"Don't push in the clutch all the way"

Yup. Just need enough to break torque.

 

Be kind to your clutch brake. I used to work at a place where the loaders used our road trucks to load the trailers at night. Unfortunately, they were never taught how to shift properly and as a result were constantly tearing up the clutch Brakes. The mechanics eventually quit fixing them because they would just have to fix them again a few days later.

 

Yeah, don't push it in all the way. Put your foot on the clutch, and depress it only with your toes. You only need the slightest bit of clutch depression to hit the next gear. Anything else is excessive, wears out the clutch and engages the brake.

 

HEY MAN the reason you dont push the clutch to the floor is better explained as.....
there is a clutch break at the bottom of the clutch peddle so if you push to the floor you will burn it up at highway or high engine speeds...now when you are sitting still and you want to put it in reverse or a take off gear. you depress the clutch fully this keeps the gears from grinding. now if you do that and the gear does not want to go in but isnt grinding then just lift the clutch slightly and hold the shift hand to that gear and it will drop right in..and here is another mistake people make that is not warned about..

when taking off in a semi... DO NOT HIT THE GAS AT ALL UNTIL YOU HAVE FULLY ENGAGED THE CLUTCH. if you rev the engine like a car you will warp the clutch disks there is two of them,, this will case hopping when backing. the engine has a low rpm govener to keep it from choking down unless you snap out on the clutch.. keep your foot on the brake let out on the clutch slowly untill you feel it start to pull then lift your foot off the brake and slowly release the clutch until its engaged then mash the gas.. . and as you get comfortable with the truck you can practice floating the gears.. the more you mash the clutch when shifting the quicker your clutch wears out.. but in a company that has a trainer.. they want you to double clutch . that is why you a grinding,, if you are mashing the clutch once to shift that is improper.. semi trannys are not syncronised. mash the clutch pull to neutral then mash again and put in gear.

 

Just do what I did and pretend to push it lol

 

It is what is dude you got to get with the program learn to use it as directed or just go get an automatic licence only which will greatly restrict your ablity to drive trucks. By the way some brands of trucks do have synro's like Scania's and some Volvo's.

 

The clutch brake has two tabs that slide on slots in the input shaft. Pushing the clutch pedal all the way down will shear off the tabs making the clutch brake useless when you are running down the road. The clutch brake is only for engaging the gears at a dead stop or a dead start. Just push pedal half way when shifting. And DONT ride with your foot on the pedal. You can burn up a clutch doing that.

 

I REALLY hate making this thread a zombie but no point in creating a new one for a similar issue. Anyway, we're on the road now and I have a better understanding of shifting/downshifting/clutching but all of the trainer trucks are beat to hell, even the third week road trucks which were said to be in "better condition." I've been told not to press so hard on the clutch to change gears by a couple of instructors but in the truck with my main instructor he says I'm not pressing the clutch hard enough. You have to press the thing almost to the floor to get it to shift properly. Of course when you put so much foot power into depressing the clutch, upon release it makes the gear transition rough. I notice I have better luck when shifting at the lower RPM sweet spot. It's rough learning on beat up equipment but we beat it in training so what can you do? This is the third truck I've driven in the past couple of weeks so it's another beast to get used to

 

A little squeeze on the old gal makes her break power to shift.

Taking it to the floor at the stop sign will keep her in line and find a gear to get back to work when it's time to do so.

Eventually by accident you will learn how to move that stick around without clutching. (Floating)

 

Press the clutch just barely in, in my clutch there is about half inch of free play , push it in another half inch and its activated now... Or just turn on the jake break and then press the clutch in until the jake break turns off and that will tell u how much u need to push it in to activate it to shift gears...once u pass the cdl test just go on youtube and watch videos how to float gears ur transmission and ur left knee will thank u for it