Shifting after a quick slow down

While still rolling, I pick a hole I think is close, lightly ease the shifter into it, feel the speed of the teeth, lightly ease down on the accelerator, and determine if I’m good or need to go up or down a gear. If I’m good, it’ll drop right in, with a little bit of throttle. Finesse and not panicking are the keys.

 

This is what I did with my students when I was a CDL instructor and never had any issues with any of them. Trucks are 3 main parts. 1) Engine speed, measured by RPM 2) Transmission speed measured by what gear you are in 3) road speed measured by MPH. Your job as a driver is to get all 3 of these in sync.

First off, when you use the clutch, just "tap" it. You dont need to go more than an inch or an inch and a half unless you are at a dead stop. Trucks have what we call a "clutch brake" that stops the transmission and if the truck is moving you will tear it up (the cluthbrake is engaged when the clutch is pushed all the way in). Tap it once to take it out of gear, in an inch, out of gear, let it out. And then tap it again to put it back in gear, in an inch, put it in gear, let it out. Tap - tap. Nice and smooth. Going uphill you will have to do it a little quicker than normal and downhill a little slower. Should take no more than 1 second for each "tap".

Then I run them through some exercises (this is in a 10 speed):
Number 1) Start from a dead stop. In 3rd gear go 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - stop. Repeat. The purpose is to learn to pre-select the splitter. As you put it in 5th, you should be popping the button for 6th. This gets you in the habit of doing it.

Number 2) From a stop, 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 6 - 7 back and forth from 5 to 7 as much as needed to get the hang of simple downshifts.

Number 3) (which matches your question) From a stop 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 5 repeat as needed. This gets you set up to turn. In a 10 speed transmission there is the "rule of 5s". Take your speed (45mph) and add them 4+5 thats the gear you want. 15=1+5=6th gear 25=2+5=7th gear ect... So when you do this you will be coming out of 8th at about 35mph, you need to drop to below 15 to get into 5th (most truckers shift in 6th or 7th to turn but I train people for the test to do it in 5th).

This should take you less than an hour to do..

 

I’m just here for the OP’s user name. I frickin’ LOL’d

 

8th gear.
A good rule of thumb
15 mph 1+5=6 so 6th gear
25 mph 2+5=7 so 7th gear
35 mph 3+5=8 so 8th gear
45 mph 4+5=9 so 9th gear

once you’re in 6th gear you have pretty decent range so its not super quick shifting.
You’ll usually want to catch a gear somewhere if you’re braking from 65 down to a low speed but it will come with practice. The important thing to remember is to always be in a gear when braking. Last thing you want is to be braking while in neutral. Most important thing is to stop that truck when you need to so use that brake in panic situations until you get to where shifting is a natural way for you to slow down. Probably should practice a lot in non panic situations until it’s the natural way you stop. You can also skip shift while downshifting.

 

Left foot braking and floating downshifts made it easier for me in a manual. Dont have to worry about figuring out what gear if youre dropping gears the entire time. Can drop a couple gears at a time for red lights and other hard brakes and then just drop one at a time if you're rolling through WV or NC or other places with sharp curves. Just shimmy both feet over to clutch and brake for complete stops obviously

Takes a while to get used to not slamming the brake down like it's a clutch pedal though lol.

 

It was always easier for me to just float them.

 

This is the best way