Once more, another driver brings you his interpretation of shifting a big rig. Except this time, the idiot behind the wheel doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. Enjoy?
PABLOS RETURNS! from ask a trucker 4 vid you probably don't remember me but I asked a question about being new to driving and only being able to drive short periods of times from you Q and A vid! I've been driving 4 years now. Good to see your still at it! I got my cdl because of you and ice road truckers! and my friend that's been driving for 13 years! grateful for your vids very insightful and congrats on the weight loss!
Matt, I enjoyed it! You have an awesome sense of humor! Thank you for sharing your interpretation on 'Shifting a 13 Speed!' I hope you'll demonstrate 'loaded' the use of braking while down shifting, as this is something I like doing, too! Cheers! :-)
Hey Matt, awesome to see you back! I remember watching your Decker videos back in the day. If you see a big blue Western 389 in your neck of the woods, give it a wave. I'm based in Denver, 270 and York. I go to the springs all the time for Taylor Farms over on Powers by the Airport. Way to get healthy, and keep it up man. You are funny as hell.
Glad you showed skipping gears, watching other US truckers you'd think they floated through every single gear even when empty! I learned in a DAF XF 16spd in the UK which had 4 low, 4 high and a splitter on each, I was taught to start off in 3rd (empty) and carry on skipping gears until approaching cruising speed.
Cool video! I've been practicing floating gears on a 5 speed Spicer transmission and I'm getting pretty good. It's a lot harder to downshift when you have no tach. You really have to know your truck to make that smooth.
I find that with constant mesh its just a matter of accelerator and clutch timing, i dont think you need to be at an exact road speed and revs to change gears
Nice vid Matt! Always love to see a 'true' professional working his craft... Btw I always start in 5th when empty, is there a reason you like to start in 3rd? Just curious.
I like to call the black switch the "Range Selector" and the red switch the "Splitter". But that may not be correct terminology either. 13 and 18 speeds are the best. An 18 speed has a grey colored splitter switch... if anyone cares.
Out of three of the videos I watched , bored of.my butt, and driver myself, this was at least the most entertaing. The first one was, well, there are no words for it .. but all the smarts in the world and not one lick of sense in it...hammer down
+Rage Quit87 I don't know if it works on all gearboxes, but I have floated gears in several pickups with synchronized transmissions. It worked fine, except the "hole" is a lot tighter. (Meaning the timing has to be about perfect) Good luck!
hey matt i remember the 1st video on shifting a long time ago, you were with decker on the reefer side. you positioned the camera under your seat to observe the movement of y o ur feet. now that was fuckin cool bro...
This guy is silly ! But as a 43 year veteran driver, I can tell you he's not a bad driver at all. By the way kid, I use high range reverse quite a bit. Most guys don't have any clue how to do it. Do NOT start out in reverse high range. It is very hard on the clutch. Here's how green guys. Start out in reverse low. Wind it right out to the pin. Pull the high range lever and pull it out of reverse. BIG RPM split, so you'll have to wait for it, and put it back into reverse. You might want to use the clutch for this one, and it will lug. Oh BTW, I hope you know how to go back wards with a trailer real fast. If not, do not try this at home kids.
Always end your stops in gear, not coasting.. you have no way to move quickly and you wear out your clutch brake… end in first so your not mashing the clutch to the floor and using the clutch brake at every stop…also using “lo” gear in high range is a big no no…it’s not designed for the torque…
As you said, your terminology is mostly wrong but your technique and skills are good. My buddy calls the "high range, low gear, the no gear. "Oh no, there's no gear there" but he used it all the time. lol Be safe!
The only thing you can explain in driving a 13. Is from the split and up.until they really try it its a different language lol. The 13 speed comes from a 9 pretty much so most people have driven a 9speed they just have to learn how to pre select the lower end of the higher split. . What we do is buy 9speeds and for under 300$ we turn them into 13s. Best trans imo. Btw. I cant get used to the new matt. God damn man you lost some weight. I bet you look like a stick on your harley
My company would fire you in a heart beat if you floated gears in their trucks. The manufacturer of these transmissions explicitly stated that they are meant to be double clutched ever shift.
+Raymond Shingle Yeah, good idea. I did it all the time driving a transfer. I've been on jobs that had miles of backing. I'd still be there if I was backing in low range LoL.
Trucks are design for double clutching, when the driver doesn't know how to double clutch the right way without grinding the gear, he use the gear floating technique. Learn guys how to shift using double clutching.
wtf, who taught you how to drive a 13spd? You DO NOT shift to the 'LO' position in high range. That's why it's called a 13spd and not a 14spd- LO,1,2,3,4 in low range and 5,6,7,8(all split with OD) in high range for a total of 13 speeds.
