Floating Gears

i float the gears all day long in my jeep, but when i started driving a tractor, my instructor warned me that if i did it wrong in there, that we could cause some serious tranny problems. so im not really as eager to try it in a tractor anymore..lol...i dont reant to mess up a tranny my first week on the job

but, where i went to school, Clark State, they never showed us floating on a clutch....mainly bc all they were trying to do was get us to pass the driving exam, where, if you dont use the clutch, its an automatic failure.

and when some one a few posts up mentioned missing a gear isnt a failure, that all depends where your at and how bad it is. where i took mine, if you couldnt find a gear and the truck was in neutral while the truck rolled a full truck length, that was also an automatic failure...our class took our exams at one of the more strict exam sites

 

I float all my upshifts and double clutch the downshifts. Floating on downshifts isn't as smooth for me so I've become accustomed to clutch them.

Earlier it was said floating takes longer than clutching. That's ridiculous. If it takes you longer to float than clutch then you surely haven't mastered the skill of floating. I contend that no one can double clutch in less time than I can float. My floats are always smooth with not so much as a click. The only exception would be when I forget that I have the jake on.

 

GasHauler,

I am the first to admit I have no real world experience with this and I am very willing to bow to experience........... (especially when it's the resident tanker yanker)

The only assertion I am willing to make at this time is that I am glad that I am being taught BOTH ways............. options are always good in my book.

 

I had no idea clutching and floating were such touchy topics around here..........

 

oh, yeah! Makes th' Johnson County War seem like a rumble at a 5-year-old's birthday party.


Nah - everybody does what he feels comfortable with, really. Then we abuse the other side because 1) we're better than they are, and 2) it's fun!

 

Ok I agree with you on that one. However, I think you should learn the ways in order so it will save you some headaches and problems.

 

The options comment.........
or the one about bowing to your experience?......

Actually, I meant both of them..................

Kinda didn't have a choice on that one............ I'm the one who had to insist on learning both ways after reading what you guys had to say.........

Sometimes you just have to make the best of the situation........ I'm just happy I am now getting to learn both......

 

When floating I just put a tad wee bit of pressure on that gear shift knob so when I let up on the fuel pedal (note I did not say gas pedal) the shifter moves slickly and cleanly right out of gear into neutral, then I let the revs drop towards idle and slickly and cleanly pop the lever into the next higher gear. The trick is in knowing your RPMs. I found that I could float easier in the lower range if I didn't accelerate too high in the RPM range before shifting. Like maybe 900 to 1000 RPM before popping the gear shift to neutral. Then by the time you get that lever to where it wants to be in the next higher slot the RPMs will be matched. In the high range I could take her all the way up to 1600 and then watch the spread drop to say 1000 to 1200 before that lever better be going in to the next higher gear. When climbing in the mountains, you better be quick on the lever cause your gonna lose vehicle speed quickly and then you'll be too slow for the next gear to pull.

Down shift in reverse. Gotta understand the RPMs. And if you wait to apply breakout pressure until you have lifted the fuel pedal, you'll be screwed and that horrible back and forth jerking will have begun.

BRI

 

I double clutch only when downshifting because to me its easier to find the gear and I have to clutch once anyway to get the thing out of gear. Upshifting I float all the time because there is no real chance I will miss a gear and I get up to speed faster. Just my two cents.

 

I found floating to be pretty easy on the upshift. I tried doing it on the downshift, and I had a little trouble with it. That was only a couple of times and was about 2 years ago. So, I decided to stick to double clutching when downshifting, and that works pretty well for me.