is downshifting required?

My instructor insisted on shifting gears in order at the beginning but later on we were allowed to skip gears. Best I remember, we could skip gears for the state test. Like others on here have said, the problem with that would be coasting, lugging, and generally not knowing what gear you should be in. Shifting in order will help you to learn that. The state examiner will grade you by deducting a certain amount of points for each thing you do not do correctly. You can actually miss quite a few and still pass but if you do something really dangerous or unacceptable it could be an automatic fail.

 

Two truck lengths sounds pretty long. I know I got marked down for less than that.

Remember there's no use racing to a red light, unless your turning just slow down in advance and you'll roll through there pretty quick saving time and wear.

I always grab my starting gear before pushing in the clutch to stop. IIRC that is what they want too. Shouldn't be in Nuetral unless parked. What the advantage to this? Well its faster because you don't.have.to.wait.for.the clutch.brake to slow everything down to get it into gear which also saves wear on it.and in the middle of nowhere being down in a low gear you can just slow down to idle then take back off with no clutch. No it's not a complete legal stop but there's.a difference between illegal and safe.

 

Learn to down shift because when you are sitting on top of 77500 and now you have to learn it the time has past when you should be practicing, Do it till you get it in the training truck, are you floating or double clutching? either one be ready with your left foot to bump it if it won't go in the right gear for you, don't scramble for a gear find one that will work when slowing also bump the throttle and go up a gear you will find that this works well, I jump throttle to a stop is what I call it, like others have said if you skip gears going down do so slowly because you don't really want to be coasting with clutch in, you can drop a gear and kep rolling watching the light will allow you to run on up once it turns green, I have past many that just past me because they were not watching the length of the light from a ways out, the timer doesn't change much on lights, it changes by the time of day on some, get it down in the training truck, tear it up if you have too, that is what all that money was paid for was to replace the truck in a few years fter all the trainees tear up the gears and brakes.

Hammer Down Feather the throttle to shift up!

 

I like to "break" myself unless its an appendage.

 

Funny you should say this,I drove a cabover freightliner years ago that was missing 2 gears, had no choice but to skip gears, kinda sucked in the hills. Things were a little different back then.

 

You cannot coast and you cannot coast more then 2 truck lengths or 140 feet? Does that 140 feet include trailer length? cause I pulled 48ft and 53ft trailers!
well I had the truck from hell in driving school we had to double-clutch like we were shown and taught
I tried that way but I would depress the clutch twice and try to change in the next gear as fast as I could but was never fast enough, often I tried to use RPM (fail) but more often I jumped the gun and shifted in gear on 1 press of the clutch...(failed) or stalled out and the truck shut off but still moved I had to use brake only to stop the truck at that point Just to let you guys know it was a western star.

 

You cannot coast more than the length of you truck and trailer? I think that statement is partly wrong trailers can come in 48ft and 53ft lengths then there are 2 and 3 trailer trains not to mention times you bobtail. Each will change the length of your truck and trailer so coasting is going to be different.

 

There is a old rule which I consider very valid. You must have power always going to the drives. Down or up in the transmission. If you are coasting, then you are exposing you and your tractor trailer to hidden dangers which you will probably be unable to respond quickly to.

Some of the words indicate you are tired of going up and coming back down and so on. That's never a complaint with truckers. Anyone with sufficient practice will learn to go up just as easily to come down through the gears.

Without using too many words, if you are on a mountain road in the rain downhill and that trailer is shoving on your 5th wheel while your tractor is being held steady by the power of your engine either Jake or under power either way, you are stable. If you take away the power from the drives and the trailer sees a chance to go ahead and slide the drives, you have a tractor jackknife on your hands.

You have to be able to come down through the gears just like you can going up. If you do not like it then get past the DMV test first with a manual truck and then look for companies with Autos. You will lose that little something in a auto truck. Sometimes it's a lot of work sawing the gears in the manual. Jersey lights come to mind on US 1.

Even if you are on Donner, and signs tell you to let her drift that means keeping it in gear, no braking. Allow the gravity to have it. But the main thing, NO braking.

Clutches do not do well with being pushed all the time. If you push beyond a certain point you activate what is called a clutch brake. Once that is worn through and quits working you will discover you cannot find a gear anywhere at a light.

I can go on. But you going to have to find a way to buckle up and go up the gears and come down as needed all day long if it comes to that. You want to ask yourself are you really lazy or some other big problem not wanting to shift? Then go with a automatic truck. Like I said manuals offer a little precision for different situations in which a auto might not be suited very well. Ive had both. I prefer a manual. although the auto is nice.