OTG nailed it . . you're going too fast into the turn. The best way to learn is to go too slow, then build your skills with experience.

 

I agree with Drew and Gman. It is all in the multitasking that is going on and practice. I remember the first time it all came together and I made a corner and did it in the right gear and was able to shift after making the corner. It was like a former teacher at my CDL school use to say "There ain't nothing to this truck driving!" Start your downshifting way before the corner. I practiced my down shifting sometimes a gear at a time or 2 gears at a time till I could set up at the right speed and gear for the corner. Don't ever be in a hurry to make a corner. All those cars will just have to wait their turn. You are responsible for making a proper turn. They will get over it. Let us know when that moment where it all comes together for you.

Soladad

 

if it is broke then you would have more problems cause the engine would not be able to run up the r.p.m's all the way, & would have a miss in the motor at higher r.p.m's.

 

When I was finishing out students after getting them from the truck schools, I would always get them to think about the downshifting before the turn concept that the schools teach them.

First, as you are shifting normally all day long, look at the speed range of each gear and burn it into your brain along with the corresponding RPM's during the speed range in each gear. After a while, you can just look at your roadspeed, know the gear to select, and determine the rpm's to select the gear and get the downshift done.

That being said.... I also taught them to forget the whole downshift crap until they are at the speed for the corner. Instead of them playing with pedals and searching for gears, I would rather they concentrate on braking for the corner and keeping their foot on the brake and just depress the clutch when the rpms get too low. In the event something causes a major braking situation, if you are playing with gears you probably will not get stopped in time as you would if you are concentrating only on the braking and getting your speed down.

After you get down to the speed you need to be at for the corner, take a quick look at the speedometer, choose the right gear, and execute the corner. Very same principle as slowing for a red light, it changes to green, and then you select the proper gear to continue on. The K.I.S.S. principle worked well here. Don't make unecessary work for yourself so you are concentrating on the task at hand.... slowing for the corner! And then if that kid runs out in front of you or the car in front all of a sudden locks up its brakes, you will be able to stop cleanly and trim that reaction time down since you are only concentrating on braking and slowing instead of grabbing gears.

You just never know what the crazy traffic is going to do, so if you keep that foot covering the brake while slowing for a corner instead of constantly moving your feet around (or trying to manipulate two pedals with one foot at the same time) finding and getting gears all the way down, you will probably avoid that accident. It's worked for me over 2 decades without a vehicle accident pulling tanks, flats, vans, doubles, triples, and six solid years driving in Alaska. I had always used this procedure and the concept was confirmed to me when I worked with a safety director that trained the Missouri state DOT personel and had a hand in getting the PTDIA started up in the early 90's

Some things the schools teach are fine for academic purposes, but not always the best method in the real world.

 

i dont' get it......if your speedometer cable is broke......your saying that the engine
would have a "miss" in the motor...??? :? :? :shock: :shock:

 

An older truck with a mechanically governed engine and a cable driven speedometer would suffer no ill effects from an inoperative speedometer.

On newer trucks with electronic engines, if the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor) is not sending a vehicle speed signal, the speedometer won't work, and the ECM will not receive a vehicle speed signal either.

When the ECM does not receieve a signal from the VSS, it will not allow the engine to operate at full power. Kind of a "wake up call" that it needs to be fixed.

 

thanks for clearing that up.................!!!!!!!!!!!! :wink: :wink: 8)

the truck in question is a '94 mack...so no worrys...i guess.......... 8)

 

In 1994 some Macks were electronic, and some were still mechanical.

An easy way to tell without even raising the hood is this:

If it has cruise control, it's electronic.

If it has the "engine stop control" that you pull out to stop the engine, then it's mechanical.