I need advice about removing my automatic restriction

No, you provide the truck, and don't drive it there.

Yes it is very similar, more gears and more shifting but overall it is the same.

Yes you have to look for them and call around. Some places will even provide the testing or arrange for it.

 

While the concept is the same, shifting an unsynchronized transmission like a semi truck takes a LOT more time to master than shifting a six speed in your car.

A couple of hours is not enough to be proficient enough to go take the test for most people. Not sure how easy it is to find someone to volunteer their truck for you to grind your way to proficiency, either.

 

Yah, you’re going to need a school for training..an hour or two isn’t going to cut it.

About the only thing similar between a manual truck and a 4wheeler is a stick and a clutch. You’ll be needing to learn to double clutch and having the engine rpm’s just right. Miss a shift causing you to stop and try again during a test you’ll be failed.

 

Experience shifting gears in a 4-wheeler WILL MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT to shift in a truck. The clutch is used completely different, but you will keep using the clutch in the truck like in a Honda Civic. You will need to unlearn the 4-wheeler shifting technique and then learn the 18-wheeler shifting technique. For example, 4-wheeler shifter ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS press the truck clutch too deep. This makes it almost impossible to get the truck into gear. In the truck you ONLY USE JUST ENOUGH clutch, maybe pressing it 1/4 or 1/3 of the distance toward the floor. In the 4-wheeler the one universal truth is the clutch is pressed fully to the floor or it is fully away from the floor.

Once you learn how to upshift (like when you are accelerating) you will quickly get to a point and think you are almost ready to go solo and then you will have to downshift (like when slowing) and NOTHING is working like it was before. It's like almost everything you learned to upshift no longer works. This is because you are pressing the clutch too deep.

It takes CDL school about a week to teach newbies to shift. It's not nearly as hard as most people think, but it not's like what you think it should be, so it feels hard at first. You will likely need to find a school. On test day, the school instructor or a CDL driver without a Auto restriction needs to drive the truck and you to the test site. It is illegal for the student (you) to drive the manual truck to the test site on public roads unless you have a manual-legal CDL driver in the truck.

 

Keep us informed on how you took care of this. Question, why didn’t you go for the non restriction in the first place ?

 

You can get your auto restriction lifted by renting a truck that is just large enough to pull a 28’ trailer and they shift like a regular ol pickup truck (at least in Texas you could)…

However you will see there is a world of difference between shifting that and a real 10/13/18 speed. They don’t shift the same as has been noted by a few. You need to be at the right rpm that matches the gear you are in and downshifting is a whole new ball of wax, so before you jump in a truck for a road test with a company that owns manuals you wants some time in a “real” truck or you will look like a complete fool.

So best bet is to seek out a place to take some lessons from and get some practice time so you have some hands on knowledge and skill.

 

I say don't even bother with manual transmissions as the entire industry is shifting towards automatics (no pun intended).

 

My thinking exactly.

 

There will ALWAYS be a place for those that can operate old iron and specialized equipment.
Just not as easy today to get the experience on someone else's equipment.