Your average joe isn’t stealing my trucks. It’s hard enough to explain the little quirks on one of them so someone with skill can jump in it without problems. The other is a twin stick 4-4 so that’s too much for most people.

Did driving training one day while in the military and one of the vehicles was a manual 18-wheeler with no trailer. It was difficult to say the least, and I have decent experience with manual transmission vehicles.

I was raised on manual transmissions before I ever drove  automatic, but granted those were regular trucks and cars.

We get illegals here delivering steel that speak, like, five words of English.

Well, like said before, it depends.

The vast majority of the trucks on the road now are either auto shift or automatics. So that one’s pretty easy. The airbrakes is going to get everybody. And there’s going to be a lot of crashed shit because they don’t stop like a car, especially when loaded.

It takes a good long damn time to build air on some of these rigs depending on the truck. them dual piston air compressors were sweet though, Man I loved that truck.

A “Man”ual would be awesome a to watch get battlefield picked up.....lol. A non-power assist steering would even be funnier.  

Real question here is where are you going to find a truck that has enough diesel and def to matter? In a true everything went to hell situation the diesel tanks are probably going to get sucked dry. Then some one will try to dump gasoline or def in it to get it to go, and it’ll make it about a mile or two after the fuel system eats itself alive.

Is it hard? Well not really. But it’s not something you learn in five minutes either.

I predict the Freightliner fifth wheel plates will fuck the newbies the hardest.....lol..... that’s going to be a comical sight trying to see people unhook one of those damn things.

Delivery van or UPS truck would probably be your best bet. Assuming you could find keys or knew how to start that semi without keys and make it run, there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve keeping the triple axle Fontana flatbed from running over everything, or tipping anything over anything loaded doing something dumb.

But yes, anything is possible. If things are like that though, we’re probably going to have bigger problems than trying to get out of town. Trying to Lonewolf it and drive a semi out of town when you know nothing about them probably isn’t going to end all that well.

I've driven 2 of them with zero training. Took me a bit to figure out the switches, levers, etc but totally doable.

ETA: both were manuals, it wasn't pretty at first. Still kinda ugly after a few minutes but the omgwtfbbq moments didn't last long.

I jumped in my father in law's rig (old school toter, 1990's edition) and managed just fine. Never driven one or had any practical experience.

I'd think a modern auto would be a cakewalk if you're at all used to machinery.

Where are you going to drive this stolen vehicle to?

Don't push the clutch all the way in if using it to shift...it'll fuck up the trans brake quicker....only go half way


One night at work, I was tasked with backing a truck to the dock because no one else there could drive a manual. It was a 10-spd Pete with a 48' liftgate.   Never set foot in a tractor before.  It took me a couple minutes to figure out the lights (it was at night), because it was so dark I couldn't even see the steering wheel in front of me.  Driving it around the yard was a breeze though..and I have plenty of backing experience from driving the yard-dog and humping trailers for years...

Now, you put another splitter on the shifter, or add a second shifter through the floor, and I'd probably need to read the manual

This goes back th when I first got out of the Army but I was hitch-hiking home from Colorado to Massachusetts and got picked up by a Monfort driver that was burning out big time from whites.

He picked me up at the Fort Morgan, CO scales.

He asked me if I thought I could drive the rig and I said I figured I could. He got me started somewhere in Nebraska and after maybe 20 minutes training climbed into the sleeper and crashed out. When he came to we were just coming into Davenport, Iowa.

Needless to say I never took it off of the Interstate, though.

Still it was pretty cool driving a big rig and listening to Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen across two wesstern states. It was a long day IIRC.

You should check out her video crossing the Rockies in blizzard from a couple months back. Shelby is a working little woman. She'll get out there and chain up and drive that bastard in conditions I would be nervous as hell about.

This is the way to go, for sure. My 2016 KW glider has a pre E-Log Detroit 60 in it. Paper logs for the win. We’re local too, which helps. Driving according to what a computer says is safe is a bunch of bullshit. I stop when I’m tired and I keep the fuck on rolling when I’m not. Within legality, of course.
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Shit, this is Arfcom, where a ton of posters could hop in a plane and fly it no problem.

No big rig is going to outsmart us.

I’m pretty sure I could get one rolling eventually, but there would most likely be a bunch of filings in the transmission from all of the grinding.

Come on man I'm trying to invoke the copypasta. For the record I dont think truckers are fat and they are hard working dudes that work pretty long hours.

I never flew a plane until the day I took my test.

I’ve very briefly driven a 10 speed and have time driving a medium duty fuel tanker with a 4 speed with a 2 speed axle. Just for kicks I would like to learn to drive a twin stick.

Did driving training one day while in the military and one of the vehicles was a manual 18-wheeler with no trailer. It was difficult to say the least, and I have decent experience with manual transmission vehicles.

Yup.  Spatial reasoning is a universal language.

I don't even know what "shift in sync" means.  And my last manual was a Nissan.  And I was in my 20's

It's matching engine speed to road speed for a given gear. I'm pulling these speeds and rpms out of my ass, but say you're in a 10-speed cruising along at 55mph at 1800rpm in 9th gear. Let's say that, at 55mph in 10th, the engine would be sitting at 1300rpm. In order to go from 9th to 10th, you need to be at roughly 1300rpm. At 800rpm, you could pull that shifter towards 10th with your full body weight behind it, and all you'll accomplish is making a hellish grinding noise and possibly shearing the teeth right off the gear.


Anyway, to the OP's question, I had a long reply typed up that nobody would read, but I'll shorten it down to:

The average person can't hop in a truck and drive it, likely even with someone telling them what to do, but the average person is also stupid as hell. A mechanically inclined person with a foggy idea of the basics could probably do it. An automatic single axle day cab bobtailing (driving without a trailer) is just like driving a big pickup with super touchy brakes. A clutch pedal and/or trailer complicates things, but it's not an insurmountable obstacle. The parking brakes will not release with the air tanks under 30psi. The warning buzzer cuts off at around 70psi. I personally like to have 90+ if bobtailing and 100+ if hooked to a trailer before I even release the brakes and supply the trailer. If you need to build air quick, fast, and in a hurry, rev the engine up and hold it at 1500rpm or so and it'll build air up a little faster. If you're not in a hurry, air will build up a little slower at idle. In general, the longer the trailer, the easier it is to back up. Also, don't turn the trailer past 90 degrees, especially to the right.

What the hell kinda trucks are you guys driving? It takes my truck less than 120 seconds (as most should) to get up to air pressure.
I’m usually shifting between 1k rpm and 1,500rpm. Air brakes on a truck wouldn’t be the least biggest issue, I think a novice at stick or someone who hasn’t double clutched would struggle with that.

There are some dinosaurs in the fleet I drive that can take up to 5 minutes to build air. We also have some new (like a year old) trucks that hit the governor in like 30 seconds from startup which is nice.

I'm sitting in a dirt lot in the middle of nowhere after midnight waiting for a relay. Luckily, I'm in a pretty new truck where everything actually works. Its also an auto, which I love on open highways. Sooooo much better than shifting gears. They really are the wave of the future.

I think most of the general public would give up trying to drive the truck when it didn't move immediately not knowing about how the air works.

my sister did that with moms 65 mustang, except it promptly fired off and drove into the garage wall.

So was the truck on Duel.

That was my first thought.  Even if they know what the red and yellow buttons do would they know which one to use if bobtailing?  

Would most people know how to use the splitter?  If they don't know where the shift rpms are to float the gears would they be able to properly double clutch?  

Back in the middle ages that would bend the brake linkage. (Not the dark ages before spring brakes existed.)

LOL yeah, and if its like most rigs, youre gonna have to sit there and build air pressure before you can do anything else. But first of all, you've got to figure out how to start it. I don't know about the newer auto rigs but all the ones Ive ever been in had a series of things that had to be done to make them move. Then once moving you gotta learn how to shift, split, etc.....

I'd like to see someone try it.

I think most people that would try would struggle with how to release the brakes. Then shifting assuming it's manual.


Seems the industry is switching to autos nowadays, and while thats great for being stuck in traffic (I can't tell you how big my left leg got running in and out of dallas 2005/2006/2007 during all the road construction holding that clutch in.) it kinda sucks for anything else.


If they try to run off with a trailer, 20% success, without 60%.

And hemorrhoids

Always secure your load.

They aren't fat, they're powerlifters.

He is going to pull a tanker full of sand into the wasteland as a diversion for everyone else to flee of course.  Sadly his Cheaper Than Dirt floor sweepings 12 Gauge ammo will be mostly duds.

As long as you can pull into the passing lane uphill and drive a 1/2 mph faster the truck in front you to pass them, you'll be fine.