this is Michael Fox at CDL College in
Commerce City Colorado and I'd like to
show you a teaching tool that has
assisted our instructors with explaining
the basics of shifting a 10-speed
transmission to our students the tool is
a simple diagram of the 10-speed shift
pattern but we've added a few extras to
make learning how to shift a little bit
easier this diagram works for our
students because it's large enough to be
seen with a quick glance and it can be
taped velcro to the upper part of the
console we think it's safer for students
to glance at a large diagram near the
windshield than a tiny diagram on top of
the shifter so what I'd like to do is
tell you how to explain this diagram to
your students and for your convenience
I'll throw a version of the diagram up
on the right side of the screen so that
you can follow
along the first thing we show our
students is the width of the shift
pattern we do this because students
might assume that because the vehicle is
so large the shift pattern must also be
large so in neutral as you can see here
I'll push the shifter to the left hard
wall then I'll pull the shifter to the
right hard wall and show them that the
width is just 7 to 8 in that kind of
puts things into
perspective after that I'll Define the
terms hard walls and soft wall the two
outside walls are hard walls because the
shifter won't move any further to the
left or right once the student has
reached either of those
walls then I'll show them that locating
the soft wall is just a matter of easing
the shifter to the left from the right
hard
wall or allowing the spring to push the
shifter to the soft wall from the left
hard wall I'll stress that the soft wall
is easy to find when the student isn't
gripping the shifter too tightly a tight
grip is usually an indication that the
student is nervous that's just basic
body
language I then tell the student that
the walls are important because the
walls lead to certain gears the left
hard wall will help them find high and
low reverse and first and sixth
depending on the position of the
splitter the right hard wall will help
them locate fourth and Ninth and Fifth
and 10th depending on the position of
the splitter and the soft wall will take
them to Second and 7th or third and
eighth again depending on the position
of the
splitter lastly I'll demonstrate how the
spring can help them shift from 6 to 7
instead of 6 to 9th which is a common
mistake for new students so after
pushing the shifter forward to neutral
allow the spring to push the shifter to
the soft wall and then move the shifter
forward to seventh I use a side grip for
this demonstration and show them that
the spring pushes the shifter against my
hand which makes it easy to feel the
shifter stop at the soft wall our
students are not required to use a side
grip it's just a
suggestion so that's the quick
explanation of the 10-speed shifting
pattern diagram that we use in our road
trucks we find that it helps our
students quite a bit maybe you will too
thanks for watching have a good day