Tame the Surge...

I always shift thru the low gears quickly, before it has time to nail the back of the tank, once your in high side keep the go pedal easy till you feel it go back, then hammer down.

Stopping, i ease the brake untill it goes forward, then i stay steady on the pedal till i stop. Youll never stop it totally, but these methods seem to lessen the jolt.

Or just fill it to the brim and dodge the scales

 

If you're climbing a hill. It's hard for liquid to slam forward. You know. Gravity. Uphill shifting isn't too bed. But does tend to drag the momentum with what movement it CAN do.

If you're going downhill. Or stopping. You best learn your brakes. Because stopping or slowing is MUCH harder then a solid load. That's A LOT of weight pushing your forward.

 

There was a reason so many tanker yankers used to buy R600 Macks with the Maxi-torque 5 speed...

I could take almost any trainee and have them in sync with most slop. When you shift, after the double clutch -or- float into the next gear, let the driveline gently move the product back by waiting a few moments before applying the throttle AND apply it gently. the second the clutch is re-engaged, the liquid starts moving back and jumping right on the go pedal helps it slam into the rear head.

With those old 5 speeds it was easy to feel the surge gently contact the rear head and then mash on the throttle. try it.

A lot of guys with ten speeds would use a few of the bottom gears as possible.

You will always know when you top the bridge, you feel the load start pushing forward when it still looks like you have a little ways to go before you start going down...

 

Good way to burn up clutches.

 

That's the thing that gets drivers in trouble with the boss.

 

I started out after cdl school pulling smooth bore milk tankers, it was always with an 18 speed. I rarely skipped gears, it was easier to run through all the gears as a new driver.

I found that when splitting gears, if I let off the throttle quickly to allow the tranny to upshift, that would induce surge. So I would let off the throttle easy and step in the clutch to break torque and there would not be surge. The upshifting would cause more surge than braking, if I was not gentle on letting off the throttle.

Doing a split downshift would usually get me over a hill. Splipping a gear is faster than shifting a gear.

I really didn’t have a problem with surge, as I shifted gently.

Also, if you run with Your jake brake on, the rpms drop a lot faster when you are shifting, so you have to shift faster, but that can lead to a lot more surge.

My trainer was a kid, and he would slam the gears with the jakes on, and he had terrible surge. Thought the fifth wheel pin would get ripped off the one time I rode with him.