Early Saturday morning I piled the family into the van and we traveled about an hour to the Cleveland Ryder Location to pick up my 1995 Freightliner FLD 120. Man was it big! They had it sitting out front and ready to go. I signed the final paper work and I was handed the keys. The sales guy asked me if I had a CDL, ( Commercial Drivers License) lying I said yes and he asked if I had any questions, "No I am ready to go". I must add at this point that I have driven FL112 (12 speed auto shift) FL70 (6 speed Manuel) Mercedes (6 speed Manuel) C65(10 speed split shift) All where synchronized transmissions or in the case of the auto shift basically automatic other than starting & stopping. My new FLD 120 was a 10 speed fuller, not synchronized, and double clutching required. Well I never double clutched, had heard about it, but really did not know how to do it. Well a little grind in every gear and stopping & down shifting was a real mess. I actually had to stop on a major road to get it back into gear after trying to down shift. My wife who was following me figured the truck was breaking down everytime I had to stop to get it into gear. Lucky for me it was most highway driving back so only a little shifting was required. I was so frustrated by the time I got home, I figured the truck tranny was broken. Boy did I feel stupid when I finally figured out what I was doing wrong, and after a 2 hour drive I got pretty decent at up shifting. Down shifting is still a little rough, but a few more hours and I will be a old pro. My recommendation is get at least the concept down before your first drive.
