Last Day Of School, My Uphill Take-offs Still Suck

There is a tiny difference between hydraulic (car) brakes and air brakes. When you release a truck's air brakes, there is a very short delay before they release. Still, don't mess around when you move from the brake to the accelerator, but you have enough time for the engine to get off the idle as Old School describes.

This might sound silly, but I know it's been suggested for shifting that you just practice at home: get some kind of stick for the shift lever and just sit in a chair and pretend. Maybe the same thing would work for you. Just doing it over and over might make it automatic, even if it's pretending.

Stick a plunger into the ground, and make little vroom vroom noises with your mouth. Visualize a hill. A very steep hill. Breathe. In, out. In, out. *takes deep breaths*

In an automatic transmission in your car, it stays engaged in the lowest gear while you have a foot on the brake. When you move your foot off the brake and step on the gas, there is very little or no rolling back when starting out on an incline.

You can simulate this experience by using your right hand to hold the truck with the trailer brakes, and using your left foot to slowly engage the clutch while preparing to accelerate with the right. This is just an exercise to understand the truck better, not a technique you'd use to pass an instructor's test. When you get the feel for how much rpm your truck needs to take off from a stop on an incline, you can transition to using the foot brake instead of the Johnny brake. There's a very fine line between stalling it or rolling back in that second of transition. I have used this technique a couple of times over the years in unusual situations, so it is a good thing to know, but it is not necessary for day to day incline work, like starting up an off ramp from a stop.

You can simulate this experience by using your right hand to hold the truck with the trailer brakes

Very few trucks have that brake lever anymore.

Well, every Cascadia I've been in has them, and that's like 90% of what's on the road, isn't it? :) They've just moved from a stick off the column to a lever on the dash.

None of our Cascadia have them.

Well, every Cascadia I've been in has them, and that's like 90% of what's on the road, isn't it? :) They've just moved from a stick off the column to a lever on the dash.

It has nothing to do with the brand of truck. The companies dictate what features a truck will have, and most companies will not put in a Johnny bar. They have limited usefulness and can cause a lot more problems than they solve, especially if used the wrong way.