Double clutching on the CDL skills test

[Farmtruckin]

I'm a self taught driver from helping out on my father-in-law's farm. I decided to go ahead and get my full classA. I took and passed the written tests with all the endorsments to open up the job market a little more on completion of the skills test.

My problem, and it might not be a problem in the state of michigan, is that i've learned to float shift and not use the clutch and i've been doing for a while. I heard I must learn the "double clutch" before taking the test. Is this true, and other michigan drivers out there recall this from the test?

If I need to learn this, what's the best way to go about it?

[larryh31]

I 'm not sure about the driving test goes.

But by being "self taught" you are going to have a hard time getting hired by any of the big companies. They all want you to a graduate of a approved training school. (Insurance purposes)

[emerlin]

In SD you have to double-clutch to pass. I float everything, even my personal cars. But my instructer said the tester would be watching for double-clutching so I focused on ditching my old habits when I was in the truck.

Like my instructer said when someone did something not according to the state instruction manual, "He has his CDL. You can do that when you get yours, but you have to get it first."

[Farmtruckin]

I 'm not sure about the driving test goes.

But by being "self taught" you are going to have a hard time getting hired by any of the big companies. They all want you to a graduate of a approved training school. (Insurance purposes)

What if start at local companies.. would the experience be enough for the big companies?

[ceb]

in Mass you are supposed to double clutch. but when I tested the trooper saw I was not used to double clutching. so he told me not to. I guess he liked sitting in the seat. rather than being bounced out every time I shifted.

[Uturn2001]

I 'm not sure about the driving test goes.

But by being "self taught" you are going to have a hard time getting hired by any of the big companies. They all want you to a graduate of a approved training school. (Insurance purposes)

What if start at local companies.. would the experience be enough for the big companies?

After 2 years of equivelant experience most companies no longer care if you went to school. By equivelant experience I mean OTR is OTR experience, local driving is local experience, etc.

You might be able to find a small company somewhere that will be willing to take you on, but since it is really the insurance companies that dictate who someone can hire you may still find a problem getting the type of job you really want.

[Uturn2001]

Double clutching.....

Tap the clutch to take it out of gear, and then tap the clutch to put it into the next gear. If you can float then you already know about matching rpm to road speed and all that.

[Rawlco]

If you can float then just press the clutch pedal a couple of times while shifting - you have now double clutched.

[jjh1001]

Ok since im from michigan i can say that you do have to double clutch on the test.. but if you self learned the harder part of the test will be the pre-trip where there are certain things they want to hear about everything.. any questions feel free to ask.

[redsfan]

I would agree on the pre-trip part, be sure to bone up on that info before going for the test. The double-clutching will be the easy part. I had a very similar situation to yours in that I had a ton of experience over the years in farming, just didn't have the CDL. The difference for me was that I did decide to go ahead to school before taking the tests. It helped me a lot in my backing skills and so forth and it will open doors to more companies than if you do not graduate from a school.

My guess would be that most local outfits won't care if you went to school or not, especially if you'll be pulling something like a grain hopper or rock bucket. Some big companies won't care either, but some definitely will.

As for floating, you do have to use the clutch in Ohio, not sure on Michigan, but it's not always necessary with big companies. When I took my road test with Maverick I was worried about double-clutching also and tried to make it look good. The instructor asked me if I always used the clutch and I told him I thought I was expected to. He responded with, "hell no man, if you know how to float, float em!". He took a lot of stress off of me and told me that he didn't care what experience or schooling I had, "You got your CDL, just drive the truck.".

Don't sweat it so much, it's very easy to fake and even if they know you are faking it probably won't hurt you.

Good luck!

[New2This]

First things first....you've gotta pass your pre-trip inspection BEFORE you can even TAKE the road test, so study it well because float or not---if you don't pass it they won't matter. And BTW my instructor here in S. E. Michigan says YES you have to double clutch so that the inspector knows that you CAN...an easy challenge.
BOL to you

[JBenson2]

Double clutching while upshifting is not difficult.

But double clutching while downshifting from 9th to 5th just before reaching a stop sign is a bit more difficult.

The driving instructors at my school in Minnesota said I don't have to downshift while slowing down during the license test. If I'm in 8th, just use the brakes to come to a near complete stop, then push in the clutch and stop.

That will help avoid getting flustered with the DMV person sitting next to you.

[Farmtruckin]

So today I spent three hours working on my double clutching and it seems that when I do the "proper" technique, the engine rpm drops too low to hit the next high hole and I have to rev to get it back up... thats just one more thing to think of.

So I did the cheating method and just hit the clutch enough to get it out of gear, let the rpms hit the sweet spot and put it in while I tapped the clutch again.

Downshifting is a different thing. I rarely downshift. On these rural roads I just coast to the stop sign. I decided to try a run through the city and had some trouble with downshifting.

What needs to be done on the test in regards to downshifting? I know the manual says to avoid coasting more than one length of the truck so can I just pick one safe gear to downshift into and just clutch it right before I stop? Or is downshifting through most of the gears the proper way?

[rubberducky]

coasting in neutral is an automatic failure on road test. I think they just want to see you downshift at least one gear properly.

[Deus]

Double clutching while upshifting is not difficult.

But double clutching while downshifting from 9th to 5th just before reaching a stop sign is a bit more difficult.

The driving instructors at my school in Minnesota said I don't have to downshift while slowing down during the license test. If I'm in 8th, just use the brakes to come to a near complete stop, then push in the clutch and stop.

That will help avoid getting flustered with the DMV person sitting next to you.

They let you do that? When I was in school here in Minnesota they had us sequentially down shift all the way to 5th gear before stopping. I think the reasoning behind it was so that we didn't lose gears, because as someone mentioned coasting more than the length of the vehicle (at least in Minnesota) is a failure. Now if a light changed suddenly they said just slow down and push in the clutch when you have to. But for stop signs and stuff they wanted 10-9-8-7-6-5 and double clutching all those sure made it take a long time to stop...

I personally like to be in 8th gear when coming up to stops when I can be... Usually go from 10th to 8th to 4th (LTL I can start the truck rolling in 4th so it seems to be the easiest)

[T * Storm]

I'm a self taught driver from helping out on my father-in-law's farm. I decided to go ahead and get my full classA. I took and passed the written tests with all the endorsments to open up the job market a little more on completion of the skills test.

My problem, and it might not be a problem in the state of michigan, is that i've learned to float shift and not use the clutch and i've been doing for a while. I heard I must learn the "double clutch" before taking the test. Is this true, and other michigan drivers out there recall this from the test?

If I need to learn this, what's the best way to go about it?

Start calling all the newbie hire companies such as Schneider. They have a program set up for drivers that already have their class A license but no experience. You will go with a trainer for a few weeks with them, I believe, then you will go through a test with them. Just explain your situation and you will find a company that will hire you for OTR.