Light Changes Green Before You Come To Stop?

Light is Red. I start to slow down from 35 in 8th gear(empty trailer) I didn't react enough(I'm still new) to downshift to any gear...So. I Brake and then just disengage clutch and shift to neutral getting ready to stop completely. I may have been like 150-200 feet before the light, I know, I'm out of gear for too long of a distance, Anyway, the light changes to green while I'm still clutching and braking at about 5 mph.

What should I do exactly?

I am not sure what my rpms will be reading at 5 mph...800, maybe?. So do immediately release brake and clutch, Rev a little and then clutch, & shift to 2nd? And then progress from there? Or can I jump to 3rd? or 4th? I know I can certainly start from a stop in 3rd or 4th but can I at least shift to 3rd or 4th going 5 mph? Hard to learn this exactly unless I am faced with this circumstance. Hasn't happened often enough to get a real understanding of it......

At that speed, a little blip on the throttle and it should go right into third no problem and keep you rolling. As you gain more experience, you'll do it automatically without even thinking about it.

Great question btw.

Splitter button up and go for sixth gear. That should be your "go to gear" in that situation. It's got a decent range of RPMs that should allow you to grab it and go.

Haha, there's no telling how many different ideas you're gonna get on this one.

Haha, there's no telling how many different ideas you're gonna get on this one.

Rofl..... so true. Heck, in motion you can hit just about any gear.

At that speed, a little blip on the throttle and it should go right into third no problem and keep you rolling. As you gain more experience, you'll do it automatically without even thinking about it.

Great question btw.

From my understanding of other posts on here (and other unnamed forums) quite a few companies practice the policy of training drivers to start in 3rd even from a stop. Take this with a grain of salt...no experience here, just regurgitation of information.

Actually, in my initial scenario. The light changes to Green and I usually been caught having the truck in 8th gear still. Because I was kinda hoping the Light would change where I still could resume in 8th gear, say, if I'm still in motion say 20-25 mph. But, then, all of a sudden, it seems, I'm going like 15 mph or less, and, in kinda of a panic of sorts, I just press the clutch in to allow myself to come to a stop. But when i'm down to 5 mph and a 100 feet away and I'm getting ready to pop in Neutral, the light turns to green and then, usually, I being the rookie I am, release the brake and clutch and try to accelerate from 5-7 mph in 8th gear and "lug" the truck. If it was a stop sign or the light stayed red, no problem. But when that light changes on me, it's like deer in the headlight syndrome, for me. I know it'll change with experience, but since I'm no longer in school and I don't even remember if my instructor said anything really, I mean I did get the truck going again but it was a little harsh resuming in 8th at 5 mph. I know you want to slow down enough to where you are "creeping" along cause its a pain to start again from a stop, but if your still moving its easier.

Rofl..... so true. Heck, in motion you can hit just about any gear.

So, being in motion, I can hit just about any gear?? You don't mean the higher gears, Do you? Resuming in 8th seems to be not the best option.

Splitter button up and go for sixth gear. That should be your "go to gear" in that situation. It's got a decent range of RPMs that should allow you to grab it and go.

Going to 6th gear seems feasible. Do I need to rev Rpms higher. Trying to go 2nd or to 3rd, perhaps, very little if any rev (1000/1100) but I'm thinking if I try to pop it in 6th that I have to rev higher to like 1600/1700?? or can I just pop it in 6th at 5-7 rpm at 800/900 rpm which I will be at I think when light changes.

Go over to 6th gear, and then with just a little pressure on the shifter, like you are trying to get it to go in... give just a little burp on the throttle and it should go right into gear. Forget about the clutch, just try what I described with no clutch. You can practice this in a truck stop parking area in the middle of the day when it's not crowded if you want to. Just go through the motions of letting the truck decelerate just like you described and then try getting it into 6th gear. A few times of practicing this will help you get the feel for it.

What Old School said.

Also, in reference to certain starting gears, at my last company, unless you had a very heavy load, we were taught to start in 4th (out of 10 gears). However, when parking, we were expected to leave the tractor in reverse or in 1st, along with the parking brake.

When it comes to approaching either a stale green light, a yellow changing to red, or a red, depending on how much space you have, you can usually coast in 6th. Just coast and squeeze your brakes gently, keeping your aim high in your steering. That way, if the light changes to green, you're already in 6th. Just like anything else, it all depends on the situation.

If you must come to a complete stop, I'd say, put both clutch and brake down and don't shift to neutral. That way you're still in some gear, rather than neutral and therefore in better control because your engine is engaged. When you're completely stopped, then flip your gear splitter and choose your starting low gear. This is partly a personal preference but I prefer to be in some gear rather than neutral, more often than not. Sometimes, at a long light, I will shift to neutral just to give my left knee a break.

Again, if you find yourself in the situation you described above, do what Old School suggested. He won't brag, so I'll do it for him: he's been a natural at shifting from day one in tractor trailers. He spooked his trainers early on, because he had this eerie sixth sense about shifting when he first started. That's a smooth operator.

Smooth. Just think smooooooth.

-mountain girl

Ok Thanks That helps. thru some networking of mine, I found someone(friend of a friend), who is going to let me practice on one of his trucks, he has a fleet of 3 and he has one that's just sitting around at the moment. Only bobtailing but thats fine. I can just work on my shifting. He won't be around to coach me, leaving keys in a certain spot on the truck. Gonna find a large off road place to practice and/ or an obscure road(straightaway) I used Google Earth to locate some nice possible areas in which to do this as its a couple hours away and I'm not familiar with area. Anyway, Gonna practice as you suggested.

I'm also gonna to do other type "testing". I want to see what my rpms are doing say in 6th gear going 15 mph, at 20 mph, at 25 mph and if I slow down to 10 mph. I want to get an idea of how an engine is responding to different speeds in the same gear. In School, because of student/teacher ratio they just don't give that extra time to just show you what the engine is doing exactly. they don't "break" it down like I want to "break" it down to understand more.

I'm also curious to see how far my Rpms and speed will fall in 5 seconds if I let just let off the throttle at 1100-1200 rpm at 45 mph in 9th gear vs the same at 15 mph in 6th gear. Do they both drop roughly the same ....say a 5 mph drop in speed and an 800 rpm ? or does one vary greatly from the other.

Also going to see kind of where I need to be if I want to skip a gear upshifting from say 3rd to 5th, or 4th to 6th. what speed and rpm range i need to be in. Loaded I probably won't implement this, and in general I won't be, but I want to see how smoothly if at all I can skip a gear. Also, skipping gear downshifting, 6th to 4th, 7th to 4th.... what Rpm and speed, ideally, I need to be at. And, also, if I want to go from 10th to 8th or 7th....whats ideal.

I know I'm probably over thinking things but I'm kind of a "math geek" analyzer type personality. And doing these things will just help me bring it all together in my head easier. I'm kind of reeling a little cause I got "let go" with Schneider after like 90 minutes of driving during orientation week because I wasn't "polished" enough in my shifting to continue on to the next phase-- OVR with a trainer!!! And I don't think I'm really that bad for a new grad, certainly not hopeless. I don't know, just really not sure what to do. Thankfully, I secured this truck to practice on, by myself, with no idiot instructor next to me not really caring if I succeed or not. I thinking Schneider; with my class at full capacity(40 people) like only 1 empty seat remaining in classroom..... over-hired, maybe, and were just looking to weed down to under 20 because maybe they don't have enough resources to handle 20 plus drivers training at the same time!? I hope that was the case rather than me being not good enough.....but I don't know for sure....my head is spinning right now....

Anyway thanks again for your help...