DOWN Shifting

I drive the same exact way mike, I only double clutch descending grades...

 

You know to tell you the truth, manufacturers are against floating gears. They say it does more damage to the teeth on the gears and that the so called seasoned professionals don't have a clue as to what they are talking about when it comes to transmissions.

Sometimes it's people like this steering wheel guy who give "seasoned professionals" a bad name with their condescending attitudes.

Seasoned professionals huh...I been driving for 8 months, and can float the gears up, down, and I can come to a stop without ever touching the clutch. How's that for the seasoned professional? I think not. 8 months is not what I call seasoned and already I have learned this.
Oh, and I can do all of this without ever looking to see where my rpms are. I must be one helluva driver. I think steering wheel holder forgets that he was a rookie at one time. Hell he might still be one for all I know, but one thing is for sure is that he sure has a high opinion of himself. Oh did I mention I can come to a stop and float out of gear to neutral and never touch the clutch? Oh, did I mention I only been driving for 8 months and can do all of this? Seasoned Professional. Wow!

 

be sure to have your jakes off when learning to downshift if you are doing it the floating way. that will make a huge difference in the timing aspect for getting it to match road speed with RPM.

 

We've gone over this a lot of times before. Should you float or use the clutch. I agree with Wargames and learn your truck. However, when you come for a job you better know what you're doing if you want the better jobs.

I gave a lot of road tests to new hires and I would want to see three different kinds of shifting if you knew them. The first was a requirement and you all know that's double clutching. The reasons are real but mostly to protect the tranny from ther new driver. I want to see if you know how to match your road speed and skip gears on the way down. If you need every gear when going down with an empty truck you're only showing your inexperience. I want to see if you know how to use progressive shifting. And I'm sorry THBatMan8 but what you describe is not progressive shifting. Your speed increases gradually along with the RPM's. Like for example you start off in the gear that will roll the truck without applying power go to 1200,1250.1300,1400, and so on. It's not exact but you take it nice and relaxed. The last thing,if you want,you can use is floating. But I've got to tell you you better hit every gear or you may not get the job. Two items I do not want to see and that's using the engine brake to shift and reving the engine on upshifts. All of us drivers trainers at my company used these methods but above all we want to see how relaxed you are in your shifting. We know that a new truck to a driver may cause some problems so we want to see if you know how to recover.

So like Wrgames says once you're out on your own use the best method you can for the truck. You let the truck work for you and not you working the truck.

 

So how many years/miles experience do your "new" drivers have to have to go to work for your company??

 

We do require experience. Our stardard is 3 years in town delivery of gasoline. We will take OTR experience but we want the local gas station knowledge more than anything else. We do have the hardest hiring policies I've ever seen but that's what you have to go through when you get paid the amount this company pays. It is a major oil company and they are picky. The point of my posting was to show that the better companies expect you to know how to shift and treat the truck as it was your own.

 

I figured they would require experience. Be hard for a lot of the new truck driving school grads to pass that driving test.