Floating without blipping throttle

I always bring the rpm up (blip the throttle) to match the next lower gear.
I run a 13 speed and rarely split the downshifts.
Jake down to 1,400rpm, slip it out of gear, swing it up to 1,900rpm, slip it into the next lower gear, repeat as needed.

 

Seems like you must be finding enough slack in the driveline to accommodate the difference in speed and doing it at low rpm decreases the difference in rpm as opposed to downshifting at higher rpm. I can’t imagine your getting much use out of the Jake at that rpm. I guess as long as it goes in and all the way to the detent before the slack takes up your probably not hurting it but almost have to be slipping some teeth which over time will wear the sliding clutches and forks as well as the internal teeth in the gears and eventually it will pop out of gear. The rate at which this happens will strongly related to how much force you apply and how far off of the perfect speed you are

 

Might work climbing a hill or on a flat spot because you are basically just waiting for your road speed to drop down to the same RPM but in the lower gear. But if you are going down hill at all you will never be able to down shift unless you bring the RPM up to match your road speed to your engine RPM in that gear.

 

Driving a manual has a rhythm. When jumping rope, you don’t watch the rope, you listen for it. As soon as you learn rhythm, you don’t miss. When hearing a speedbag, you hear a rhythm. Whether you hit the bag fast or slow, the rhythm is the same.

Floating goes by the same concept. In a big diesel, it’s much slower, BUT it’s the same. Go to YouTube and look for videos with shifting. Listen to the engine’s rpm and watch when the driver shifts. When it clicks in your mind, you can never forget.

Luck in battle.

 

You know, once you get the hang of it, you do it more by feel than anything...so all the timing, listening, watching the tach, etc. will soon be just trivial when you "get the knack".

 

My Dad taught me to drive a truck. In a truck without a working tachometer. It's done with feel and ear. To this day I have no idea what rpm I shift at.
And yes, every time I encounter an autoshift truck going through a lot, I keep repeating "shift moron. SHIFT!"

 

After over a year in an automatic truck I’m not sure if I’d go back to manual if I had the option. I finally have gotten fairly used to it, and even kind of like it.

Ok, now we can start the technical argument about how it isn’t really an automatic transmission. That’s what usually happens.