Floating Gears

I guess your"training engineer" 'splained that to ya.

 

They do - it's called a clutch.

 

Interesting. I'm also currently a student (done 2 weeks of incab so far, and I do my road test next wednesday), and we're being taught to double clutch up, but single clutch out and "feel it in" when downshifting.

My trainer, though, has already showed me how to float it out, and I gotta say, as soon as I've got my license I can already tell this is what I'll be doing most of the time (barring company policy to the contrary). Yes, I'm lazy to be sure, but in my experimentation with it so far, I've done a LOT less grinding that way.


My biggest issue with shifting at this point is feeling the stick into a gear gently, without the grind. But the other guy in my truck is even scarier than me, so I consider myself to be doing amazingly well for a guy with two weeks' experience at the wheel. :>

 

You know what. This is being pulled both ways so hard that I'm gonna try and contact one of the manufactures and ask them one on one what they think about it to the actual design. I don't know about clutching be a "company policy" as they wouldn't know if you were using the clutch or not. They aren't in the truck with you when your solo.

 

Not a bad idea. Let us know what they say?

As for not being there, no.. but if (when) the tranny goes *thud*, they'll probably be able to tell - if from no other sign than the clutch appears brand new after 100K miles

 

All you have to do is read your owner's manual. I am a relatively new driver. When I got in my own truck I started floating. Then, so I wouldn't lose my double clutching skills I would alternate. I even did the hybrid shift. Now, I almost exclusively, double shift, only occaisionaly floating just to be sure I can.

 

100k is just a warm up on a truck anyway.

This is one of those deals where the way things where done 20 or 30 years ago is not the way they are done today. The technology, the trucks, the warranties, and the times have changed. Now toss in a healthy dose of personal opinion and you get the three schools of thought that your seeing here. Floaters, Double Clutches, and Hybrid.

Whats the correct way? I don't know TBH. I do know that in my grandfathers day a driver that was caught double clutching or running the jake on flat ground for that matter. Would be called in and handed his final pay check. This was even up until about 15 years ago, called needless wear and tear.

But yet at the first of the year when I took a driving test for the outfit that I'm with now I had to double clutch. When the guy told me that after I started out I honestly thought he was joking with me. I even said look I wasn't taught that way by gramps. His reply was simple "Look I don't care what you do when your out in your truck anything that happens is on you. But because of the warranties on these trucks its company policy to double clutch them. And you have to show me that you can do it during this test." Well I faked it by simply using the free play in the clutch while floating.

I look at it this way if your getting it in gear without grinding or banging it then "Dats guda enuff!"

 

This link will take you to Eaton Fuller literature center. Scroll down the page to any transmission you choose and pick the driver instructions. They all say that you should double clutch when shifting the stick.

http://www.roadranger.com/Roadrange...s/index.htm?&pt=OW_GL_RR&target=1162919212404

 

For the most part,I double clutch a 5x4 ,but any other tranny,I float and I may just be lucky,but I've never had any tranny trouble.I even float the 5 spd in my Dually if I'm not in a bind.As Forrest said"That's all I got to say about that there".

 

What Danc says is very true. If you don't "Know How" to float gears, you'll tend to break things...like transmissions.

Likewise, if you're loaded heavy...like I am everytime I get a load on my trailer..."Floating gears" is an art as well as an acquired skill.

I float gears on upshift and downshift (most of the time). It's dependent on where I am and the terrain...just like Danc says.

Transmissions themselves also tend to dictate the necessity for clutch or not. You'll find out which are "Friendly" and which aren't.