I cant be the only one who has this problem.

Clutch has nothing to do with you wearing boots. Its the feel on the shifter knob, you can feel it in your hand whether your to low or high on the rpms.

 

Do what the imported drivers do --

wear flip-flops.

Full-time, all-the-time comfort.



-- L

 

boots def make it harder

 

You do what is best for you.. I wear boots and I'm local here in DFW, but I've bid my shift where I'm going out west to Stephenville a lot.. boots are accepted.. flip flops will get you FIRED around here..LOL

 

Dave’s right. When upshifting, bring the shifter to the next gear. You can feel the gears spinning, slow, and then stop for a second. The reason why it feels like the gear has stopped is because the engine and transmission are spinning at the same speed. The shifter will seemingly drop into gear at this point.

If you upshift at 1500 rpm, find out what rpm the gears feel like they’ve stopped spinning. Say, for example, it’s 1200 rpm. Going through the rpm range, get to 1500, bring shifter to next gear, one one thousand two gear feels like it’s stopped, shift in. 1500 shift, rinse and repeat.

So, if you are downshifting, you let the rpm’s drop to 1200, blip the throttle over 1500 and you will feel the gears spin, then slow then stop. DOWNSHIFT. Rpm’s will be at 1500 and you will feel the engine braking. If you use the Jake’s, the principles the same, but the rpm’s will drop much faster,meaning that split second where engine and transmission speed is matching is much shorter thus requiring you to shift faster.

Make sense?

 

Well, 1st, welcome aboard, I can honestly say, this is a new one, but I can understand your concern. If it's some consolation, I read, 94% of all new class 8 trucks are automatics, so you may not have to worry. Also, work boots may be required on the school property, but for the test, by all means, use what is comfortable, the examiner isn't going to focus on that, I hope. In the 70s, I got a lot of crap because I was the only driver that wore tennis shoes, and not some cowboy boot( with spurs) baloney. I tend to agree, boots really shouldn't be an issue, in fact years ago, clutches were so hard to push down, you NEEDED big boots, but that's not the case today, and wear what is comfortable.
Now, for the record, many, if not all loading/unloading facilities require safety shoes on the dock. I couldn't wear big clod hopper boots either, but found a pair of safety toe shoes that were almost like tennis shoes. You'll be fine.

 

My father almost always wore "cowboy" boots when driving. I know some driving schools are pushing firm footwear, and to be honest, it is smart. In my driving days, I normally wore a softsole shoe much as below---



Then I always had rubber boots for getting out in the rain or snow. Comfort is important.