Clutching and Stopping

@OFTOTR
Im 20 yrs old and drive the same way you mention. It does drive people nuts but makes for some good comedy when they act all speedking 3000 and slam on their brakes just before the whiteline. If im going to be in this business, i am going to act professional. Not like many my age unfortunately

 

I have never run out of air while stopping. In fact on current trailers and trucks, no air means the brakes will fully engage. So don't worry about that.

Are you using two feet while braking/downshifting? Left foot brake and right foot throttle control. Only at the point of stopping do I switch to left foot on clutch, right foot on brake.

We have it easy. Very often race car drivers will do a procedure called Heel/Toe wherein the heel works the breaks while the toe, OF THE SAME FOOT, blips the throttle as needed!!!! That is some talent!

Cause if they did the stank would catch up! Heheheee
Or a refr truck would park next to them and they would have to start whining! Hehehehee

Mikeeee

 

Your brakes are designed to stop 80,000 lbs. You won't be hard on them until you go down a mountain.....

Your instructors are likely having you do all the downshifting so you get proficient at it. In the real world, the only time I downshifted sequentially was coming off the interstate on a ramp......and with a loaded tanker, so I would hit all the gears on an 18 spd, down to 6th gear, then coast to the stop sign and drop it into 2nd as I stopped with the brakes. I am guessing your instructors want you to be able to come to a stop from 6th gear, and as you brake, the engine will start to chug as you are putting on the brakes.....at that point you step in the clutch and step on the brakes to slow you down from 15 mph to 1 - 2 mph in about 3 seconds, and then you shift into 1st........ However, what if you took 10 seconds to do that, you would press on the brakes more lightly and slow down more gradually and smoother. Smooth stopping is very important when pulling a tanker.....surge is bad, smooth is good!!!
The DOT wants you to not be out of gear for more than 3 seconds.....but when stopping you want to coast about 10 seconds to a nice smooth stop. So what to do? Until you get your CDL you have to do it the way your instructors and DOT tell you. Once you have your CDL, you will then follow your trainers guidance....and then you will have the chance to try different stopping techniques in different situations. Best wishes to you....sounds like you are doing well. To me, I would much rather have a smooth stop than stabbing at the brakes, just so I am not out of gear for more than 3 seconds.....I like to take it easy on a loaded truck with 80,000 lbs on it, and when hauling a hopper bottom, we always had as close as we could get to 80,000 lbs....and by the way, when you fully loaded, and going down hill to a stop sign, the only thing that is going to stop you is your brakes, the engine is not going to even slow you down....your jake brake will take forever to slow you down.....only your brakes are stopping you, so I like to be gentle on them and press the brake to get just the amount of stopping action I need for a smooth stop and then drop it into the gear I need just as I roll up to the stop sign.


You will be in situations in traffic or get a red light, where you will not be able to downshift more than once or twice. Hitting a stale green light that goes red will require you to hit the brakes for a quick stop....and you will then need to shift into 2nd gear to be ready to take off. Don't worry about using your brakes while you are out of gear.....I think in high density traffic you will need to use your brakes more than down shifting to slow you down....not always, but much of the time. If someone cuts in front of you, you may need to brake suddenly and you will have to drop a couple of gears. It was always harder for me to drop 3 or 4 gears than it was to downshift one at a time.

If you drop from 45 to 15 mph, what gear do you drop it into? Someone shared this info on a old post:
15 mph = 6th
25 mph = 7th
35 mph = 8th
45 mph = 9th
Anything under 10 mph you will be in the low range. I usually turned in 5th gear, at about 10 mph.