Manual transmissions

Not much, other than using the clutch to take off. You do not use the accelerator pedal at all with a truck until you are completely off the clutch pedal.

With a good sense of timing you can shift gears in a truck without using the clutch. Though I have done it in a car too.

 

I have heard if you sing the opening part of the Addams Family song with the double snap part...thats the rhythm of the clutch / shift. This theory has yet to be proven by me however.

 

In my opinion it is like night and day.

 

It’s a lot different. Car tranny’s are synchronized. Trucks aren’t.
In a truck YOU are the synchronizer.

You’ll see.

 

In all honesty when you are learning to operate a manual, stop singing, turn the radio off, If you have a CB turn the quelch up a bit. You are now listening to the sounds of the engine and the sounds of the tires on the road. YOU must as @austinmike said become that synchronizer. Best way to learn how to shift is learn those sounds and take a quick peek at your tach! This is not nuclear physics. However it is unforgiving of mistakes. Make a bad shift and you can yank the entire drive train out!

 

Yes, I can see they are vastly different and can't wait to get my hands on one. I love to drive manuals and insisted both my kids learn on them as well. 18 intimidates me but I think 10 would be great.

 

It took me 20,000 miles of driving a truck to get halfway good at double clutching. The only similarity is that they both have a clutch. It is good to know what a clutch is, and have some experience with a car clutch. One guy in my class did not know how to double clutch....I taught him how to do it.

I trained in cdl school on a 10 speed, and learned how to double clutch there. A 10 speed has a low range for the first 5 gears and a high range for 6th through 10th. You use a range selector button to change from low range to high range.....I have never seen a car with a range selector button.

My first job was driving an 18 speed truck....the owner showed me how to shift it. I also drove a 13 speed a few times. And a 7 speed straight truck with no shifting diagram in the truck.

 

I learned how to shift a 10 speed in cdl school. My first job was driving an 18 speed. The owner showed me how to shift it.

It is not hard to learn. There is an extra button on the the shift lever that allows you to shift the split gears by flipping the button and letting off the throttle, and the transmission shifts itself. This doubles the number of speeds you have available, and allows the engine to operate in a narrower rpm range, in its sweet spot of torque.

Once you learn the 10 speed, it is pretty easy to learn the 18 speed in about 30 minutes.

 

Plus truck transmissions are super tough and forgiving.
A few hundred bad shifts aren’t going to ruin it.

However the clutch brake is more likely to wear out from a new or inexperienced driver and you’ll end up grinding it to get it in gear from a dead stop.