The 6th to 7th shift hasn't been a big deal to me, actually none of the shifter positions have been a problem. It's that high-low switch that trips me up at times. I'll get my head into something like traffic or a up and coming turn and forget which gear I'm in and start "panic shifting" then nothing goes into gear, RPM's are all off it's just a mess.
The other person I'm training with has a huge problem trying to go from 4th into 5th, they keep trying to ram it into reverse.
The other issue is stopping on a hill that causes you to roll backwards. Using the clutch so you can get off the break and hit the accelerator and not roll backwards is an art that I'm having a bit of an issue with. The other person kills the #### truck every time or it starts jumping like a bronco then dies.
I have no problem on a motorcycle with that or a standard vehicle, but this truck is rather difficult.
First Day of Driving School is Over
Discussion in 'Trucking Schools and CDL Training Forum' started by Frank Burns, Oct 14, 2019.
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Gearjammin' Penguin, FlaSwampRat and austinmike Thank this.
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Well.... day #3 is done. I only made a couple of bone head mistakes which is an improvement from the first two days. Instructor told us tomorrow we might be headed to the big city. The guy keeps upping the game every day. Sheesh we have only had a total of 10 1/2 hours time behind the wheel, I think our instructor likes mayhem and chaos. lol
FlaSwampRat, x1Heavy and austinmike Thank this. -
LOL sounds like when I went to school. my left leg was like a wet noodle that first day. I never heard so much gear grinding in my life ! Once you get out of school you can just float the gears, much easier and your left leg will thank you - you can do it, just takes time and practice -
FlaSwampRat and Frank Burns Thank this. -
Noticed that he doesn't say much when I'm driving now unless I really mess up. Otherwise he sits over there and looks at his phone the whole time.FlaSwampRat Thanks this. -
My school was off Haven street in Baltimore City not far from Erdman and 40. The City was not the problem but the mountains were for me. Once the instructors understood it then started working on me.
Nothing like a house sized rock at the bottom of Luke Maryland stop sign covered in crosses to focus your stopping.
Or the old school wall in Cumberland downtown...and so on. (One of the recent pictures tell me that big trucks must have rode the right side outer tires clear up the #### thing more than halfway and there you are. half tipped over and about to run out of wall.
Either that or those are the dock versions of halloween scary stories, it was a dark and stormy night on big savage...Frank Burns Thanks this. -
Sirscrapntruckalot, Frank Burns and FlaSwampRat Thank this.
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Well.... not much to add right now other than it IS getting better this 2nd week. Driving that is. I still have the occasional screw up but it's nothing like the first week.
Sounds like the next big hurdle is the pre-trip, we started on that today.
Still have backing to do which I hope we get into tomorrow.
I was ready to quit day three, now I'm starting to think it's going to be o.k. I can do this.austinmike, Sirscrapntruckalot and Gearjammin' Penguin Thank this. -
The first ones to test out of school in my class were taught to float first then once we got the hang of it the instructor had us start double clutching. Made it a lot easier once we started running in heavy traffic or construction zones to stop watching the tach/speedometer and feel/hear our way to the next gear. I drove 4 diff trucks (all 10 speeds) that all had diff clutches. In the end I chose the truck with the lousiest clutch to test with and was pleased with the decision.
the other instructor kept his guys double clutching the entire time and discouraged even learning how to float because of a silly 5 point deduction on the road test.
The week before evaluations he lost 2 of his guys to our team. It took them 2 days and they were g2g for test day.Frank Burns Thanks this. -
When I went to school, I went for my first road test and I choked so bad I didn't even make it out of the parking lot. True story. Now I'm working on a quarter-century of trucking, and I amaze bystanders with the things I can make this rig do. But I try to never forget that I started out right where you are.
If I can do it, so can you.
(BTW, tell Hot Lips I said hi. )Sirscrapntruckalot, Frank Burns and dwells40 Thank this. -
LOL! Hot Lips.
Thanks Penguin!
Got to do my first full all around pre-trip today, didn't do half bad actually. Still need to keep studying the videos I made and get it down 90% or better.
Also had my first day of backing. It wasn't a total disaster but I still need work on the offset backing and a bunch of work on the parallel parking. I'm having to use my two pull-up about 70% of the time.
Today was also the first day I can say I honestly enjoyed what I was doing. Frustrating at times but still enjoyable.
Tomorrow is another day of just driving because it's supposed to pour rain all day.x1Heavy and Gearjammin' Penguin Thank this.
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