Floating Gears

I myself had a very hard time double clutching during driving school. Cost me at my first road test. Kept at it and finally passed with double clutching.Once I started at the trucking company the trainer taught me to float first night. Told me that I would wear out my knee in the city double clutching. I will admit I will mix them up on occasion just to keep trained on the dble clutch. Never know when I will need it. LOL

Keep in mind - you WILL NEED TO DOUBLE-CLUTCH during the skills portion of your road test - so it's a skill that needs to be mastered regardless.

I was driving in school, some 4 weeks before we road tested - had taught myself to float and was doing it, pretty much every shift (including 2 gears up and down). By the time I got to road test, my double-clutching was MISERABLE. When I tried to float, the examiner corrected me and told me I needed to DC. Failed my first road test with 23 missed shifts (no points deducted for any other skill). Failed on shifts ALONE.

Being so new at it - I hadn't mastered it to the point of "muscle memory", before I just started floating all the time.

So, for those in school - DC EXCLUSIVELY. Once you get your license - by all means float or use a combination of both.

Rick

Sounds like great advice to me. Sorry to hear you learned it the hard way, but thank you for sharing that with us.

Rainy quotes an instructor:

one trainer told me "lightly press on accelerator with a constant pressure then move it"... again.

"Lightly pressing" will be too slow, because you will think about how much pressing is "light".

It's more like the tap you give your dog, who's laying in the doorway and you want him to move - a light push with your toe that doggy will notice. Do not think about how much tap, or you'll take too long.

Rainy quotes an instructor:

one trainer told me "lightly press on accelerator with a constant pressure then move it"... again.

"Lightly pressing" will be too slow, because you will think about how much pressing is "light".

It's more like the tap you give your dog, who's laying in the doorway and you want him to move - a light push with your toe that doggy will notice. Do not think about how much tap, or you'll take too long.

The pressure is something my first trainer had to break me of. They taught us shifting on SIMS and told us to really Rev it above 15 so we can shift by the time it drops. Well guess what.. trainers don't like that when. You do it in their trucks lol

Like everyone said right as you lift off the throttle you need to be pushing on the shifter because once you let off the throttle you temporarily release the tension on the drivetrain. Also when down shifting if it won't come out of gear give it some throttle and let off to take away that tension. It'll come not naturally the longer you drive and more used you get to the truck. Also a tip I've given people before is if you do push clutch all the way in and hit trans brake let off the clutch for a second so everything gets rotating again then you'll be able to grab your gear.

Other than your drive test it is a matter of preference. I haul heavy with a tank so its very difficult to get all the stars aligned so I use the clutch.

Really, it all comes down to getting a feel for it. Once you do, it becomes second nature.

Also making sure your Jake brakes are off when shifting will make your life a lot easier.

I didn't see anything on here about numbers, so here you go. 4mph or below=3rd gear Around 6mph =4th gear Around 10mph =5th gear 15mph=6th gear 25mph=7th gear 35mph=8th gear 45mph =9th gear 55+Mph =10th gear. That's for a 10 speed of course. I hope it helps a little bit. Just remember, if you're having trouble getting it into gear, more than likely you're trying for the wrong gear! !! Lol. Good luck!