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How many gears does a semi truck have?
I was considering getting trained as a semi-truck driver, but I don’t know a lot about it. I’m assuming it’s very different than driving a normal truck. One thing I’d like to know: how many gears does a semi’s transmission have?
Patrick Price · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Typically, a semi-truck will have 10 gears—though some big rigs have up to 13 or even 15 gears. Regular cars, for context, usually have only five or six gears.
The transmission involved in operating a semi-truck, therefore, is significantly more complex than in a regular automobile. However, this shouldn’t deter you from pursuing a career as a truck driver—you won’t actually have to work the truck’s transmission.
For many years, semi-trucks were all manual transmission vehicles—as the complexity of their transmissions made designing automatic shifters for them difficult. While automatic semi-truck transmissions have existed since the 1950s, they did not become common until the early 2000s. Today, the vast majority of semi-trucks feature automatic transmissions—which greatly simplifies the job of a truck driver!
If you decide to go ahead with the training, then best of luck in your new career! In the meantime, don’t forget to use
Jerry
, the licensed insurance broker app
, to save money on car insurance for your personal-use vehicle! Using Jerry to find great deals and savings, helps drivers reduce the cost of their
car insurance
by an average of over $800 a year! View full answer
- Gregory R.
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