How To Determine Normal Operating Range Of Transmission

In order to shift knowing the normal operating range is essential. Other than asking the examiner on the attention exam is there a way to determine the normal operating range of a transmission. I know as a rule it is 13-15....does weight change the normal operating range? Yes so how do you determine the normal operating range?

Normal Operating Range of the transmission - is really better referred to as the NORMAL OPERATING RANGE OF THE MOTOR (in RPM's). Unless you're talking about the OPERATING TEMPERATURE RANGE of the transmission.

Transmission has to do with ROAD SPEED - but you want to keep your motor in the "sweet spot" - either for FUEL EFFICIENCY or POWER.

Each GEAR in the transmission, has a ROAD SPEED associated with it and the normal operating range of the motor. So in that context - each gear has a SPEED RANGE (operating range) associated with the 1,200-1,700 (or so) RPMS's that you will be operating your motor in. The HIGHER you go in gear(s), the WIDER RANGE of speed that gear has (because the gear is TALLER). The LOWER the gear is - vice versa. For example - 1st gear you may only run from 0-8 or 10 MPH, before over-revving - while 10th gear you may be able to run from 55 to 75 MPH and still be in the "operating RPM range".

How To Shift A Semi Truck explains some stuff your "should have been taught" in the classroom phase of your school - or at least should have been in the text book/study material. What you are (probably) looking for is in Part 3 of the linked article.

What you are looking for - as far as "transmission range" - is to be in the proper gear that keeps the motor at the proper RPMS for max efficiency (when cruising) or max POWER (when climbing or getting up to speed). If you're upshifting too late - you are OVER-REVVING the motor. If you are downshifting too late - you are LUGGING the motor (or risk STALLING in low gears).

Most folks, after getting used to a particular truck - rarely look at the speedo (except to stay legal) or the tach. You get used to the sound of the motor, to know you're in the correct gear for your desired speed.

Hoping this was the info you were looking for.

You still need to tell us which school you were in (after you get done with them) so we can steer folks AWAY from them, or at least warn them give them a little more scrutiny.

Rick

Weight doesn't change the RPM/Gear "operating range" - it DOES CHANGE the "driving style". You'd want to hold your RPM's HIGHER before the shifts (to maintain momentum), and use a combination of brakes and downshifting (and engine brakes) to slow the rig down.

Obviously a loaded rig is going to take more power to get moving, and more brakes/engine effect to slow down, than an empty one.

Most private schools don't run any weight in their "training trailers" - so you are used to moving empties around. The GAME CHANGES when you have 40,000 lbs in the box behind you. Kinda SHOCKING the first time.

Probably why company schools are better in that respect - as soon as you get out OTR , you are dealing with LOADED BOXES FROM DAY ONE.

Rick

They did teach us that the operating range is 1300-1500 but when i had trouble shifting in my road final for the last course of the program before the state exam i was told that some vehicles have a different normal operating range and that i should ask the examiner what the normal operating range is of the unit im testing in. i thought id ask if there is another way to figure it out. When i ask questions at my school or if i say i am preparing for the test im told i had six months to prepare for the test and its to bad if i dont know the answer to a question at this point in the process. Not EVERYONE at the school is like that but its a common response i get when i ask questions.

Weight doesn't change the RPM/Gear "operating range" - it DOES CHANGE the "driving style". You'd want to hold your RPM's HIGHER before the shifts (to maintain momentum), and use a combination of brakes and downshifting (and engine brakes) to slow the rig down.

Obviously a loaded rig is going to take more power to get moving, and more brakes/engine effect to slow down, than an empty one.

Most private schools don't run any weight in their "training trailers" - so you are used to moving empties around. The GAME CHANGES when you have 40,000 lbs in the box behind you. Kinda SHOCKING the first time.

Probably why company schools are better in that respect - as soon as you get out OTR , you are dealing with LOADED BOXES FROM DAY ONE.

Rick

They did teach us that the operating range is 1300-1500 but when i had trouble shifting in my road final for the last course of the program before the state exam i was told that some vehicles have a different normal operating range and that i should ask the examiner what the normal operating range is of the unit im testing in. i thought id ask if there is another way to figure it out. When i ask questions at my school or if i say i am preparing for the test im told i had six months to prepare for the test and its to bad if i dont know the answer to a question at this point in the process. Not EVERYONE at the school is like that but its a common response i get when i ask questions.

Operating range does vary from truck to truck (according to what motor it has). Usually, you can look at the TACHOMETER and it will show it in green & yellow around the numbers on the tach.

13-1500 is kind of a real narrow operating range - sounds more like the SWEET SPOT than the range.

And your school sounds like it SUCKS from what you've been relating here...

Rick

The last three weks have literally been a nightmare. All of us waking up to the fact that we are kind of screwed. Now i want to stop here and admit that lots of people whine and complain about things when they didnt put in the effort or prepare properly and then fail. That is not the case with me or my classmates. I have perfect attendance. I did not miss a roll call in six months. I have a 3.5 gpa. My classmates and i busted our tails in 95-100 degree humid weather at the height of the summer heat here in the Mid-Atlantic. Trainers out on the course are telling us to all get together and go as a group to the director of the program. If we go in numbers they think he will listen. when we go as individuals he thinks that we fall into the two main categories of people who fail at training. Those who do not prepare and then for obvious reasons fall flat on their face when test day comes. Then there are those who put in the work then become basket cases on test day and have some kind of meltdown. The diresctor is being misinformed by the road instructors and bases his iopinions on their input. Here is my evaluation of this school step by step and how they could improve after the description of the training... The program is broken down into several parts. First there is a ten week class room setting. The training is over the top thorough and the instructor is fantastic (Jim Huff). Jim is such a pro you could ask him what flavor he would be if he were an ice cream and he would politely answer and ask if you have any other questions. Then we move to 10 weeks on the range where again the training is over the top thorough and the instructors are top notch. Professional, patient (and trust me they need it with me because i overthink everything and ask a million questions. if i am 90% certain of something i want to be 100% so i ask a question to be sure). Then unfortunately the needle comes off the record with a halting screech. All of us were very confident that the excellent training we received in the classroom and range would continue on the road but it did not. We went form moving around a training range in first and reverse to being handed keys on the shoulder of a road in the very very very busy and dangerous Philadelphia area. Me and my classmates were told by our instructors all the way through the program after each road session what a wonderful job we were doing and how wonderfully we were progressing and how in their expert opinion we were all going to do fine...(now please sign here....here...here..and here). Now they have signed documentation that we are satisfied. After every road trip i was told how wonderful i was doing. It was total bull****. i got to my 11th out of 14 trips and with a different instructor was informed that my foot was off of the clutch before i was in gear and that would be a fail on the state exam. so here i am with three road trips left informed that i have been told all the way through how wonderful i was and that "all you have to do is smooth out the shifting and get your rhythm down and stop shifting as hard". when in reality my shifting technique was completely incorrect. i talked to a guy in the company im supposed to go to work with after i get my cdl who said that the way he found out that he didnt know how to shift was when he took the state exam and the examiner screamed and bellowed at the driver at the top of his lungs "What the **** are you doing?" Pull over immediately you fail. He was pushed along all the way through his road training and passed the road final to complete the training without ever demonstrating that he knew how to double clutch properly. The director of the program trusts and believes his road instructors and they are really in a nut shell destroying the school. when we complain to the director of the program the instructors tell him "they dont listen". I taught myslef how to shift watching Youtube videos. looks like im out of room here.

They did teach us that the operating range is 1300-1500 but when i had trouble shifting in my road final for the last course of the program before the state exam i was told that some vehicles have a different normal operating range and that i should ask the examiner what the normal operating range is of the unit im testing in. i thought id ask if there is another way to figure it out. When i ask questions at my school or if i say i am preparing for the test im told i had six months to prepare for the test and its to bad if i dont know the answer to a question at this point in the process. Not EVERYONE at the school is like that but its a common response i get when i ask questions.

Operating range does vary from truck to truck (according to what motor it has). Usually, you can look at the TACHOMETER and it will show it in green & yellow around the numbers on the tach.

13-1500 is kind of a real narrow operating range - sounds more like the SWEET SPOT than the range.

And your school sounds like it SUCKS from what you've been relating here...

Rick

Hey Kevin, I can't really tell what is going on with you, but my initial impression upon seeing your first question about the operating range was, "This guy is way over thinking this thing."

Then today you stated this...

the instructors are top notch. Professional, patient (and trust me they need it with me because i overthink everything and ask a million questions. if i am 90% certain of something i want to be 100% so i ask a question to be sure)

There's something really odd about all this because you make it sound like everything has just gone great all through the program up until the very end. I know if I was doing terrible while driving a big rig, and some guy kept telling me I was doing great I would already know something was wrong. Most of us learned to do this in a four week school. You say...

I have perfect attendance. I did not miss a roll call in six months. I have a 3.5 gpa. My classmates and i busted our tails in 95-100 degree humid weather at the height of the summer heat here in the Mid-Atlantic.

I'm sorry, but I just think there's something missing here. You have been learning for SIX MONTHS and you are still stressing about the operating range of the transmission! You guys ought to be able to pass that driving test without that kind of stress affecting you by this point in time. You should be able to hear how the engine is sounding and be able to tell if it is time to shift, or if you are lugging the engine.

There may very well be some kind of issues at the school, (although I'm not certain from what you've posted) but this whole career is going to have issues and monumental difficulties every day, and you are going to have to face problems that will drive a sane person crazy in a heart beat. This might be just the time for you to figure out how to take the bull by the horns and determine whether this kind of a career is right for your personality or not.

Clearly you didnt read my entire post. the instruction was excellent until the actual road training began. I make that very clear. I have several prehires and a guy who used to be a salemen for the school who then bought his own product and works nearby visited the school and got to know me and asked me to come be his partner where he works so you're opinion via the internet is what i would describe as amusing. After being evaluated by recruiters from companies across the country ive been offered a half dozen prehires. i am reliable and hard working have no driving or criminal record and do not do drugs and very rarely drink.. please bother to read an entire post before commenting on it in such a very negative and misleading way.

Hey Kevin, I can't really tell what is going on with you, but my initial impression upon seeing your first question about the operating range was, "This guy is way over thinking this thing."

Then today you stated this...

the instructors are top notch. Professional, patient (and trust me they need it with me because i overthink everything and ask a million questions. if i am 90% certain of something i want to be 100% so i ask a question to be sure)

There's something really odd about all this because you make it sound like everything has just gone great all through the program up until the very end. I know if I was doing terrible while driving a big rig, and some guy kept telling me I was doing great I would already know something was wrong. Most of us learned to do this in a four week school. You say...

I have perfect attendance. I did not miss a roll call in six months. I have a 3.5 gpa. My classmates and i busted our tails in 95-100 degree humid weather at the height of the summer heat here in the Mid-Atlantic.

I'm sorry, but I just think there's something missing here. You have been learning for SIX MONTHS and you are still stressing about the operating range of the transmission! You guys ought to be able to pass that driving test without that kind of stress affecting you by this point in time. You should be able to hear how the engine is sounding and be able to tell if it is time to shift, or if you are lugging the engine.

There may very well be some kind of issues at the school, (although I'm not certain from what you've posted) but this whole career is going to have issues and monumental difficulties every day, and you are going to have to face problems that will drive a sane person crazy in a heart beat. This might be just the time for you to figure out how to take the bull by the horns and determine whether this kind of a career is right for your personality or not.

The road training was only fourteen hours. The trucks can shift without proper double clutching. we have to demonstrate the ability to double clutch to pass the test. so we are driving along and being told we are doing it correctly without knowing we are doing it incorrectly because the truck is shifting without double clutching correctly.

Clearly you didnt read my entire post. the instruction was excellent until the actual road training began. I make that very clear. I have several prehires and a guy who used to be a salemen for the school who then bought his own product and works nearby visited the school and got to know me and asked me to come be his partner where he works so you're opinion via the internet is what i would describe as amusing. After being evaluated by recruiters from companies across the country ive been offered a half dozen prehires. i am reliable and hard working have no driving or criminal record and do not do drugs and very rarely drink.. please bother to read an entire post before commenting on it in such a very negative and misleading way.

Hey Kevin, I can't really tell what is going on with you, but my initial impression upon seeing your first question about the operating range was, "This guy is way over thinking this thing."

Then today you stated this...

the instructors are top notch. Professional, patient (and trust me they need it with me because i overthink everything and ask a million questions. if i am 90% certain of something i want to be 100% so i ask a question to be sure)

There's something really odd about all this because you make it sound like everything has just gone great all through the program up until the very end. I know if I was doing terrible while driving a big rig, and some guy kept telling me I was doing great I would already know something was wrong. Most of us learned to do this in a four week school. You say...

I have perfect attendance. I did not miss a roll call in six months. I have a 3.5 gpa. My classmates and i busted our tails in 95-100 degree humid weather at the height of the summer heat here in the Mid-Atlantic.

I'm sorry, but I just think there's something missing here. You have been learning for SIX MONTHS and you are still stressing about the operating range of the transmission! You guys ought to be able to pass that driving test without that kind of stress affecting you by this point in time. You should be able to hear how the engine is sounding and be able to tell if it is time to shift, or if you are lugging the engine.

There may very well be some kind of issues at the school, (although I'm not certain from what you've posted) but this whole career is going to have issues and monumental difficulties every day, and you are going to have to face problems that will drive a sane person crazy in a heart beat. This might be just the time for you to figure out how to take the bull by the horns and determine whether this kind of a career is right for your personality or not.

Kevin, you are greatly mistaken, I've read everything over several times. I still don't get it. After six months you can pass the test, I'm sure of that. I kind of need you to point out what I said that was so negative. I'm having trouble pin pointing what your issues are, it just seems to me that something doesn't add up here.

You make it sound one minute like you are an ace in the hole...

After being evaluated by recruiters from companies across the country ive been offered a half dozen prehires. i am reliable and hard working have no driving or criminal record and do not do drugs and very rarely drink

And then you make it sound like your afraid you can't pass the test. If I thought I could reach out there and give you a boost of confidence, I would. Personally I think that is all you are lacking.