Throughout my training I've always relied upon a gearmaster to shift.....

Never heard of a gearmaster.

As a general rule of thumb:
Upshift @ 1700 RPM
Downshift @ 1200 RPM
Every truck is different, but those RPM's should get you close.
If you need to, double clutch to hit the gears, but work on floating the gears and your knee will thank you later. Shift slow but firm....you're not dealing with a 6-speed sports car.
If you grind when shifting, you need to play around with your shift points, higher or lower RPM, so feather the throttle a little bit until you find the sweet spot where the gear lever falls into the gate.

Finally: If you can't find 'em - grind 'em!

 

What is a gearmaster? Are you in England by any chance?

 

Oh like those lights that drag cars use to shift perfectly. Well in a truck, it's pretty slow enough to shift atleast decently. You should do okay, just listen to the engine

 

If you've been shifting on a 9 or 10 speed, not much is going to change.

Instead of watching the gearmaster, watch the tachometer until you familiarize yourself with the behavior of that a particular truck. If you keep the same truck for a while, you'll be able to shift based off the sound of the engine...but baby steps first.

On a side note, I've been doing this coming up on 10 years and I have NEVER seen a GearMaster. I love technology and all, but something like this seems like it would be more of a hindrance since it gives you yet another thing that you need to pay attention to and new drivers sometimes have enough trouble paying attention to all the stuff they're supposed to.

 

interesting device that headmaster.how was your shifting in school?its takes a little learning but once you get the hang of it its easy.your company won't scspect you to shift like the experience drivers do you'll learn that while in training.

 

Use yer ears, it'll tell you when

 

Dang, never heard of it. And I thought I knew everything.

 

Yeah just when I thought it had been dumbed down about as far it could be.