In school. will be getting on the freeway :/

I just finished school and that sounds very different than what we were taught. We slowed from 65 to under 55 and dropped to 9th in the high end tack which allowed an easy slow to 50 as we hit the off ramp, then slowed easily and steadily to 35 and shifted to 8th. They insisted we stayed 50 or better on the highway and no darn early slowing and backing up traffic a half mile or so away from the off ramp.

 

Yes, double clutching is required in schools and on the test where I am. It works and isn't hard once you get it down. You are hardly depressing the clutch, and once you get the rmps down, it will often shift without the clutch, (Floating gears), but still use it because it is required. The coasting is about having control of your vehicle. Coasting for more than 100 ft is an automatic failure on our test in NC.

 

Focus hard and take your time.

 

This is why we have automatics. I swear there are goofy standards for teaching this stuff and from my experience people don't teach downshifting and slowing down in a way that makes sense.

It seems like there should be a way to train that includes slowing, clutching when you feel it start to lug, go to neutral, then rev and clutch to a gear matching matching that lower speed. Instead, we have beginners flustered because they are trained to clutch down every single gear without skipping.

I should say I'm not an expert here as I drove automatics for a long time. I did do a refresher recently on a manual 10 with my current company and only then did that trainer talk me through skip shifting and I was able to go from 10 to 6.

Sorry side rant, but I sympathize with the beginners trying to learn this. Good luck.

 

It's not that dramatic really.

Come off your freeway speed of 65 or whatever in top gear, allow the rpm's to fall to around 1200, push clutch in but not all the way, just enough to break power loose from the drives, double tap your fuel pedal to raise your rpms just before taking the transmission into the next gear down.

Power has to be maintained to the drives because coasting and not having it on the drives will cause you to lose control in bad ways. This is the state standard for passing CDL. Once you pass the CDL, you can do whatever you need to do with that tractor provided you do not allow it to get away from you.

Learning something is always stressful. Here you are doing something that requires everything you have, both hands and both feet plus a mind that stays ahead of the problem.

Imagine having to toss the downshifting and stopping for upshifting and accelerating at a moment's notice when the traffic light ahead says green.

If anything, coming off the interstate only need to slow to a certain speed, you can do that rather easily. It's better to learn downshifting on a mountain upgrade because you have to. Than to try and learn it on a flat land.

 

Are you driving a 10 speed? If so, here is a helpful tip to know your recovery speed for downshifting.

Clutch and shift to neutral, brake down to 45 mph. 45 is 4 and 5. 4 plus 5 is? 9th gear.

Same all the way down to 5th gear. 55 10, 45 9, 35 8, 25 7, 15 6, 5 and dime(10) is 5th gear... then 5mph and below should get you down to 4th gear which is a fine gear to start and finish in for coming to a stop.

What I do and what the majority of drivers do once they have their cdl is called floating. I will usually clutch to neutral but then I rev and shift without clutching in one smooth motion. I did this when I took my cdl exam as well. You can even get it by your instructors. Just say "clutch shift" when you clutch to neutral and then say "clutch shift" when you float it in there. Nobody will know the difference.

And don't get too flustered at being flustered by Houston. Almost a year in and I still refuse to take any load that has me going through Houston during the day. I hate that ####hole.