shifting uphill empty

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by stylicho, Mar 20, 2007.

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  1. Randall

    Randall Light Load Member

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    Exactly!! He is just burning, or shreading his brake by doin that, Iknow I"ve drove, and worked on to many of them to listen to that.
     
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  3. phroziac

    phroziac Road Train Member

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    Jun 16, 2009
    Gary, IN
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    Every single person on this thread arguing about the clutch brake needs to figure out a little physics.

    First of all, stopping the input shaft will make it HARDER to shift, because you have to match the speed of the input and output gears. A stopped input shaft will make the gears grind, nothing else.

    If you use the clutch brake to shift and it works, you did NOT stop the input shaft. Period.

    And ok. Check this out.
    If the transmission is in neutral, the driveline past the shift forks is disconnected. Therefore the clutch brake is not slowing the truck down.

    If the clutch is in, the input shaft is also disconnected from the engine.

    You can infact stop the input shaft with the clutch brake while rolling. And it will not damage the clutch brake, either. However, it will cause you to grind gears, and it obviously will cause more wear on the clutch brake.

    Also, I tried shifting with the clutch brake asd that poster suggested. It did not seem to slow the gears down any faster than normal double clutching. It's almost like theres a device in the transmission that prevents the clutch brake from activating at speed.

    Also, I tried shifting with the jake brake on low, and it worked great. But i still say that it sounds stupid.

    Also, the other day my drive tires broke loose going down an icy grade (without the engine brake, im not dumb!), and I slammed the clutch to the floor and held it there for atleast 2 minutes, and my clutch brake still works. That was during the big blizzard on I-78 in pencilvania (home of the pencil). When your drives break loose like that, it kind of makes you more concerned about keeping the truck under control than hurting the transmission.. :) FYI i didnt even lose my lane position. It wasnt a steep grade so i just went down in neutral with my foot on the footbrake..
     
  4. Randall

    Randall Light Load Member

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    Grafton Wv
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    You say your a Trucker of 40 years.......Yet you learned to drive at " North Carolina Truck Driver Training School ".........................I was unaware there were schools back then that taught how to drive trucks....HMMM Not sayin its impossible, but I certainly NEVER heard of one back then. Every driver I knew who drove a truck was brought up around them, never had any truck drivin schools. There was a thread on here about why the trucking industry has such a high turn over rate? EASY....The new drivers have no idea what there getting into, and once they find out it aint all "Gettin paid to go on vacation and view the country, and sit on my butt, and have an easy job" they quit. But, sir, if you did what you say you done, all you would do is burn your brake up, and it wouldnt take all day to do it either, as I said, drivers tear em out just by leaving the truck in gear and drifting backwards with the clutch pressed to the floor so they dont have to take the truck out of gear.. What your telling people to do is misinforming, and will lead to damage to their brake!
     
  5. Randall

    Randall Light Load Member

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    Grafton Wv
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    LOL, do it another time or 2, you'll notice every time you go to put your truck in gear it will grind, eventually when you do get it in, your truck will rock like it just got hit by something, Do some research on clutch brakes, I'm sure someone on here could prob. provide a link that will explain how the are to be use, and how NOT to use them. Oh, BTW, the clutch brake is NOT inside the tranny. Better make sure all your brakes are adjusted evenly if your goin to be just ridin the foot brake in neutral on slick roads...I done leaned my lesson back in my coal haulin days doin that crap...LOL...no thank you!
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2010
    Brickman Thanks this.
  6. Hubcap

    Hubcap Medium Load Member

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    Rhome Texas
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    It is a band that wraps around the drive shaft right next to the reservoir where the blinker fluid is stored.
     
  7. KO1927

    KO1927 Medium Load Member

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    Agreed.

    I've done this while improving my shifting skills, I've been far more conscious of how far down the clutch is since.
     
  8. tmlonghorns

    tmlonghorns Light Load Member

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    Gregory, MI
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    I guess I am a bit confused. I taught myself how to shift and still to this day can NOT shift using the clutch. Upshift or downshift, going up hill or down hill, loaded or empty does not matter. I just assumed this was how everyone did it.
    So using the clutch is harder? If so, not sure why anyone would even try pushing the pedal in, except to come to a stop and start.
     
  9. kajidono

    kajidono Road Train Member

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    It does help you get it out of gear if you want to make extra sure it doesn't snag but you just kick it to pop it out and float it back in.

    All you guys having problems shifting, empty or not, you're leaving it in each gear too long and revving the engine too high. The longer it's in gear and the higher the engine revs, the bigger the step down and more difficult it's going to be to hit the next gear.

    My truck, loaded to 80k, on a hill or not, will take off and flat run without using more than half throttle. I just shift quick. I leave it in each gear for a second, maybe a bit more, then hit the next one, bam bam bam.

    I'm sayin this because so many trucks try to race me off the lights and lose. Every one of them will be revving the engine way up in the low gears and it just kills their acceleration. They've got it screaming in 1st and I'm already in 3rd. It ain't a race car, it's a truck. You've got gobs of torque. Torque is all made at the low end, not the high end.
     
    heyns57 Thanks this.
  10. heyns57

    heyns57 Road Train Member

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    John Thomas "Tom" Outlaw died at his home in Raleigh, NC on Feb 12, 2004. He was 90. He is credited with helping establish the first truck-driver training school. Mr. Outlaw's interest in trucking began with his father, who owned the first dump truck in Columbia, SC.
    Mr. Outlaw organized a truck safety program, and with the help of North Carolina State College in Raleigh started North Carolina Truck Driver Training School in 1949. The school is the only one of its kind in continuous operation since it began, although it operates at several junior colleges now. When I completed the course in 1964, we had a classroom on the Raleigh campus and used the college cafeteria, but our driving was done off-campus.
    Mr. Outlaw served as executive vice president of the North Carolina Trucking Association, was a member of American Trucking Associations, the President's Highway Safety Conference, the NC motor-truck transportation civil-defense committee, the NC Society of Safety Engineers, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the monthly magazine, Tarheel Wheels to which I subscribed in the 1960s.
     
  11. Hubcap

    Hubcap Medium Load Member

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    Rhome Texas
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    I had to learn how to double clutch because some of the DPS testers here in Texas demand students do it. Everything is the same except you use a tiny bit of the clutch to take it out and to put it in. Everything else still applies.
     
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