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

I have been driving for almost 5 years and still do not know what speeds are for what gears. Just always shifted by the feel of road speed and RPM. I felt it was a distraction to be watching gauges instead of the road.

Mikeeee

 

. Man that thing looks confusing, id have a wreck trying to look at that gearmaster thing and shift. . They didn't do you any favors by letting you rely on that thing .

I wish your instructor would have taken the time to teach you the correct way to shift by now you would have been getting close to shifting by ear so you could be focusing on the road..

 

Eyes on the road don't worry about the tach.
I can't imagine going through the gears in stop and go traffic or a string of stop lights looking at the tach.

 

Gearmaster, schmearmaster. Fuggetaboutit.

 

Wow $1500 for a device that reads the ECM. They really catch those rookies coming and going. Between that, TVC legal plan, and a few other over priced gimmicks, not sure what's worse.

 

Slighty off topic but when you shift these trucks do you slightly let off the throttle when changing gears like you are supposed to in a car? Or do you keep steady throttle when shifting? thanks

 

I let off completely and wait for the RPM to drop to the "correct" (depends on the truck) range for the shift lever to slide on without grinding. Of course, if I'm a little slow and end up grinding, I just blip the throttle and try again.

 

.For the original poster, here is a web address you may want to check out for a reference:http://www.overdriveonline.com/smart-driving-6 You see once you get to 1500 rpm or higher you start burning alot of fuel very rapidly. Therefore, you want to start your upshift in the low range at 1100 or 1200 rpm for better fuel economy. In the high range, you want to upshift no higher than 1500 rpm.
.
.What you need to know is how much of an rpm drop for each gear change in your specific truck/motor/transmission setup. For a basic starting point to learn upshifting here is an example: when learning to upshift start your shift at 1300 rpm, if you get into the next higher gear at 1000 rpm does it grind? If it does grind, what is the rpm when you get into gear above or below 1000 rpm. For newbies, it is a timing thing. Try the following:
.First adjust your seat so that you have to stretch to get the clutch all the way to the floor.
.Step 1: at 1300 rpm, half clutch and shift to neutral.
.Step 2: clutch completely out .
.Step 3: say the word "Delaware".
.Step 4: half clutch and shift up one gear.
.Step 5: let the clutch all the way out and go.
.If it grinds, are the rpms higher or lower than 1000? Rpms higher than 1000 use a longer word maybe "Oklahoma". Rpms lower than 1000 use a shorter word like maybe "Iowa".

 

SHIFTMASTER===another piece of worthless crap for a lazy instructor that doesn't have the ability and/or desire to teach shifting correctly. As stated above throw it in the trash and learn how to shift the proper way. Several posts have given you good advice on learning how, but the best advise I can give you now is to pitch it.

 

You're thinking of a "head" master
I was thinking of a troll sitting on the dash with a tiny whip to flail your knuckles lol