Floating revisted

Yup - you're doing good.,

Doesn't need to be all the way off the throttle to release it out of gear - just enough release of torque/pressure to slide out . . .

If you've got the downshift mastered, you're 90% there.

 

This is why I miss driving a manual. That feeling of "being one with the truck..." Getting to know its sweet spots and how to find them without really trying... Isn't it great?. Now I have to work on "being one with the truck's computer," which is just not the same.

 

I plan on never going back to an automatic. How many times does your computer lock up and you get the blue screen of death? It happened to me with an automatic. The computer fell asleep at the wheel and didn't down shift on an exit ramp. Of course, that was 13 years ago when automatics were new. Maybe they're better now. Maybe I'm a control enthusiast.

 

When I was taught always was told pressure on the stick even when I double clutch it Makes it so much easier

 

When I spent my stint as a trainer at Swift I had my trainees, who normally got in my truck with an average of 10 hours behind the wheel from school, start floating on the 2nd or 3rd day. Part of my strategy was to get them OVER the two big issues with shifting.

First, there's the Happy Feet Syndrome. Needing to floor it or get completely off the throttle. Part of this transition would be having them park it, set the brakes, and practice taking it from 1100 rpm's to 1500 rpm's to discover how LITTLE they have to move the throttle. Just a fraction of an inch.

The second tendency to overcome was the Mohammed Ali Jab. They get out of gear, hover in neutral, romp on the accelerator and then let it off completely, THEN JAB at the gear... hoping that they time it for the split second that the rpm's will be perfect.

It never failed. When I did the 1100 to 1500 rpm drill, then had them float from 2nd from highest to highest to highest gear simply by pulling on the gear shift and dropping from 1500 to 1100... they always got that excited look in their eyes. They just shifted a gear without grinding! It went in like a hot knife through butter!

Everyone should learn to float AND to double clutch. Floating teaches you the finer points of throttle control and double clutch helps you get there faster.

 

1000 and 1500 wad drilled into my head for three weeks....

And I thought I was crazy for struggling so much with shifting.

Once I got my own truck and played with it a bit I figured out that 1250 and 1750 were the sweet spots.

Of course I am sure this may vary among truck... You have to experiment, and find the sweet spots.

Learning to 'feather ' the throttle is also a good point!

 

Also, start paying attention to the amount of RPM difference between every gear. My truck, for instance, has a 300 difference between all the gears until the top 2 shifts, where there's a 400 RPM difference from 8 to 9 and 9 to 10. So for those last two shifts the "wait" is slightly longer.

 

Ya dont need rpm gauge....thats for begginer to have somewhere to start..

Your progressing just fine...If you drove 5 trucks all exaclty the same as yours, they'd all be a tad different...

Start skipping gears up and down, you'll really become one with your tranny

Double clutching is funny...I call it 'stompin spiders"....

 

Sweet spots vary between motor types of the same brand.

I've driven a MBN CAT C-15 (single turbo) for the past three months. I've also driven a ST 6NZ C-15, TT C-15 (can't remember the model) and a TT C-13 (again, no model). All four have had 13 speed Eaton Fuller manuals.

The sweet spot for the MBN is between 1150 and 1350. The 6NZ is 1200-1400. The twin-turbos were both about 1300-1500. I also drove a 425 Paccar with an 18 for several months, and it was 1400-1600.

It's almost crazy how much the torque curve can vary from truck to truck, let alone between engine types (CAT, Cummins, Detroit, etc). Plus there is things like Cummins have a much faster "drop" than CAT's do, among other things.

It all comes down to getting in a single truck, and "feeling it out". Slip-seating manuals is a quick way to ruin a driver's pride. If they're new to it, they'll never get it right.

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As for the TC, I've been in this for just over a year now, and it took me about as long as you to really start to understand floating (which my company wants). Now I can shift smoother than the Pete 579/KW T-680's that we have with automated manuals that think maxing out the RPM's, then slamming it down into the next gear whether loaded or unloaded, partial throttle or full throttle is the best way to do it.

I can't see how using the clutch to shift the gears really saves all that much on transmission wear like Eaton claims. Granted, learning to float sure probably puts a whole lot more wear on the transmission, but that's what older trucks with too many miles are for.