Getting to know your manual transmission

Class 8 and some class7 trucks have dual disc clutches and non syncronized gears
So the clutch plates and trans input won't stop rotating on ther own when the clutch is disengaged. that is why it grinds when you just push in the pedal and pop it in gear. these trucks have an input shaft brake (commonly called a clutch brake) this brake is engaged when the clutch pedal is fully depressed. when the truck is NOT moving and you fully depress the clutch pedal you should be able to EASE the shifter into the desired position. If it doesn't slip in easily ease the pedal up about an inch and it should go in. As stated above when going from forward to reverse depress the clutch about 3/4 of the way to the floor, thus disengsging the clutch but not engaging the input shaft(clutch) brake, wait for the truck to come to a COMPLETE stop. then move the shifter from its current forward gear across neutral into reverse. (nice and smooth no grinding) use same proceedure for the opposite (rev to for.) If you double clutch when you shift only push the pedal in 3/4 of the way to avoid input shaft(clutch)brake wear. When you move the shifter move it like you have a rotten egg between your hand and the shifter (gentle) treat the trans nice it will treat you nice. And a nice clean shift impresses prospective employers. Even if your stuck with a bottom feeder for a while treat the truck like it's a new 389 that you just spent years of your savings on. Good drivers move up, hacks run junk.

 

Just to ad to this DO NOT SIT WITH THE CLUTCH PEDAL FULLY PRESSED DOWN. Once in gear bring the clutch pedal back up to apx 3/4 othewise you are burning up the clutch break

 

How so? when you are in gear and stopped, the input shaft isn't turning therefore no wear on clutch brake.

 

I'm no mechanic but my guess is because the flywheel is still spinning? That's just what I was told many years ago and have live by this and have never had a clutch break wear out before a clutch

 

I am a former mechanic (customers are a PITA and I didn't want to deal with it anymore), and will do my best to help ya. You are partially right, if you are in any way creeping along or rolling to a stop, or rolling at all, with the pedal all the way down, you are burning it up. If you are ABSOLUTELY stopped and in gear, the flywheel is spinning, but the clutch disks (which is what the clutch brake stops) are not. Hope that helps.

 

I have a good one, Today, I was feeling a strange vibe on the Left side Most in 2nd 3rd 6th 7th and 8th. I thought that it felt kinda like a small chain was rattling.... after calling one of my Trucker friends and having him tell me that he thought it was the Gate to keep you from going into Reverse. Later I looked down into the boot and had a plastic container with Gum Balls up against the left side of my stick! Boy did I feel like a fool. LOL They were rattling when the stick was pressed against them.

 

You should clean your truck once in a while....

 

I am still new, with in my first year but I am proud of my shifting. When I was in school I noticed how easy the instructors shifted... it was effortlessly. One of the instructors only ever used three fingers on the stick. Of course, us students were not the cool yet, or should I say good. Anyway, I was very forunate because the other two guys I was in school with were very opposite, one always tried to muscle in the gears, he was heavy footed too, so he would rev up the rpms and grind until it went in... of course the instructors would get very annoyed and try to teach him. The other guy would bounce the stick, which as you know is also not very effective and annoyed the instructors as well, and they would work with him. I chose the miiddle of the two and was able to get pretty good.
The last week of school I was lucky, because I was far ahead of the class and so I got extra time one on with with the instructor for a couple days while the guys caught up. I got to learn how to float gears, and I even got the three fingr shifting down.

Now, I am really having fun cause I am flatbedding and we drive a Pete. Awesome truck and I am proud of how well I am progressing. Plus, it would just be embarrassing grinding gears in such a nice truck, not to mention it is the owner of the truck training me.