Double clutching putting my new career in jeopardy

@DallasRT

Oh! oh! oh!...I know what the problem is....

It's your mind (I know mine was).

After years of driving a manual car, I was amazed at the challenge I was having with double clutching, till I learned to "finesse" the gear stick into the gear, which needed my brain to command the left foot to go easy.

Quick shifting will mess you up with the timing, I bleep the throttle, even on upshifts, to bring the revs up a little, if they drop too quick on me. So far, so good.

Here's a little secret: I cant float, even after 1 yr of getting my CDL. Trust me, I've tried.

 

You don't have to double clutch. Sounds like the trainer doesn't have a clue either.

 

10 speed?
If so a comforting thing for newer guys is when you hit 15 mph 1+5=6. Go to 6th and so on
25 mph 2+5=7 go to 7th
35 mph 3+5=8 go to 8th
45 mph 4+5=9 go to 9th
55 mph 5+5=10 go to 10th.
Relax and be confident. You got this.

 

I went through the Dallas GYCDL program recently. You may not want to hear this, but you might be better off to let them fire you during CDL school (provided they won't stick you with the $5k).

Out of the 3 that started before me, my class of 3, and the class that started after me, only 2 are still there (that's 2 people out of 9 that started class there). I was terminated after 22 days on duty during phase 2 (no more than 6 days with a trainer before having 2-4 days off), now I'm in training with another company and on the hook with Roehl for the $5k.

There was a guy in the class that started after I did that was terminated for basically what is going on with you. He went to Roadmaster and is now with Werner.

If you want to talk about this more in detail, PM me and I'll be happy to go into more detail.

 

@Uncle Sam fked me wow I see... You totally got fked up. whats up with the above post??? You QUOTE THE ENTIRE POST, and not add anything???

 

Worst case, drive an auto.

 

Two things.

Your tractor will only give you a certain RPM range in shifting as you know. It is very basic. For example when she is upgrade and falls to 1200 rpm (Not speedometer...) it's time to downshift. Take her out of that gear, kick the hammer a bit to rev to 1600 or a bit more, she should slip right into the next gear down. Easy.

This is not the time or place to be floating or trying to learn how to skip gears going down or up. You will catch all that later. But right now it's basic, basic shifting. At it's most basic.

Your anxiety is understandable. But you need to discard it. You have to. If you cannot mentally function and make decisions and physically and mentally follow through your actions and thoughts as you drive that 40 ton vehicle, perhaps this is not the industry for you. Perhaps. A monkey can drive a big truck. No offense. But we are human and subject to a certain stress when new things are to be learned.

Im not going to blater and bury you in stories about other cars. I expect you to leave plenty of room around them. Be the slowest trucker on that road if you have to. Make room for them to go away and leave you alone. I don't care if you lumber up route one in New Jersey at 28 mph in 6th and it's a 35 to 40 mph road with about 50 miles worth of stop lights, you will see that there is a timing at a certain speed you will hit most all of them green. About 38 in my time if memory serves or up to 43 when they start turning yellow as we pass under. Makes sense?

You will run into hills big enough to require some shifting down soon enough. Remember anyone can pull a hill. Even if it's vertical. But it's the GETTING DOWN that seperates the men from the boys. Again be the slowest you can be until YOU FEEEL GOOD. NOT the trainer, not other drivers trash talking on the radio etc (Turn that dam thing off...)

The second problem is the trainer. I suspect he is a little bit heavy. Most trainees who are truly HORRIBLE will be detected and gone within a day, sometimes not even a hour. Those who stick it out, pay attention to instructions and do what they are told when they are told to do it will usually succeed.

Trucking is a never ending learning journey. Even today I am still learning, and I have not touched a truck since 2009. I stay on top of it where possible. There is not stress in learning but a joy.

Relax, take a load off, you are embarking on a enjoyable drive somewhere with a wonderful truck and not everyone will be allowed to do what you are doing now. But you have to discard the anxiety. It will get you far worse than anything else out there one day. That is why I think the trainer is standing on you about that anxiety you are displaying. Most people get a little stressed but calm down and master the rig after a while.

That truck tells you many things. Sometimes it will buck and fight you when you are not driving it properly for whatever reason. It's idiot proof. That is where you come in as a driver. TO make things right and get down the road to deliver your assigned loads.

 

Hi natedizel, that's called "negative reinforcement" and many of our parents practiced that. "You're a loser, and will never amount to anything",,they'd say. "Oh yeah"?, you'd say,,"I'll show you", and when you did, they felt validated by that. We can't do that today, people are too thin skinned. Obviously, this person wants to do this, not because they are out of options, and HAVE to do this, they really want to. A trainer is an incredibly difficult job, I don't have the patience, but if you are going to do that, you can't say to someone, "maybe this isn't for you", because, that's all it might take for someone to say, the heck with it, and the industry loses a valuable driver, and we need them.
I suggest, if it's that much of a problem, maybe see if you can drive around "bobtail" for a while. That way, you aren't worried about the wagon, and can get your shifting down, then grab a wagon, unless that's the way they do it. You'll be fine.

 

It's not that people are too thin skinned, it's that we don't use the method effectively. @TripleSix And @Hammer166 do it the best I've ever seen. Let 'em fall/knock 'em down, then pick them up and dust them off. Two many insteuctors using this technique never get to second part. There's a time, place, and tone that works otherwise you're just cutting a guy down. And too many instructors say "I was just trying to motivate you" when they just didn't give a tinkers dam.