Question about shifting: Is my instuctor correct?

I am about 2 weeks away from graduating CDL school and my question concerns my instructors' directions regarding double clutching. He wants us to press the clutch ALL the way to the floor during double clutching. My problem is that his preferred truck drops rpm's very quickly. I feel that by pressing the clutch all the way to the floor (and activating the clutch brake) this is causing me to lose time changing gears while trying to keep my engine and road speed up. Some other guys in my class are having the same problem, so it's not just me. Any advice/opinions on this subject? Thanks.

 

Pressing the clutch all the way to the floor and engaging the clutch brake while in motion, will destroy the clutch brake; and will not help in shifting. If using the clutch to shift, either up or down, all you have to do is engage the clutch just enough to break the torque; usually this means just pressing the clutch an inch or two.

 

If he has you pushing the clutch all the way to the floor, he wont have a clutch brake for long. Just push it far enough to get outta gear easily, and just far enough to get it back in gear easily. How long has the instructor been driving???

 

only time you push the clutch to floor is when stopped.

 

The only advantage to pushing the clutch all the way to the floor is to engage the clutch brake which is only necessary when coming to a stop or starting from a dead stop. Technically you don't have to use the clutch at all when shifting. It is called "floating" and is how most experienced drivers shift. However you are just learning and need to learn how to do it the textbook way. I guess if this is the guy doing the training and testing then you better do it his way.

If you run the rpm's up a little higher it will give you a little more time to shift. If they drop to quickly for you to get it in gear then just tap the fuel pedal to bring the rpm's back up a bit and drop er in gear.

 

It is possible that the Clutch Brake doesn't work rightto begin with. Some of those Trucks are pretty worn out.

 

That's what I'm thinking but he insists we do it his way. BTW, when he is at the wheel he only presses it in about 2-3 inches and then wonders why we can't shift as smoothly as he does!

 

GHF, that's what I'm thinking but he insists we do it his way. BTW, when he's at the wheel he only presses the clutch 2-3 inches and the wonders why we can't shift as smoothly as he does!

 

Treat the clutch like a hot iron.. tap - neutral - tap gear..

 

Way it sounds he graduated from the class before the OP.