Simulation for CDL prep

So you're going to disregard sound advice because it's not what you want to hear ?? Pretty childish...

 

This entire post is excellent advice, and this sums it up nicely and matches my experience. When I got my CDL, I applied to one company that didn't recognize the CDL school I attended, but then found one that did, which turned into a great first job. But that was dumb luck, so be smart and find the right job first. I would also highly recommend you get all your endorsements - haz mat, tanker, and doubles/triples - now, while you're in school mode. Having those endorsements on my brand-new CDL is what allowed me to start off doing LTL linehaul, home daily, from a service center ten minutes from my house.

 

In the semi-truck you want to operate the clutch pedal like you are trying to burn out a car clutch. In a car you ideally want to very quickly mash the clutch all the way down, to minimize wear. When you are up shifting you want to lift on the clutch pedal as quickly as possible without stalling. That is the car method.

In the 18-wheeler, you only press down on the clutch maybe 25% of length of travel from fully up toward fully down. You press down JUST ENOUGH to shift gears up or down. You almost never press the clutch fully down except when you are stopped. Cars have no torque and stall easily from mis-use of clutch. Trucks have LOTS of torque and don't stall easily at all. Also the 18-wheeler transmission is not using synchronized gears while every car with a manual transmission is synchronized. Meaning the gear above and below the current gear will be spinning at the RPM necessary if you attempted to change from current gear to the next higher or lower gear. In the truck you have to increase or decrease the engine RPMs while out of gear to the gear you want to use is at the appropriate RPM for the vehicle speed you need once in gear. It's sounds much much more complicated when putting the action into words than it does in real life.

 

You can complain about the drivers here saying no... I know it's not what you want to hear, but they're right.

I've tried a few simulators. Anything short of what @Chinatown mentioned won't really help at all. Even those won't be realistic.