On Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:38:58 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:47:21 -0600, Ignoramus465
wrote:

On 2012-02-07, Jim Stewart wrote:
I never had trouble taxiing - left brake = turn left, right brake =
turn right.

I had a horrible time getting my brain wired to that.

Which brings up a related question. For 17.5 years, I drove cars with
automatic transmission. This is what I learned to drive in the first
place.

Now that I have this semi tractor with non-synchronized manual
transmission, I have great troubles adjusting my brains to operate the
transmission.

I am used to just driving, thinking about stuff, and using the gas
pedal only.

I am wondering if operating a manual trans is a skill that can
actually be learned, given my age of 40 and my past conditioning of
driving auto trans.

Is there any hope or not?

i
It CAN be learned - even at 40. By some people. Some can NEVER
develop the co-ordination required - particularly for a "crash-box".

The clutch is only used for starting and disengaging under load.
Barely ever use it for shifting.

Ooooh...your synchro rings must have had a short life -- or you had a
near-perfect sense of relative speeds and timing.

Or you had a crash box with no synchro rings, and even better
coordination.

I had a racing, close-ratio crash box in my MG. Once I got it, it was
Ok. What I worried about was how much damage I did while learning to
do it.

It was much more difficult at road speeds than at racing speeds.

--
Ed Huntress