Braking without clutch

You're welcome and you are right, only in school, the state test examiners and possibly some companies require the use of the double clutch method and it is definitely that should be mastered when you are in school. BTW super 10, 13,15,18 and 21 will still need the use of no clutch, yes, no clutch when using the splitter.

 

As long as we are talking DMV teat driving vs. Real World driving. For DMV testing (at least in CA) you are not allowed to coast more than a vehicle length without the clutch engaged when coming to a stop. They wanna see you downshift through the stop all the way.

 

It's the same way in my state (not CA). You don't have to shift through ALL the gears here, but you can't coast more than the vehicle length.

 

Coasting can also cause you to fail a carrier's road test in orientation, depending on how strict they are. The main reason coasting is such an issue is because rarely does the driver actually get into the right gear so in the event you need to apply power to the wheels, you're now hunting for a gear - usually not very successfully.

I can float and double clutch - and I'll be honest. After eight years I still use double clutching as my primary shifting method. Part of it is due to working with students for the last few years, but mainly it's because double clutching doesn't require me to "learn" the truck. I can just get in the darn thing and drive it without killing the transmission. Floating well is a great skill, but if you don't float
"well", it's better for the truck to use the clutch.

 

With a proper stop, you don't need the clutch until the last moment. It seems like you're using the service brakes too much, and the instructor is trying to teach you how to rely on the transmission more.

 

Personally, I view coasting as losing control of the vehicle. I can't think of any circumstances that would permit being in neutral for a long period of time while the vehicle is in motion. If you need to come to a panic stop, you were simply driving too fast for the conditions.

 

We wasn't allowed to coast in school or while testing, they said it showed lack of control of the vehicle.

 

It's about control. What your instructor is trying to impress upon you is to use the engine to help slow you down for as long as possible. In principle when slowing you don't need to use the clutch until the engine reaches idle, but in practice you should use it just a little prior to idle or just as it is approaching idle. This allows the engine to assist in the braking and you obviously know what happens if you brake past idle with the clutch pedal up. Therefore you have to time your braking so that you reach idle and clutch and stop without coasting too far. Obviously the higher gear you are trying to stop in will reach idle at a speed greater than a lower gear so you will have some decisions to make as well as some skills to gain. That's why it's called "truck driving" and not "truck sitting around doing nothing".

 

You will have to use the clutch at the last part of the stop, or like you said it will stall. You should be in a gear untill fully stopped. I think what the instructor is trying to get you to learn is down shifting as your primary source for slowing the vehicle before the stop. You should be in a low enough gear by the time you get to your stoping point that you wont be lugging the motor rolling up to the stopping position. Basically set your mind to think you need to be going slow enough and in the gear you will be taking off in, pulling up to the stop point, before the stop. You dont want to roll up to a stop sign in 8th gear, coasting up to it with the clutch pushed in and ridding the breaks.

We had a 10 speed in our class. You should not need to rev up to 1500 rpm to down shift, if so, your down shifting to soon. The next lower gear is turning 300 rpms faster then the one above it. Knowing this, I would apply breaks firmly enough to slow the vehicle (not to hard, but not to soft), until the tach hit 900 rpm, quick tap on the clutch and pop into neutral, find my next lowest gear, and rev slightly (I did this by sound after a few times, just give the gas a tap like you would with hot rod at a red light, just enough to make it purr...) and it would pop right in around 1200 rpm, and repeat. Allowing enough time to do this as many times as needed to be in the right gear at the stop is the hard part. Its better to start to soon then to late, taking your time, learning the sounds and steps will become more natural once you get the feel for it.

Once you learn this procidure, there are short cuts, like dropping 2 gears at a time, and floating gears and such, but you need to be able to do the basics, before learning advanced controls. The DMV wants to see the basics.

Good luck!