Is it better to push the clutch in when starting the truck?

Then your some sort of phenomenon because Auto transmissions existed before the CDL did how that work ?

 

This ^^^^^^^^is the correct answer

 

Here's a question for you guys. How do you sit up in the seat to push in the peddle to release the clutch to fire up an engine when you have a cabover jacked up?

 

Heh the one i used didnt, guy had done something to it so it was just a toggle switch to engage the coils then push button start. It also usually slurped down around half a can of ether to get going. Still once it got moving it stayed moving.

I miss that old beast. Never understood just how lucky i was to learn on it till years later

 

And you make #### sure it's still in neutral when the cab is up and the linkage released!

 

I open the door and hit the key, simple as that.
If it spins over I know it’s not in gear and batteries have enough juice.
If it clunks, it’s likely in gear or weak batteries.

 

I guess I should have phrased it differently. I got my CDL before automated transmissions were the norm. I stand corrected. My 1st assigned truck was a R-model Mack that didn't have power steering or any kind of air ride anything...no air ride suspension, cab or seat. And the 2nd truck I drove for them was a U-model Mack. Back then the only autos I knew about were in trucks like trash trucks and city buses. They may have been around, but it was more unique to have one and I 1st worked for a local chicken plant driving chickens and forklifts around locally so I didn't get exposed to the wide world of trucking for a few years...even after I went OTR for a different company I had never heard of any kind of autos in OTR trucks until the Top 2

 

Any load that from the clutch being disengaged that could be created would me miniscule compared to the load on the starter from cranking with it engauged.

 

Actually the operator is supposed to be the safety device that uses common sense to avoid catastrophe

 

Just because something is doing the job without disengaging it does not mean that the starter is not getting worn prematurely.
All else being equal with the starter one set up to turn both the engine and gears will be outlived by one used with the clutch disengaiged