Humbled By Shifting.... :)

Here to bump a old reply but after my day I just had to come here and search for help.

Today was essentially first time ever in a truck shifting and what a day it was. Okay maybe not a day as it was only like 30 minutes behind the wheel in the lot. I have never shifted before and was quite nervous. Still am.

After a few tries I slowly started getting the upshift but still struggle. Downshift was a whole different story. I struggled. I know it's normal and the instructor yelling at you certainly didn't calm my nerves if I grinded the gears. Best myself up pretty good to the point I just had to stop and breathe. Try again and one pass I would get it ok, just bounced some when pressing gas after letting out clutch and then the next pass back to either pressing clutch to far or forgetting to press again out of neutral.

Again. What a day.

Here to bump a old reply but after my day I just had to come here and search for help.

Today was essentially first time ever in a truck shifting and what a day it was. Okay maybe not a day as it was only like 30 minutes behind the wheel in the lot. I have never shifted before and was quite nervous. Still am.

After a few tries I slowly started getting the upshift but still struggle. Downshift was a whole different story. I struggled. I know it's normal and the instructor yelling at you certainly didn't calm my nerves if I grinded the gears. Best myself up pretty good to the point I just had to stop and breathe. Try again and one pass I would get it ok, just bounced some when pressing gas after letting out clutch and then the next pass back to either pressing clutch to far or forgetting to press again out of neutral.

Again. What a day.

I hate it when I read about instructors yelling at new students. I remember telling mine not to raise his voice at me coz I would only make more mistakes. He never did. Just keep at it, soon it will be another story to laugh about....

Here to bump a old reply but after my day I just had to come here and search for help.

Today was essentially first time ever in a truck shifting and what a day it was. Okay maybe not a day as it was only like 30 minutes behind the wheel in the lot. I have never shifted before and was quite nervous. Still am.

After a few tries I slowly started getting the upshift but still struggle. Downshift was a whole different story. I struggled. I know it's normal and the instructor yelling at you certainly didn't calm my nerves if I grinded the gears. Best myself up pretty good to the point I just had to stop and breathe. Try again and one pass I would get it ok, just bounced some when pressing gas after letting out clutch and then the next pass back to either pressing clutch to far or forgetting to press again out of neutral.

Again. What a day.

I hate it when I read about instructors yelling at new students. I remember telling mine not to raise his voice at me coz I would only make more mistakes. He never did. Just keep at it, soon it will be another story to laugh about....

Thanks Serah. I hope so. Getting pretty decent at backing just need to get this shifting down. Will be in the truck again soon working on that again. Hopefully better then yesterday. I keep finding myself pushing the clutch to far.

I am in the same boat yesterday I could not figure how to back up Today just as bad Also today we went on the road and I couldn't get the double clutching and was grinding the gear I feel like a complete failure

Dan is depressed:

I was grinding the gear I feel like a complete failure.

Not so fast! Gear grinding is common for new drivers. I bet in your truck you weren't there only one.

Your best shot is to first search on double clutching to look at all the suggestions. Then make your own new post, with more detail about what gives you problems.

It's all a matter of that rhythm. You'll get it. You're just getting started!

Dan, don't feel bad at all. This too shall pass and you will get it. People aren't born knowing how to back a 70 ft vehicle or how to double clutch. After you test out you'll probably seldom ever double clutch again.

I struggled with double clutching something fierce because when my ex taught me to drive years ago i was taught to float gears. I've driven a manual transmission for years and i think that made it harder for me because of bad habits that had been ingrained for years. People who had never driven a manual picked up double clutching immediately.

On backing i constantly oversteered/overcorrected and fought the trailer. These days I've improved quite a bit and you will too.

I struggled as well because I've always driven manual transmission vehicles, from the ole' Ford p/u 'three on a tree' (shifter on the steering column) that I took my teenage driving test in, to five speed on-the-floor shifters in later 4-wheelers. (That 5-speed shift pattern really messed with my head while learning the Eaton 10-speed pattern!) I also struggled with constantly wanting to push the clutch to the floor. It got better every time I practiced on the road during school. (We never left low (1st) gear and reverse in the yard as there wasn't enough room on the yard, so all shifting practice occurred on the road while you're also trying not to kill anyone!) That was my only complaint about the independent school I chose.

Just like the first time you go snow skiing and seem to get the hang of it just before leaving the slopes, the next time you go skiing it seems so much easier. Same with shifting. I improved immensely each time, picking right up where I left off at the last go-round. I used three slightly flattened, full toilet paper rolls on the floor at home to represent the three pedals. It helped immensely by teaching my left foot the proper depth to plunge (tap) the clutch. I used half of my 10-ton floor jack handle for a shifter. Constantly repeated "clutch, clutch" on the upshift to get rhythm and shift pattern, then "BRAKE clutch.....FUEL clutch" to help me learn downshift rhythm. Emphasis (louder) on the words BRAKE and FUEL helped me with cadence and memory. (I would sometimes forget to brake the truck down to 1000 rpm before attempting to downshift which really screws up rpm's for continued downshifting.) I also found it very useful to constantly tell my instructors and then my DDS examiner what new gear I was in, which they liked, and mainly helped me remember where I was headed next during my road work. I never lost track of what gear I was in and it allowed me to concentrate my attention out the windshield.

I also learned to grasp the shifter firmly (but not too tightly) with my hand directly on top instead of to the right side of the shift knob. This helped me find the gears better, helped me feel the spring tension better (the push from the R/1,6 grooves over to the 2,3/7,8 grooves) and also found that holding my right elbow a bit higher helped me go from 6th to 7th without ending up in 9th instead. The higher elbow gave me a straight forward arm movement instead of an angled push.

Anyone reading this thread - be encouraged! In a month you'll be laughing at yourself over the ease of it all!