Hello. I just joined the forums about an hour ago, and I have a few questions about trucking. First of all, I just recently started studying about trucking and reading the CDL manual and a few things have me worried. I'm fortunate enough to have a cousin in the profession and he's done an excellent job at explaining the basics of driving a tractor-trailer, and answering the many questions I've had about the subject. But the main problem is this: The way he explains the things I'm worried about, he makes it sound like it'll be easy for me to learn. He was a natural at driving a semi and I don't think he's had many problems with learning, so he probably thinks it'll be easy for me as well. Second, I have NOT gone to school for this and I'm wondering if it'll be possible for me to even get into this and do well at it without formal training. I'd just like to see what other truck drivers have to say. 1. Manual (Unsynchronized) Transmission: This is what has me most worried and a little confused. The majority of the worry I have about this is whether or not I'll be able to learn to do it. The manual I have says that the gears will not grind when you double clutch. I'm wondering, does that mean double clutching makes grinding gears much harder to do than when you're float shifting, or is it the same amount of chance? I'm worried that I'm just going to grind the hell out of the gears when first start learning (mind the language). Another thing I'm worried about is the precise timing that's required. When you're upshifting, are you supposed to let the RPMs drop by about 200-500 EVERY time, or is it okay as long as you are around the correct RPM? 2. Highway Driving: This is another thing I'm worried about. I know I'm a really safe driver, but I'm really worried that I'm not going to know how to get where I need to go, or that I'll get trapped by other drivers when I need to change lanes to get to an exit or entrance ramp, or some similar situation. How do truckers that are new to a road know how to go about traveling it safely? Even with a map, I might still be worried. These are a few of the things I'm worried about, and I'm hoping someone would be able to give me some advice. Thanks.
So on the shifting part i'll let you know what I know. I went to school having never drove a manual before and by the time my 4 weeks of school were up I could upshift and downshift without grinding the gears. The main thing with shifting is making sure that you have the correct rpm's for that truck. Our trucks were shift at 1500 in low gears and 1600 to 1700 in the higher gears. I know when I first started off I thought that was going to be the hardest thing for me too learn turns out getting a job is the hardest part of the whole dang thing. Anyways I hope that can help you out and best of luck to you.
Believe it or not, the people who have never shifted a manual transmission before usually pick it up and the notion of double clutching faster than people who have driven a manual transmission. I was one of those people. Once I got the timing down it was pretty easy. 2 main things to watch for when shifting: your road speed and your RPMs. If you're upshifting this will be pretty easy. Put it in first gear, when your RPMs get up around 1500-1700, start shifting into the next gear. When you're in neutral your RPMs should drop on their own and when they get down around 1000/1100, go into your next gear. Downshifting is another story. In this case when your RPMs drop to around 1000/1100 you'll want to pop it into neutral, then tap the accelerator to get your RPMs back up around 1500-1700. Too hard and your needle will fly to the right. Too light and the needle will only move up to around 1300. Once you get above 1500, go into the gear below the one you came from. The tricky part is when you're slowing down for special circumstances, like a steep hill or a short exit ramp. Knowing the speed ranges for your gears will be very handy. Say you leave the interstate around 55. There's a short exit ramp so you have to drop a few gears quickly. Hit the brakes, pop it into neutral, hit the brakes some more. Look to see what your speed is. 35? Okay what gear tops out at 35...tap your accelerator to get your RPMs up and shift into that gear. Highway driving. Well, there's no real answer other than 'be patient'. If you're in the middle lane and realize your exit is coming up soon, put on your turn signal! Eventually someone will let you over...well, hopefully. If they don't and you miss your exit, go on down to the next exit. Take a look at it while you're approaching and see if it looks good enough to take so you can cross over the interstate and get back on to get back on to your exit. It's happened to me many times. For OTR, especially starting out, many of these cities you've never been to before in your life. The people around you have been living here for years, they know their way around. You don't. Don't let their impatience with you affect how you drive. Be careful, be safe, and be patient. I've had a habit of yelling to my mirrors (usually looking to see if someone will let me in, "I'm sorry, I'm not from around here!"
Militrucker took the shifting, so I'll make an attempt on the map-reading bit. First of all, don't think you are alone. Everyone stRted from the same position, so buy the Rand-McNally Truckers Atlas. It has some good info as well as decent maps for all the states. It's crap for Canada, but you won't want to do much cross-border for a while anyway. When you get your dispatch, spend a few minutes with the atlas and write down your route on a Post-It note. Stick it to your windshield so you can see it easily. Don't make it complicated, route number and direction are enough. As you get more experience, you will start to get a map in your mind, and will come to rely on the atlas less and less. As far as finding your way around cities is concerned, don't be afraid of stopping in a Truckstop close to your destination and asking other drivers.
No, by its very nature an unsynchronized transmission will grind the gears if you dont match the transmission speed to the road speed, no matter if you use the clutch or not. Thats what synchromesh car transmissions do, which is why you can just shift it with one push on the clutch. I will let the others here tell you know how to shift the tranny in a big-rig truck, because its all posted here in the forum archives, if you search. Fact: Millions of people are truck drivers and we all had these same issues when we started driving big-rigs. The fact is that most people cant cut it, for long, in this industry, and to be frank, if you stress about things like that, it will make it very hard for you to focus on the road ahead, which you need to do to drive safely. I dont know if you can make it or not as a driver but I do know one thing: You will never know until you give it a try, so in the end, its still your call.
These are all new driver worries. If it makes you feel better my wife felt the same way before going to school and she did just fine. The thing I would concentrate more on would be the lifestyle. This is what most new drivers have the biggest problem with. Nowadays with GPS and directions sent directly to your truck on the satellite computer it makes it a hell of a lot easier. You can also use google earth to check out the situation before you even get there. It won't take you long to get comfortable with getting lost. Hell after about a year of doing it you won't even need a map. The whole country will feel like your backyard! As for the highway driving, that's the easy part. If you need to move over you simply put on your turn signal and suggestively move over. You will be surprised how fast 4-wheelers will get out of the way. The first time you sit in a big rig and look in the mirror it is intimidating. After a week of straight driving that truck will feel like another appendage. If trucking is something you are serious about I really wouldn't put much stress or thought into the actual handling of the truck. Like I said the lifestyle is going to be your biggest obstacle! Good luck to you and welcome to the forum!
After your first day or 2 you will be surprised at how much "smaller" the truck gets from the driver seat. It becomes less intimidating every mile you drive.
That's a good way of putting it. One day you are driving a huge vehicle that seems to have a mind of it's own, and the next, you wonder what all the fuss was about. Eventually something just clicks in your head, and you become totally comfortable with the vehicle. Just remember, we might be "unskilled", but we have a hell of a lot of skills for all that. It's not easy, but anyone can learn how to do it. Just give yourself time.
