productive weekend I think?

Just learning where to stick the stick is ok, until you actually grab that sucker and try to make it work!

...isn’t it?

Johnnatash4,

Was that a single stick 13 speed? I've driven truck with 2 sticks many times, and even one with 3 sticks once. My company stick has some old two stick Macks and with 2 sticks you have 5 reverse gears.

This video shows you a 3 stick truck. (not me or the one I drove) fun fun fun, scroll down for the video once on the page.

https://bangshift.com/bangshiftxl/parting-shift-watching-tru...

Yes all single sticks with one switch in the front of knob and a splitter on the left of knob.

In theory I picked up where those with the 18 speeds which all owner/operators would get, can start out in 3rd, one guy said he never splits gears until he reaches 5th...it started to make me realize if you never split gears until 5th, then other than not splitting low, a 13 speed is just as good!

p.s. love that video, aren't the additional 2 sticks doing the job of the splitter and the hi/lo buttons? I also notice that owners replace the steering wheels....

I want to take one of these vehicles for a drive!

Now I get that floating gears and downshifting will be much different than what I know. also, splitting the gears is not something I can appreciate in a practical sense...5 low, 5 high, 6 low, 6 high, is that right?

But no, the videos I watched were an Eaton 18 speed, Eaton 13 speed...the switch on the left side is a different color to indicate I guess....

yeah, grey is 18, red is 13, and blue is 8.

Guess I am still blonde. I read the 1st post. All ok . Then after I read several following post I could not figure out why people started talking about trucks.
I also could not figure out the post about sticks,
I finally went back to the 1st post and when I got to the line about the gears I realized the post was not about a bicycle with gears.

hahahahahaha

Yes, the additional sticks are doing pretty much the same thing as hi/lo and split shifter knobs and switches.

The splitter is pretty much only used with heavy loads where it really takes a lot to get moving and up to speed. I had a 5 speed International dump truck with the red up/down splitter, it gave me half gears to get moving, empty I'd stay in high all the time. Most of the trucks I had driven the past were 4 gears low, hit the knob and four gears high. Technically a 5 speed but first was lo & lo-lo.

The most unusual gear pattern for me was an 8 speed 'box' pattern on an old Ford L9000 Think of your normal H pattern shifter, now switch the positions of 3rd and 4th so instead of shifting in an H, you'd be shifting in a square, 1 thru 4,,, hit the switch then 5 thru 8.

Now try doing musical trucks between the International, the L9000 and a plain Jane 5 speed Mack all day, each with their own way of shifting, all day long. I did that for a construction supply company for a few years, couldn't help but grind a gear now and then forgetting which truck you were in at the moment. The all had different sweet spots for shifting too. I'd be on a delivery with one and they'd be loading the next one while I was gone.

Today, I drive an automatic Mack Granite tri-axle most of the time, and when that's in the shop a 10 speed Mack Granite. (The ten speed has a red flip up lever for the high gears and a yellow pull out lever for reverse)

Never a dull moment. After seeing what it takes to get those trucks with a lot of gear going you'll now understand why they get mad when someone pulls out in front of them, 3 second delay in a car causes a truck to lose 5 gears.

Next lesson, braking distance and why you shouldn't jump into that space a truck leaves in front of him in heavy, but moving, traffic.

It's not just you, Mary, at first I thought they were talking about bicycles, but I too did figure it out.

I was surprised semi-trailer trucks could use 18 gears, so I went and found this good YouTube video explaining and demonstrating how truckers shift through 18 gears:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBwYIlS-08

It's not as complicated as it would seem at first to us non-truckers. (They don't use all 18 gears when they're learning or just pulling light loads.)

Love your sig line, I used to listen to Dr. Demento all the time back in the day.

That was a nice basic video, it shows the general idea of it all. There's a little more to it when actually driving though, especially when in traffic. And he didn't show you all 18 gears.

Then there's 'floating gears' which is how I drive most of the time. It means not using the clutch, except from a stop. For this you have to pay attention to the rpms, or if you know your truck well enough, you can shift by sound.

I'm trying to learn new things like programming Arduino, building TV antennas, analyzing them with 4NEC2 and NanoVNA, working an SDR,3D printing,.....
Believe me, you want to do it when you are young. At 79 I get to the point I don't want to do anything.

really want to take one out on the road and wonder if there would be any opportunity outside of getting a job driving.

I am resolved to get a 7 speed manual car, but it's not the same. I do have a 6 speed in the garage which I'll never give up due to scarcity of sticks.

They do seem to be making a comeback. Imagine, 2 Cadillacs with manuals standards are coming (though very expensive)....Hyundais now having manuals and not bottom of line cars...

Just keep in mind to drive one legally you more than likely will need a CDL, or at least a permit and be accompanied by the CDL holder.

1. Who must have a commercial driver’s license (CDL)?

Anyone who drives a commercial motor vehicle. The definition of a commercial motor vehicle is:

a combination of vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 or more pounds, provided the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds;

a single vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 or more pounds;

a vehicle designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver;

a school bus;

or any vehicle that is transporting hazardous materials and is required to be placarded in accordance with State and Federal regulations.

https://www.dmv.pa.gov/Pages/FAQ%20Pages/Commercial-Driver%E...

The link above is a Commercial Driver’s License FAQ page. The link below tells you everything else you need to know to get one.

https://www.dmv.pa.gov/Driver-Services/Commercial-Driver/Pag...

I got 'm covered. Class A, Class B coach,S and P endorsements.

I have B & M, with endorsements N & P. I just dropped haz-mat after having it for 30 some years but not using it for the past 8 or so. Pain in the butt to keep, need fingerprints & retake the test each renewal. Plus it cost extra to have the prints done.

and drivers being in short supply, I think for at least 4 more years, is it fun to drive? lol I always thought I'd enjoy driving a luxury sedan at the airport....but I think I'd more enjoy driving a big rig. I get it's not fun and games, like dropping in north Chicago when you've got your Peterbilt 389 with a 290" wheelbase. But I think part of it is being self sufficient and able to focus. Now I did watch a rookie's channel being a corporate driver and I could see it's not always fun....and it takes time to go out on one's own...

And I gotta tell you I respect drivers who can say they have 4 million or 5 million safe miles. It's like anything else--it means they were conscientious and do well at what they do...

funny how that happened

I could give an update on the other things....I waited until monday to upload the taxes, and in a matter of minutes, I went to the IRS website and it said received. If the past is a predictor of this year, probably we'll have the refund in 15-17 days?? It's a sizeable refund but we need this money to pay the school taxes in August. Since I owe the state, I'll just wait to about April 8-10 and print it out, and mail from the USPS with a check.

Again, in PA, we get 3 bills and that is the big one. We have county and sewage due end of March. Our assessment doubled for 2021 and thus far I'm seeing a 7.x% increase, not good.

Kid's haircut, well, wife thinks it looks good--I wish I had remembered to use a 4 across the line where I clipped with a 3. I'm not as good, nowhere near as good as a stylist who can blend with scissors and clipper and comb.

This is life, the mundane and ordinary, matters to us ordinary people! lol Maybe with the weather being good I will be productive in the coming weekend. I just checked the flagstone patio that I repaired and of course after freezing and thawing and refreezing, some more are loosened, but not my handy work from the fall. The thing is 50 years old so it's ok...

I've been driving for 30 or so years. I drive straight trucks, not the 'big rigs', and all local. I've driven flat bed, bus, trash, recycle, concrete, oil, and for the past 15 or so a tri-axle dump truck used in heavy highway construction. (what I call a tri-axle is a truck with 3 dual tire rear axles, a 14 wheeler).

I used to love to drive, not so much anymore, too many people on the roads not paying attention to their driving, texting, on the phone, whatever, the point is they drift from their lane, speed-up/slow-down for no reason, cut in front of you just to stop to turn a block away etc. I spend most of my time driving in Philadelphia, you see a lot of interesting things, but it's very stressful.

My biggest pet-peeve is people that weave in and out of traffic, taking advantage of the space a truck will leave in front of it. That space is not your ticket to being a few feet in front of the last guy, it my safe stopping distance should traffic come to a quick stop.

If you are interested in buying your own truck be aware there is a lot of overhead, fuel taxes for one, you have to report how many miles you drive in each state and pay tax accordingly. The annual price of registration is in the thousands of dollars. then there's any extras you might need according to what you haul, for example EPA stickers. Sometimes I'll be carrying contaminated, but not hazardous, dirt. I need an EPA sticker to dump the load at the places that handle such material. You might also need to have a TWIC card if you deal with any ports or refineries.

I'm sure there's a lot more pros and cons of owning your own rig I'm not aware of. I'm a company driver, also a Teamster, I make good wages and have good benefits. On paper I may not make the kind of money an owner operator does, but I don't pay any of the overhead on the truck, no maintenance costs etc.

Anyway, driving can be enjoyable, I don't think I could have made a career of something where I'd spent the day in a cubicle. But if I had it to do over, knowing what I know now, the cubicle would be a little higher on the list of possibility.

Interesting posts, soberbyker. The issue of cars cutting into the empty space in front of big trucks, which can also be seen in YouTube videos (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cars+cutting+of...) if anyone doubts it's a problem, could get worse with self-driving vehicles, at least until they're programmed not to do that.

am one of those people who is always curious about everything. It almost leads to the "your job is more interesting than mine" syndrome.

I was in a shop a couple years ago and I asked a tech, wow, that's some torque wrench (it was a 3/4" drive), what do you torque these things to (it was the wheels on a Freightliner Cascadia)? He goes 450 ft. lbs. Dang. Then I said what about the oil, how often do you change it? answer: We push it to 60k. Darn. How much does it take? 45 quarts. I suppose my allure is not so much to these corporate fleet vehicles, but more so to the custom Peterbilt 389's.

Here was the kicker--so I bet you guys all work on your own cars?! Laughter.

No, they do not. They said it's totally different and everything is so small and cramped....

Driving a truck would definitely be on my bucket list, but it does seem like it would be a difficult one....I saw how retired couples can do FedEx Custom Critical but that's not the same...

I uploaded the tax return Monday afternoon, and by this morning, status is approved and scheduled to be deposited Tuesday.

when I think about it everything is electronically verifiable, with one exception. Energy credit. But that is once in a lifetime and a small amount. They could always send an agent over and just drive past to see the new condenser, but hardly worth it.

Maybe one big thing is the sheer number of standard deductions now. I was reminded by the software, that I had already passed the SALT limit, even though I was not gonna be taking an itemized deduction...