

The snow and low traction situation will get you stuck and in trouble much more with a auto.

 

Ahhh........I see now. I was only trying to offer another perspective. I wasn't shoving anything down your throat. But .....you wanna go off like that? Got news for ya newbie.... your attitude has already set you behind no mater what sort of truck you end up in.

Drive safe!

 

I know that this is not true. There is a fleet of dump trucks and plows th

Automatics are getting better with every newer model transmission they come out with. There is a fleet of dump trucks that I work around every day that launch better out of loose sand & mud than any manual I have ever driven. The reverse thing is a issue for semi's and I understand that issue well, but it is being looked at already. The fleet that I am talking about has had almost zero transmission problems with the average mileage being around 350,000. Not bad for a fleet of overloaded dump trucks. Their biggest issues are the Acert & DEF problems with the newer KW's and Mack's. Rockwell and Eaton have good things happening right now with the next generation of auto's.

 

One of the other posters already explained how- the trucks for the megas are all governed (crippled really) and you're only hauling 80,000 GVW (well, not ONLY, but you know what I'm saying). In that situation the auto you'll be driving is every bit as "real" as any manual... It's not your preference, which is totally understandable, but it's still a "real truck"...

Your best bet is to figure out what companies you want to work for- then when you have your list narrowed down to your finalists start expressing to them your preference to drive a manual... Most companies have both and I don't think you'll have any trouble finding one to drive. I, personally, would put that down pretty low on my list of deciding factors, but if it's that important to you the best thing you can do is speak up ask the company reps you'll be dealing with. You'll have no troubles.

 

You just need to be skilled at it. I do it everyday.