Learning to drive manual

That sounds real familiar. I learned on nasty old antiques, taught by my dad and my grandfather and their drivers. I wasn’t given the opportunity to develop many bad habits, I can tell you that. I hated it then, but now I look back and I’m thankful and appreciative of what those men taught me. I have to be, I’ve fed myself with it my whole life.

 

No one floats'em anymore?

 

I do whatever the situation requires. Float, double clutch, single clutch and float back in.

 

If I’m not mistaken the restriction is for “auto only” on the CDL if you test in a auto. If you have a CDL A with no restrictions than you should be good for manual too.

I would see about doing a ride along with someone and get some seat time. Should be a relatively easy transition as you don’t have the driving part to worry, just the shifting. It’s a lot more to take in if your trying to learn it all at once from scratch.

 

Always start off in first gear. You can always go 1 to 3, or 1 to 4 if your empty.

 

It's going to take some getting used to, but the only way to really learn is to go out in a manual and do it.

Practice, practice, practice.....

 

Course is different when the instructor owns the truck eh? That was my world, I learned on family owned equipment. All of it, trucks and construction machines. People that think CDL school instructors jump up and down and scream a lot should try learning the way we did.

 

I've driven an auto all my life. Just got on with a company that has nothing but automatics, now that's a learning curve. Reverse sucks...