On 2012-03-02, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus6107 wrote:

I have been practicing and driving my semi tractor almost every day
recently. Not much time every day, but I usually manage to find at
least some time every day. At my age and after 17 years of driving
auto transmission, the skills to drive a truck with an unsynchronized
manual transmission do not come easily, but I am making progress. I
can now shift up and down, and by now, it works well most of the time.

I will soon try to pass a theoretical exam to get a CDL learner's
permit.

i

I'd recommend tracking down one of the "rent our truck for your CDL
test" places that has a semi with one of the automatic (really
semi-automatic) transmissions for your road test. They will have the
proper insurance for everything and having the auto truck will make
things less stressful as well as giving you more points available to
potentially miss on the test and still pass. You can't grind gears (or
run over curbs) on the test, but once you have your license you can
grind the gears on your truck all you want (and everyone runs over curbs
it seems). The test truck rental places also know the test routes and
will guide you through the actual test route for practice before you
take the test. It's well worth the $500 or so they typically charge for
what is typically half a day of their truck and driver's time.

Pete, what are those semi-automatic transmissions, exactly?

I do agree with you, as a matter of fact, about renting something like
that.

i