It Is Off To The Races!

Today was definitely and interesting, exciting, frustrating day. It started with me sleeping through my alarm and being 45 mins late for school (I called in and let them know that I was running late, so it wasn't too big a deal, but not one that I want to repeat). After a morning of classroom instruction on shifting, different transmissions types and patterns (at the school they have straight 5 speeds, straight 7 speeds, straight 9 speeds, split 9 speeds and 2 different shift patterns, split 10 speeds and super 10 speeds) and what not to do's, we then had a visiting recruiter from a local company looking to hire good drivers. After lunch we were assigned our driving partner and our trucks.

Lucky for me, I got paired up with Mike!! Sweet, we get along good so I glad he is my partner, and we were assigned truck # 9128. A Century Class single drive axle tractor with a Detroit Engine and a 9 speed transmission. Possibly with worst engine/transmission combo there is!

OK, now why do I say the worst combo there is? Let me explain. We have 3 main engines in the trucks that the school uses. Cummings, Detroit, and Mack. What makes them good or bad from a learning perspective is the rate at which the engine rpms build and drop. The faster the rpms go up the faster they drop which makes you have to shift faster. The slower the engine builds rpms the longer it takes for the engine to drop rpms which means you have more time to shift (you might even have to wait on the engine before you can shift). Well it breaks down like this, Detroit Engines rpms build fast and drop fast, Mack engines are the exact opposite, they are very slow, and Cummings are in the middle. So the engine in my truck builds rpms and drops them very quick meaning I need to be able to shift quickly.

Transmissions are another area. With all the different transmissions I was really hoping to get a split 10 speed or a super 10 speed as the shift pattern is more natural. However this did not happen, I got a split 9 speed with a Low gear in the normal 1st gear hole. But this darn transmission is a real pain in the ass. Up-shifting is no real problem and shifts like a charm (for the most part) but downshifting is a real bitch! You have to have the engine rpms at almost exactly 850 rpms on your downshift or it will NOT go in gear no matter what, and if you miss your shift, forget it! It is near impossible to get the SOB to go into ANY gear afterwords without coming to a complete stop, and waiting for at least 40 secs before it will go into Low gear. I haven't been able to convince it to go into 1st or any other gear to start in other than Low and even that sometimes takes some "convincing".

So what do I have? I have an engine that builds and drops rpms very quickly, meaning I have to make quicker shifts. And I have a transmission that up-shifts just fine but is a totally pain in the ass to downshift at all. Tomorrow there is no driving as it is Friday, so I won't get to drive again till Monday. The other thing is how hard the clutch is in my truck, needless to say my left leg muscle is going to become the strongest muscle in my whole body is a short period of time!

Overall today I feel I did very well. I am going to need MUCH more practice downshifting but I did get a handle on double-clutching and keeping my shallow clutches, I also didn't grind any gears on my up-shifts, but my downshifts is a whole different story. Well we will just have to see how things go on Monday. I think I will spend a little time in the simulator tomorrow and see how that goes.