Originally Posted by Teal
Originally Posted by ldholton
How about a 9 speed ? Or 13, 15 ,18, 21 ???
Most youngsters can not that's why the trucking industry got automatic .. youngsters can not cut it ...

Actually - trucking moved to autos because they were recruiting drivers from older people looking for second careers. They found that people of advanced age had a harder time with the heavy clutch and double clutching on bad knees.

Anyway - that was the reasoning at the carrier I was working at when the autos started taking hold and we were buying 3800 new trucks every year to keep the fleet average at 3yrs.

NOW - I would state it's not because someone can't drive stick - as in unable to learn. It's because they never had to and training programs aren't revenue generating for carriers. Put them in an auto and not need to teach someone from zero how to drive a manual saves time and gets that trainee on the road, pulling loads sooner. Autos in class 8 have gotten a lot better but I still prefer to float a 10 or 13 speed if given the option.
Yes autos and class 8 have gotten better. Where did it this way for the original talking about old farts.. but who double clutches who has ever double clutch that really drives a truck? Yes I know the driver's test...
I find it interesting nowadays that a CDL test you can take it in an automatic truck but you will have a license restricted to automatic only.. we have a few youngsters that work for us that are this way on a CDL..