New to the 9 Speed...downshifting killing me

Forget the numbers and the gauges. When down shifting, your rpm are dropping rapidly because you are slowing down. When you take it out of gear, the engine is going to rapidly go down to idle rpm, which is around 600 rpm. As you have all ready discovered, your transmission will slide right into gear around 1500 rpm. When downshifting, I apply just a little bit of pressure on the shifter, not enough to make it grind, but just a little pressure, and as I'm applying that pressure, slowly raise your rpm with the throttle pedal until the shifter literally falls into gear. I don't bother with looking at gauges. Try that, and soon it will become second nature.

 

Everyone gave you great advice. I'd add you should practice for your 1st couple months(you'll probably not need that much time) I pulled some brew and those are heavy loads hand loaded from floor to roof and because of the weight I had to put almost 50 cases in my sleeper-----------talk about illegal...huh?

 

Dropping gears

11-1200 rpm 1 gear

800 rpm 2 gears

Once you pass 800 and lower...no telling.

 

You didn't get that load from a brewery, they would never do such a thing.

 

The way I learned to down shift was trial by fire... My Granddad stopped right before we hit Chicago at about 17:30 and told me your gonna learn to downshift... I'll be darned if I didn't learn to down shift...lol
So my advice is to get stock in traffic and try to find every gear without coasting and staying above third gear, You'll learn fast!

 

Oh, yeah it helps to put the shifter right in front of the gear you intend to enter as soon as you take it out of gear, before you get the revs up, that way if you miss the gear you can recover to the next lower gear... Since you will already know where your at it will make easier to find the gear, you'll figure out that there are only a few gears you ever really use. I've never drove a 9 speed but in a 8,10 and 13 the main gears I used while downshifting where 2nd,3rd and 4th to turn and 5th and 6th to slow down from highway speeds. Every road, truck and situation are different, but this should be a good starting point...

Good Luck!

 

Off topic, but I can't help it. You ever pick up a history book? FDR put American citizens in internment camps.

 

lmao! That's always been one of my biggest fears with damaged freight from the beer companies! Especially after reading the other threads on the alcohol in a commercial vehicle schtick. Yeah, I guess I'd probably leave it in the trailer but still I remember a few times having to put rejects in the cab to get other freight. One that stands out being these big arse boxes of adult diapers in my sleeper then trying to figure out how to sleep with it in there. I think I finally figured out how to mash them all up in the driver and passenger seat all the way up to the roof. I can never get past the smell of those things either (no, they weren't used).

 

Really just depends on what engine, gear ratio, how heavy the load is and what kinda road you're on, I'm out here in Washington and Oregon pulling doubles over 100k pounds and it's 6% to 8% grades all day and night and taking off on a lot of steep grades, Im running a 2005 Peterbilt swapped to a 6nz cat and a 13 speed with 4.10 gears, people think cat engines like to be lugged but when you really start putting weight on like back when I ran construction hauling 180k pounds you really start to get know what your engine really likes, I gotta stay above 1200 or torque drops off and around 1500 on hills or the pyro temps get out of control. If you're on flat land with 80k you can get away shifting low range at 1500 and high range at 1700 but if I'm taking off on a hill and need to go through the gears I gotta bring it up to 1900 before I shift for it to fall back to 1200 when the shift is complete that's if I shift it as a 9 speed, any lower and it falls below peak torque and sputters out and I'll have to go back to the gear I was in before, check what rpm your engine makes peak torque and play around shifting at different rpms, just make sure when you complete your shift you're at peak torque still otherwise you'll lug the engine cause damage to the crank and bearings from internal engine vibration, and can run the pyro temps up to where you burn up the turbo and glaze the cylinder liners. If you're running something like a DD15 that makes peak torque at 900 and horsepower falls off at 1600 then you'd just make your shifts at 1500 or 1600 cause the torque band is so low you're basically at peak torque just past idle speed

 

It's been 14 years since he posted this, I'd guess he's figured out how to shift his 9-speed by now.....