Can any pros give me some advice on shifting?

When I was at Trican all the new guys said they had to double clutch on their road test and then I had to break them out of the habit when they got back to the shop.

 

ontario requires double cluth the entire test or you fail

 

Got my class 1 back in 2002, learned to float'em from family and friends. Was never taught to double-clutch or ever done it. Took my test with the examiner and asked him " do i need double clutch or float'em?" he said "however you want to drive for your test." So I did the test how I was taught by others and whizzed it. This was back in Provost. Do all these driving schools teach Double-Clutching?

 

when you depress the clutch it should not go any lower than the brake pedal. You just touch it, the shifter will slide into neutral, touch it again and drops into gear. Its a timing thing, Same as floating.

Yhink of it as a assistant to help you float your shift

 

This is what I used to tell my students years ago. Up shift. Say to yourself (clutch it out clutch it in) Out is neutral.---- Down shift (clutch it out rev it up clutch it in). Remember OUT is neutral. This should work for you.

 

The purpose of 'double clutching' is to break the torque between the engine and the tranny. That is: to break the torque while leaving a gear, and to break the torque coming into the next gear. This was especially important in the days prior to non-synchronized trannies. Does that statement age me a bit ? The purpose of double clutching still holds true today, even thoo modern, manual, big truck trannies are a lot easier to shift then the old ones. Does this make sense ?

FYI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_clutch

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101011133632AA4jqzG

 

Pressure pop pop

 

Proggresive shifting also helps. it keeps the gears closer together at the bottom, when you loose momentum faster, ie 1st to 2nd shift at 1100- 2 to 3 1150- 3 to 4 1200 , the load on the engine also effects the speed that the revs drop on up shift. You only need to push the clutch pedal in about 2 inches past free travel. pushing it to the floor engages the input shaft brake and really messes you up and causes lots of wear. A gentle hand on the shifter also helps, try gripping with just your finger tips, not your palm.