How do you take off in a semi?

Seems no one seems to know how to read. It’s even written on the dash, shifter, etc...., what do you think “1” means ? It’s there for a reason...

 

Also bear in mind that most of the trucks nowadays have ceramic clutches.

If you are used to driving a car that has an organic clutch it will feel a lot smoother to you then the truck with the ceramic clutch. The ceramic material really wants to take and bite into the flywheel differently than the organic. So you have to get used to how the truck feels.

I think it's best to keep in mind that the purpose when you pull out his to get the wheels rolling and that's it. Use whatever gear that you can that you can idle as the other posters have said,

And just a side note. As the other posters have said, do not let the truck roll backwards before you let the clutch out. I don't know if it's the correct term, but I call that negative torque multiplied.

It takes x amount of force on the engine, trans, and Driveline to start from a dead stop. When you roll backward and then let the clutch out you've multiplied the force that's required to move the truck in a negative way. That's a very bad on everything.

After you get your pulling out and your shifting and all that under control, eventually you should try to get into the habit to time your lights so that the truck is at the very least slightly rolling, whenever possible, even if it's only at a crawl so that you do not have to come to a complete dead stop. That way you can stay in gear and you don't even have to use the clutch.

If you learn how to drive in such a way that you are easy on the clutch and transmission, you will amaze and impress any prospective employers that ride with you.

You would be amazed at the number of clutch, transmission, and Driveline issues that purely are only because of a bad driver.

Be a good one and be a professional.

Good luck.

 

Old post. But 900 isn't bad for low range. It's all about how the truck behaves.

 

We would lug the superliner 500 Mack down to about 900 for me, 850 for the boss who has been driving it longer than me. Games really. But it's not good to lug em down that far loaded as we were.

I miss that engine, it was a good one. Was not much on speed but dump trucks don't do speed generally.

 

I had an NXS that would pull B-trains down near 800 in low range, but a MBN that didn't like being lower than 1000.

It all depends on the engine. My C-13 doesn't like lower than about 950.