Offered a great paying job close to home, but manual trucks only.

Dude, this guy is going in with no training, being told they need him to “hit the ground running” Monday morning. I dunno, you sound pretty optimistic

 

maybe he has the mega-millions winning numbers?

 

He is not fine. Some excellent points were made about hills and downshifting. He could kill someone. You cannot learn that by Monday on YouTube. Get real!!!!

 

I hope so. He might need after this “adventure”

 

I really hope we hear from after his 1st day. I’ve gotta hear how this turns out

 

my bad, i was quoting you, quoting...THEDUDEABIDES and his advice....not the o/p....

 

How’s the training coming?

 

I was an in-house instructor at a mega for several years. I've trained a few hundred people to get their CDLs (I'm sorry motoring public). I've trained people who I could teach how to efficiently shift up and down in two hours, and others whom I couldn't get to grasp it in two months.

What's unfortunate is the OP comes off as a pretty smart guy and he seems like the type who would pick it up pretty quick. Those 10 speed freightliners are pretty easy to shift.

I'd probably throw something up on Craigslist offering $500 bucks for someone to let you dink around with their truck for a few hours over the weekend. You might be surprised.

Also, I now work at a small mom and pops ltl like the one you're describing. We don't hire anyone with less than two years of experience. Sometimes we'll bring in a new hire and when they go on their road test it's pretty clear they don't know how to shift. If all of their other qualities suggest they'll be a valuable employee, sometimes someone will give them a day or two of shifting instruction. Maybe this company will do something like that for you.

Good luck!

 

no media

 

this is how you shift