"First Road Trip At School...Any Tips?"...

I've been on the road truck eight times so far since I started school, it does get easier untill you have to shift up hill and downhill coming to a stop, but all you can ask is that you get a little better each time out..

 

Except practice does not make perfect. It makes excellence. If I practice being a perfect christain will I be a perfect christian?

 

as long as you practice the correct process, of course.

 

Dont count on it, I have well over 5k miles with my trainer now, and when I think I am shifting pretty good, he takes a turn behind the wheel and I think #### wish I was that smooth. I am doing pretty good, but not near as good as my instructor. Think it might be because of the double clutch, notice it alot more with heavy loads. I get the gears fine but when I am on and off the gas, cant quite get my rpms and speed in synch so kinda rocks the truck a little. The hardest thing I have found about finding the right gear for speed is 5th and below. It is coming to me but was toughest cause you cant really look at the speedo like 5-10 and usually have other things going on around you have to pay attention to at the low speeds. But 5-10 are easy I look the speedo and around 20 is 7th or I just think of second 2=2 30=3rd or 8th if you like so on and so on.

On down shifting i found a big difference between just going down a gear at 1100 and 1000 seems 1000-900 is smoother for me, I just pull out of gear mash the gas a little if its a relaxed down shift will watch the tack and get it upto 1400-1500 and slide into lower gear, if its a hasty type of downshift where I have to keep the eyes on the road, will just mash the gas as I come out of gear and put a little force on the stick till it slides into lower gear.

I was also upshifting slow in the lower gears, found that if I moved the stick faster from say 2-3 and 3-4 it would go right into the higher gear really dont even need the clutch it feels like, it just slides in like butter. When I was going slower with the stick it the rpms would drop to fast and I would loose the sweet spot and it would grind a little going into the next gear.

Disclaimer, I am no pro for sure, just been were you are very recently and these are observations I have noticed about myself, weather they work for others in other trucks I dont know.

 

Perfect practice makes perfect. The other is just practice.

 

I heard Schneider is next on the list to go Automatic soon. I'm not sure if that plan is still in motion. I went to their driving academy a little more than a year ago.

 

Yellow transit drivers don't have that problem . They don't have a tack they have a big flashing red light that says SHIFT DUMMY SHIFT

 

That's funny right there!