Clutch or Float Gears
 

This is my last week of schooling, before I test for my CDL on Thursday. The school claims 200 hours of training but I find myself sitting around more than I train. There are only nine students in my class. Time is wasted waiting for students to show up in the morning. Instructors being fired, showing up late or calling in sick. The ones that do show up do OK, they give good instruction, they just don't seem to be motivated to go the extra mile so we can get in driving time. I am learning in the trucking world that if you have inclement weather, rain, you shut down. The lightening I understood, but rain? Anyway, the whole point to this post is I am getting very little driving time. I can back, I have done well since the very first time, I have done backing ad nausium for the last two weeks. It is better than no driving time. Some of are playing games now, challenging games. We straight line back and parallel park. We have started moving our marking cones in until we hit one. I can parallel in a pretty tight spot now. On the road driving is the problem. I haven't had enough time behind the wheel. With experience I will get it down. I'm sure I have had less than three hours total out on the road. It is very frustrating. I am having problems down shifting. It just doesn't make sense to brake to slow the truck down then step on the accelerator to shift. That and the fact that air brakes lack the precision that hydraulic brakes do. So, my question is that in the limited driving time I am likely to get in the next three class days before the test should I try to learn to float and am I likely to downshift better floating? Or should I just stick to double shifting, which I'm better at every time I drive? The instructor did say I would pass the test at my present level of skill, I am not satisfied though.

What school are you attending??

International Schools at Austin Community College in Austin, TX.

If you can't find it, grind it! :D

Just rating myself, I would say I can downshift properly better than 75% of the time. Maybe another 20% I have slight trouble with and occasionally I can't find the gear at all. I almost always know why I have trouble. I do admit while driving I will set up situations where I am downshifting without needing to, just to practice. On the day of the test I will downshift as little as possible. I will up shift as little as possible.

If it makes you feel any better, I've been driving for years, been a trainer, own my own truck (and you'd think I know ALL the in's and out's of my own truck), and there are times when I miss a gear on the down-side. And, after all these years, I DO use the clutch ALL THE TIME. I could float the gears, but I can shift FASTER by using the clutch. I've been accused of shifting like I'm in the INDY-500.

Use what seems to work the best for you. When you ask here, you'll get a variety of opinions. But going down the road, none of those opinions will be driving your truck or doing the shifting. Use what works best for you, and don't fix it if it ain't broke.

Floating the gears does not make you a driver, and using the clutch also does not make you a driver.

I understand all of this, I do not beat myself up because of my mistakes. I think I am doing remarkably well for the limited time I have been behind the wheel. My question is, in the very limited time I can expect to be behind the wheel in the next three days, about three hours if everything goes right, should I just stick with double clutching, which I have been doing or should I try to float. I do pick up thing well and other aspects of driving the truck are not giving me problems at all.

Until you get out of school, or even until you are hired and "trained" (don't know who you're going with, so I don't know if you'll really have a trainer or will be "self-taught".) You'll have plenty of time later to learn all the "bad habits". You've been double-clutching? Stay with it until you get out on your own. Then, try "fixing what ain't broke". I have heard of guys that did not get their CDL after they tested with DOT because they didn't "USE THE CLUTCH PROPERLY". Might depend on the state and how the examiner feels that day... I don't know. I'd suggest using what you've been doing for now.

At my school they actually told us not to double clutch when downshifting...all you have to do to downshift is to take your foot off the throttle while pulling the stick out of the gear and move the stick into the 'smaller hole' as you bring your revs up gently. Soon you will know how high the revs need to be to slide in.
As for upshifting, i usually skip gears unless im going up a hill heavy...with a super10, I start in 3rd, then 5th, 7th, sometimes then 8, 9,10 with my jake on low so the revs drop faster during shifting.
To upshift not using a clutch simply accelerate to the shiftpoint, pull the stick out as you let off the throttle, and ease it in the bigger hole. you will feel a slight rubbing of the gears. if the rubbing is slowing down, youre getting to the right rpm for it to drop in, if theyre speeding up, you've done passed it...you should never have to use force, it can be done with 3 fingers! As you get proficient, no gear 'rubbing' should accur...
you will soon get a sense of how long it takes for the gears to slow down to where the stick drop right in! Ironically it takes about the time for you to doubleclutch...When going downhill or uphill the truck's acceleration/deceleration due to grade will affect that too. Id say doubleclutch on grades till you get the hang of it.
Im pretty sure i told you everything you need to know, maybe someone will amend to this...Good Luck and ask if you have Q's

Windwalker has a point, learn to doubleclutch first, because you will have to do it during road-tests!!!
But keep what i said in mind...Basically you are doing the same things when doubleclutching, just not actually moving ur leg...