How to downshift an 8 speed

oh lordy...........

 

if you are using the speedo to shift what will happen if you are driving a truck with 3-70 rear ends then you change trucks and it has 3-55 rear ends. use the tach if you have to and after awhile you will notice you dont have to watch it at all. that is how millions of truckers before you learned, dont make it any harder than it has to be. lots of luck

 

Well this certainly explains some things.......

Wow.

 

I appreciate the quip, but actually I frequently will skip gears downshifting. For example, in traffic on the freeway approaching a cloverleaf exit with a recommended 25 mph speed. In this case I might wait to brake fairly hard to avoid slowing too much while still in the freeway lane, slowly quickly after I'm in the exit lane. Then I'll have rpm's down in the 600-900 range and will skip a gear, or even skip two gears. My trainer was a stickler for downshifting through all the gears, even in a situation like this, and I strongly feel that trying to be that active with the stick when you are trying to negotiating merging traffic and come to a safe speed before the curve is asking for "issues". Better to concentrate on smooth braking and grab the gear you need when you hit the speed you want. I'll glance at the speedometer at times like this to get a general idea which gear will be best, and do the rest by feel.

 

This is so funny we have 26 year old teachers telling everyone how to drive a truck
Sadly the road is not something new to me. BUT every truck is different and requires that it be driven differently. So sunny boy you went through one of them fancy schools and got a cdl thanks to guy telling you what to do at DMV well congratulations and welcome to the big road, Now forget everything they ever told you and learn to drive the tractor you was put in to make a living, you check your gauges only after you've checked your mirrors and quarter mile or so in front of you and every once in a while glance at the speedometers to make sure you're not asking to chat with a trooper. Learn to listen to your truck not the radio screaming in your ears in time you will be able to know what your truck wants and do whats needed to keep it happy and rolling. Please remember until you know what you're doing you are dangerous to yourself and others around you, so don't let anyone get you butt hurt about your driving as a matter of fact if you have a CB radio turn it off and leave it off that no one can get on your ### about driving downhills slow and safe,let those hotrods. Blow past you all day long and know you'll be arriving to your destination in one piece, here's one tip to maybe help you learn to float which is what a trucks transmission was designed for,, as you shift down gentle ease the stick into the hole you want feel it rub the gears but not so hard that you grind them, then ease the throttle down while still holding that gentle pressure and it will fall in then just continue the pressure on the go pedal or back off depending on your needs, and PLEASE. Pay attention to the road you need to know whats ahead if you come up on a downgrade know how long it is and if theres curves to it so you can have the truck in the right gear to stay in control all the way to the bottom without shifting. Drive for five to yten years to get past your rookie label. I say be safe out there cause that driver following you might be me, and I hate dodging other trucks out there, for god knows there's plenty of other targets to miss out there

 

The school i went to taught us to very rarely look at the speedo while shifting. They wanted us shifting the truck between 1200-1600 rpm. If the rpms got close to or just above 1600 we would upshift. When it gets close to 1200 or below we downshift. It rolls over to just about every truck just gotta find the sweet spots on every type of truck you drive. They will very on the max rpms and power ratings of the engine.

 

Not even close to true. All you have to do is note the speed at which the limiter stops acceleration, and you can change trucks and transmissions with almost no learning. Like I had an international, and its limiter was all over the place, like 1250rpm max in some gears and 2100 in others. If you did progressive shifting, you would shift into 10th at 45mph, which would bog you down so much that you would go nowhere. But if you watched the speedo, 9th maxed out at about 60, and so you shifted by using normal speeds and not the rpm. Can you imagine trying to downshift when the lower gear is maxed at 1250rpm? Learning by RPM would be a nightmare! But if you just remember what the max and min speeds are for any given gear, you can shift into the right gear or any overlapping gears almost instantly.

Its good enough that I can reach over with my left hand and shift for someone who is panicking, but shifting by RPM is not possible when someone is frozen with their foot on the floor....

 

In case you didnt notice, back in 2010 they passed laws so strict that they have been firing old drivers left and right, and they deserved it for being so reckless....
When I became a trainer, we had to take the smith training, and share the class with the screwups. Guess who kept getting hard braking events and roll over sensors screaming in their ears? The old guys. We had young punks from the ghetto with 5-6 violations....but some of you old farts were getting HUNDREDS. The class only happens once a month, and we had old men getting 3-4 A DAY. But we had P-diddy from the street with his pants on the ground getting 5-6 a month.....and I neve got one. And my students never got one....

So keep your old reckless ways to yourself. Old men are the reason that trucking kills more people than any other job in the US, including the military. You dont see young men rolling trucks or real ending people, you see fat old guys and people drinking a gallon of coffee and driving 18 hours a day.

You want proof? Werner has thousands of new drivers, and we are average. Average means in the middle. That means that half of all truckers are more dangerous that a company that provides almost no training, and from guys with almost no time.

You know you are reckless when guys with 6 months and no training themselves, are beating half of all truckers....

Oh, AND I CAN SHIFT IF I WAS DEAF. Using your speedo takes only a glance, unless you are illiterate and need to count to 45 on your fingers.....

And I forgot, I learned to drive a 53 footer with 72" sleeper delivering cabinets in New England, driving over the GW bridge twice a week. I never got stuck, I never found a house I couldnt back into. Ya I was backing into people's yards with a 53, or unloading by hand in the middle of the street because they didnt have a dock.
I know exactly what Im doing. I am the guy who comes up to a stuck truck, tells the others go get the fook back and gets it out in 30 seconds. I once had a guy with a million miles stuck at the Altlanta Loves, and I not only got him unstuck, but I lined him up with a space while he wasnt looking. The guy about blew his eyes out his head when I said "Now, just back her in" and he realizes he is not only unstuck, but lined up for some sleep...

I have never come across a truck I couldnt get unstuck. If the truck can go in forwards, it can get out backwards. Laws of physics....

 

I agree with parts
There are a lot of truckers out there who want to be hot ##### and show off, or the ones who like to just take it to the edge.
I piss off truckers all the time, when im on a route that is unfamiliar and there are curves, you better believe im following the speed or going below it while other trucks are flying past me above the speeds. I might just see you flipper over down the road while I get to my destination on time....
I had my first experience on the 50 the other day heading up to Pueblo, CO and that was a route I kept well below speeds while other trucks would fly past me even at the nice tight curves with a nice cliff. Those who have been driving for awhile im sure has been on this road, its a gorgeous highway but not one to screw around on.
The cb being off I dont agree with, I have been warned about accidents etc and it has came in handy, you shouldnt be focused on it and yacking away though. I have talked on my cb maybe a total of 1 hour this year and half was during an accident where we sat for 3 hours, its always on but out of mind. The stereo shouldnt be too loud where you dont know whats going on around you, seen some with systems that vibrate more than their engine...
When im in traffic, slowing down to get on an exit etc I turn my radio down almost all the way so I concentrate more on the maneuvers coming up and to listen to your engine while your going up in gears or down.

My buddy who is an o/o is also a mentor and had a student blow up an engine having the radio too loud and not listening to what was going on, the buddy uses ear plugs when he is sleeping so he didnt know until too late. $43k later his truck was out of shop and the student was gone...

 

just because werner limits their rpm your advice would cause a lot of blown engines or wasted fuel at a carrier that hires drivers to keep not for cheap wages