How often do you grind gears.... Realistically

Now ... never. Last couple trucks were automated so no grinding is going on. Before that once in awhile but not to often.

 

There is a difference between grinding and an occasional scratch. A scratch from time to time happens. Fail to clutch properly or mismanage RPMs etc. An actual grind is much different. I have had mechanics show me gears with broken teeth etc. This is one reason I don't buy those things about a driver learning how to drive a manual in a few weeks or a few months. It takes a while to master this process without looking at a tach or speedo.

 

There is a difference between grinding gears and snubbing gears. CDL SCHool attendees grind gears as well as new graduates. Professional drivers like myself SNUB gears a couple times a day. USually on a downshift. I shift all day long in local hauling. OTR guys not so much. They pretty much go into high gear and stay there for several hundred miles. Im lucky if i make it a mile by the time im stopping again. SO by the end of the day your mind is asleep. So grinding is when you are shifting with the gear shifter gripped tighly in your hands and you are pulling or pushing to hard on the stick. You can actually hear it grinding. That never happens to guys that have experience. Snubbing is when you are shifting properly by lightly gribbing or even just using 2 fingers to shift. When you arent in the right rpm range, you are moving the shifter so lightly you feel just a little rub on the shifter and when the rpms fall to the right range it kinda just pulls the shifter into gear on its own. im a clutchless shifter. i float. several hundred shifts a day with an 18 speed and using a clutch would never be possible and cause knee damage on a 6'4" guy like my self in a 379 cab

 

I’ve been scratching more then often the last few weeks since I started running a older truck with a 5x4 in it. Getting smoother as time goes on tho. With my 18 speed in my old truck or any Eaton fuller, it was kind rare. I did it tho not afraid to admit it. My dad been driving for 50 plus years smooth as can be I’ve seen and heard him scratch a couple

 

I notice i grind when i get in a rush. Slow and smooth is the way u want to shift. Just take ur time and go thru each gear as smooth as possible .

 

I do good if I'm not concentrating on rolling a cigarette or typing a text message

 

Oooooh the Gestapo gone be lookin' for you now!

 

I shift smoother when I got less sleep the night before. If I am well rested I tend to force/rush the shift just enough to notice a difference.
Anyone else experience this?

 

After 30 years, I still get messed up every once in a while. Half my day is spent on the open road, the other half in town. I shift a lot throughout the day. When I teach my guys to drive I make them do a two step count in their head...one out of the hole, two into the next hole. New guys tend to think they have to move the shifter in one quick motion.
I taught my son to shift by letting him put his hand over my hand starting when he was 10 y.o. He could hear the rpm and feel the shift. Doing the same now with my daughter. Not going to be doing that with the dudes who work for me