Is it a good idea to shift at these times or better to avoid it? I notice the shifter doesn't want to go into gear as well or at all when I do this. Can you shift well when shifting at these times with practice?
Shifting when turning, after braking kinda hard and well going up and down grades?
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by TruckerNate, Feb 9, 2012.
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You should be in the right gear and speed before commencing your turn. Otherwise it means you are attacking it too quick. Plus you want to use two hands turning the wheel which you can't do if you have to shift.
Braking hard all depends on the situation. You should be reading traffic so not to, but of course by actions of others, sometimes you can't help it. If you can get a quick shift in to assist in slowing, go for it. But if you aren't good at downshifting yet, concentrate on getting slowed down. That might mean braking and clutching. Sounds like you are getting overly excited. Try to remain calm and in control of the situation. Allow yourself more room. Practice makes perfect.
Hills? That comes with knowing your truck and weight. Downshifting only as needed. Some engines like the ISX will come alive at 1200 rpms and hold it. You are better off using max torque than downshifting and racing the engine at 1600 or such. Of course if it keeps dropping down to 1000, then you want to grab a gear.
Down grade? Again, depends on the grade. Steep grades you want to be at the right speed and gear before going down. Last thing you want to do is decide you need to downshift while your truck is wanting to gain speed. You just went from positive control to negative control then. Plus you have to over tach probably to find the gear. You can't find the gear, you totally lost it.
It's better to be going too slow, than too fast. You can always upshift one if you see it's safe and you can go a little faster. Smaller downgrades, you have a little more options. But like the say, you can get down a hill a thousand times too slow, but you'll only go down once too fast.Lokix, Foust, moosc and 1 other person Thank this. -
Are you double clucthing or floating the downshift? Like Condo said you want to slow down and be in the gear you want to be in before you get to the turn so that you can be more focused on safely making the turn and not worrying about if you're in the correct gear. The way I do it is that I start about a half mile before the turn so I can drop gears esaier and not have to relay just on the brakes to slow me down. Also does your have a Jake brake? If it does it will pull the rpms down faster and you can change gears easier it will also slow the entire truck down. When making turns I also agree with Condo with you have to know your truck to see whats the best gear to take the turn in. If you have a ten speed you can always use the shift off the 5's rule when coming to a turn. Say the turn is rated at 25 mph to be safe I would slow the truck to around 25 so that I could downshift to 7th gear (2+5=7) and make the turn safely and know that I still have the rpms to continue going without lugging the engine. I hope this helps you out but I float gears so if you double clutch this may not work
TruckerNate Thanks this. -
Also a rule of thumb is what every gear u climb a hill in with thats the gear you want to b in going down.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan TapatalkTruckerNate Thanks this. -
I think he might mean shifting when leaving a stop at an intersection. Often not shifting "while turning" is very IMpractical, if not see below. Bottom line is, assuming your transmission does not have "issues", you should become proficient enough to upshift and downshift in any situation (up hill, down hill, turn, sweeping turn, etc). If you're driving to avoid certain shifting scenarios you are not proficient at, you're going to have problems. With experience you will know when you can/should float the shift and when you can/should double-clutch the shift with your particular tractor.
But like when hitting a loop-turn off-ramp, you should learn to know what gear you want to do the turn in, hit that gear before the turn begins, and remain in that gear so long as your inside the same turn radius ... especially if road condition is wet/icy.TruckerNate Thanks this. -
Think I've been using my brakes to often, just trying to let the truck slow down now and then downshift it and staying off the brakes mostly, takes some getting use to driving that way. Been giving myself more room to slow down for turns now to, not a good idea to be driving to quickly before you make a right hand turn and there's someone making a left in the lane you need to swing into and someone right on your butt behind you.
I think my transmission may have some issues, seventh and eighth make a grinding noise when I let off the accelerator and seventh feels a bit loose sometimes. Third gear occasionally doesn't wanna go in no matter what you do, I can tell as soon as I start shifting that it's gonna give me problems. Usually tho it's been shifting okay.
There's this one intersection where I go from a stop to across some railroad tracks and then down a short downgrade and I have to make a tight right hand turn cause of the median in the middle of the road and try not to run over the curb or take down the stop light pole to my right, seems like it takes all day taking the turn in first and the stoplight switches pretty fast sometimes so I usually end up shifting into second but by that time I'm headed downhill. Sometimes I just take the turn in third gear but that seems a little fast, do that when it's icy and I wouldn't have a good time.
I've been double clutching, n clutching. Would love to be able to float the gears and not use the clutch as well but I haven't learned that yet, seems kinda difficult. Don't wanna ruin my transmission.
Before I go down a hill that's on my route, I downshift into fourth and I don't use my brakes much. When I'm in more of a hurry which I shouldn't be but it's hard to help sometimes I go into fifth and use the brakes more.
It just sucks shifting when your going up or down a grade, takes longer to get into the gear and the truck almost stops on me sometimes, then the rpms are to low. Probably not a good idea. I've just been getting into third before I go uphill not and coast it to the light or stop sign. It's not like a huge hill just a upgrade in the road. Try to let my rpms drop lower then 1000 when downshifting going downhill as long as it's not real steep, if it's to steep I don't bother. When going uphill I try to downshift it at 11 or 12 cause the speed drops so quick as soon as you let off the accelerator and shift. Or bring it to 16 17 when upshifting uphill. Still goes in crappy tho more often then not so maybe not worth it. -
No brake retarders unfortunately. No fancy gauges or switches in the inside really but it get's the job done. A jake brake would be nice though.
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