Floating 6 speed

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Goodguy88, Jun 28, 2018.

  1. ChaoSS

    ChaoSS Road Train Member

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    Has nothing to do with the transmission and everything to do with the engine and how it's set up.

    A transmission can shift at any speed, it's an issue if whether there motor can properly match the rpms to the transmission speed and where it has power.
     
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  3. bigmotor1212

    bigmotor1212 Light Load Member

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    I've floated quite a few synchronized transmissions, over thirty years, never had any related failure. Now I have broken quite a few shafts over the years, but those were all well in gear at the time.
     
  4. Cam Roberts

    Cam Roberts Road Train Member

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    Sounds like he’s talking about Eaton’s synchro 6. That is one garbage pos transmission. No you can’t float them. You mess them up when you do that. But what’s the difference anyway, it’s already probably trashed and the sunchros are all gone. They don’t float well at all even when synchros are gone. Years ago I drive one a few times. It wouldn’t shift smooth no matter what you did
     
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  5. Dino soar

    Dino soar Road Train Member

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    Here's an answer that's not very technical, but I believe to be accurate nonetheless.

    If you have driven 10 speeds and 13 speeds then my advice to you would be to try to shift the 6-speed and if it does not shift the same way that the 10 speed or the 13 speed shift then use the clutch.

    Just because you CAN pull it out of gear and get it back in without the clutch does not mean you should do that. I can shift my car and my pickup truck without the clutch but I use the clutch because it's definitely a different situation then the tractor trailer.

    I guess another way to say it is that if you can't "feel the gears" as you shift, use the clutch. Medium-duty transmissions and light-duty Transmissions just are not the same as a twin countershaft Road Ranger.
     
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  6. Cam Roberts

    Cam Roberts Road Train Member

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    Why would you float a synchronized transmission that you didn’t pay for? You don’t know the transmission life span after you dogged it while in your hands. You are just saying you didn’t break it while you drove it. How many trucks did you dog over 30 years. Second of all, in 30 years why you driving so many sunchro transmission trucks? Most truckers I know only have driven maybe one or 2 synchro trucks.You beat on someone else’s trans. This is why you can’t trustbpeople driving your truck. They drive them the wrong way and beat on them. You cannot float shift a synchro trans. Why you breaking shafts too. You sound hard on people’s equipment.
     
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  7. bigmotor1212

    bigmotor1212 Light Load Member

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    I don't really have any patience for you, as I'm not accountable to you. You worry about you, and I'll worry about me. I'm very confident in my mechanical background, so I'll do as I see fit. And by the way, it's company policy at every trucking company, of any size, I've ever heard of has the policy to double clutch. So if you've ever floated the gears on a company truck, you're seeping hypocrite.
     
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  8. Woodchuck88

    Woodchuck88 Medium Load Member

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    I just had this argument with a guy at work. He told me he drives our synchronized 6 speed all day with out the clutch. I told him he’s an idiot.
     
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  9. Dumdriver

    Dumdriver Road Train Member

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    And I would agree with you in this situation!

    Do NOT float a synchronized transmission!!! There’s no benefit to it, and it will kill the tranny. Not even sure why anyone would want to float a synchronized tranny, but what do I know? I’m just a DumDriver!
    ;-)
     
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  10. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Maybe a owner will be smarter to simply put some automatic allisons on there and be done with it.

    Some of those smaller trucks for specific work can be destroyed if it is a syncronized box and here you are floating the thing.

    The RPM ranges are so large there isnt any benefit to floating. Man up and use that clutch. That's what is there for. Don't like it? Find a automatic truck and have done with this whole problem.
     
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  11. Dino soar

    Dino soar Road Train Member

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    I don't know if it's the same transmission or not but I drove one in a medium duty Freightliner, an fl 80 I think.

    Honestly I didn't like the transmission at all compared to regular tractor-trailer Transmissions, but you definitely should use the clutch if it's that type of a transmission.

    I liked the regular 5 speed with a two speed rear way better than that 6-speed. Really lousy transmission as far as I go.

    But nothing is better than the old Transmissions like the rto series. Those older Transmissions you could feel every tooth of the gears mesh together perfectly.

    The newer Transmissions I understand they cut the gears differently and it makes the shift much less precise and you can't really feel the gears as well.

    Just one more way older seems better than newer.

    I guess that's why I'm the DINO SOAR.
     
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