Werner/Swift/Schneider questions

Pushing the clutch to the floor engages the clutch brake. Doing so will make it very hard to get back into gear. You should only push the clutch all the way in when you are stopped.

During normal clutching (up or down shifting) you only need to push it in 2-3 inches.


If you try to shift too quickly you will grind the gears. You have to match engine speed with gear speed because the transmission gears are not synchronized. So when up shifting the engine speed has to come down enough to engage the next higher gear, and when down shifting you have to rev up the engine to match speeds with the next lower gear.

In our trucks at school the range is from around 1000 RPM to 1500 RPM. So we up shift at 1500 - clutch in and go to neutral, clutch in and go to next gear at around 1000 RPM. (in practice it is one fluid motion - clutch to neutral, clutch to gear. It takes 1-1.5 seconds to complete)

Down shifting is a little trickier. When the engine RPM falls below 1000 RPM - clutch in and go to neutral, rev the engine to 13-1500 RPM, clutch in and go to next lower gear.

Down shifting is a dance between the brake and throttle on the one foot, and the clutch on the other - all the while remembering which gear you are going to next.

And don't forget to put the splitter up/down when you need to!