How do I prevent the gears from grinding when stopped?

downshift until you are at a slow enough speed the brakes can easily slow/stop you. depress clutch and right before the truck stops (2-3 mph) choose your starting gear. if the truck stops it will be infinitely more difficult to catch the gear without grinding.

 

Don't stress over it too much, eventually you will be able to do it by sound, while floating the gears (not using the clutch) and shifting with your thumb and one finger.

 

If you insist on 6th being your last gear before you stop, then you need to switch to low range and move it to neutral BEFORE you come to a complete stop. What's happening is the high/low is getting stuck against the side of a gear instead of meshing. If you were moving when you did it, it would mesh because the gears are rotating. But at a dead stop, half the time it will end up resting "against" the gear instead of "inside" it. So then you put the tranny in gear and go to take off, and the tranny isn't actually in gear, because it's not in low range or high range, but it's trying to get into low range. So when you take off, it's grinding.

So make sure you're selecting low range and moving the stick to neutral while the truck is still rolling and you should be alright. That should solve your problem.

However, you need to be moving to low range and grabbing gears on the way down for sheer practice. Your instructor doesn't want you to do that because they'll go through trannies faster, and he'd rather you tear up your own truck than his.

 

They're doing you a dis service by teaching you to take off in 4th.

Get er down to about 5-7mph flip the button dowm, blip the throttle and slide it in. Should fall right in 3rd

 

Great advice from everyone. Keep practicing, Try to get an ear for it. Might try watching the RPMs also. If it’s grinding, you’re either shifting too fast, not letting the RPMs come down enough, for gears to match up, Or waiting too long to shift, and jamming it in anyways. If so, you can always give it a little fuel, bringing the RPMs back up, to make it shift smooth. I do that a lot, to avoid jamming the gears. Instead of winding it up real good, and catching the next gear just right on the way down. I’ll let the RPMs come down, then give it some fuel, bringing the RPMs back up, till it slips in easy.I’ve heard it called short shifting. Just helps me get through all the gears faster. Just keep practicing, it really will come naturally, by sound and feel. Proper Rpms is key. Different transmissions have different gear ratio spreads between gears. Each one takes a bit getting used to. Even exact same Brand new Trucks will Drive and shift differently.

 

Aren’t they all? Lol

 

Trucks are all different so this is just a general guide.

Generally speaking, drop the RPMs to 800, knock out of gear and bump to 1000 to downshift. Of course, this has to be done almost simultaneously.

Or, you can just watch the speedo until you get the hang of it. Example, my truck (10 speed) will be at 800 RPMs about the time I’m down to 40 mph. Bump it out of gear, bump the throttle and bump it into 9th. Then, it’s about 10 mph down for each gear down to 6th where it’s about 15 and then down to 10 mph for 5th.

 

I had the same problem when I started driving.

#1, the clutch should never be pushed fully to the floor unless you're completely stopped. Engaging the clutch brake while you're moving will wear it out fast.
#2, you need to get the truck into gear BEFORE it comes to a complete stop. With a manual trans, you are the synchronizer. If the truck is moving, the trans is moving. Try sliding it into 2nd gear around 3mph then come to a stop. It takes practice (took me over a month) but after that it'll be second nature.

My best advice for practice is, figure out what speed 1st, 2nd and 3rd is at idle. That way when you roll to a stop and you see 4mph you know you can slide it right in 3rd. It sounds a lot more complex than it is