Proper clutch use

I've had to "recover" a truck like that once (I use the term loosely since I was 18 and hadn't bothered to get my licence yet). Hydrovac truck had the clutch locked up. Driver had no clue what to do. Had to engage the PTO to pack up the boom, then drive the truck across the jobsite to dump the tank for him. Then I drove it up to the main road and left it for the wrecker. Truck shows up a few hours later on the hook. Yard is packed and the wrecker operator couldn't get the truck into the shop. I tell him to just drop it and I'll take care of it. He says he can't because the clutch is toast and he was told to put it in the bay. I say don't worry I got this. Once the wrecker is clear, I hop in the truck and drove it straight into the bay lol.

 

A little 'Slow Ride' by Foghat?

 

A little eye candy for you

I was the Tech Director for the last few years, before moving out of town.
Got to play *with * that organ, and often was in it or on top of it lol
I was there when it was built, and I was about 5...

 

I did have a freighliner COE that totally and absolutely failed the shifting. Im not sure what the issue was to this day but I can say that coming out of the brickyard watching the shop crew fight with it and kick it into motion back to the shop was a interesting trip. Last resort was to chain up and haul it...

 

I float all of my upshifts and typically float my downshifts, but sometimes I prefer clutching out of gear and floating back into it. Is this kind of a middle ground between floating and double clutching?

 

It is using the controls you have available to do the job in the best way.
It is a sign of a professional driver, someone who can make choices on the fly.

I wrote about it as the Start pedal, and that is generally how I drive, but there are plenty of times when the best way to get it out of gear is to stab the clutch, and then float it in. Or *GASP!* maybe even double clutch! (these usually happen when I am in traffic or whatever, and I have let the engine lug down, or I miss a shift or get lost, so the music dies, and the clutch helps me get back on key lol)

Drive the way you can do best, and use all the options you have as appropriate.

Oh, and I will even admit, it is better to be good at double clutching and stick with it, than to be bad at floating and stick with it with no improvement.

I have replaced/rebuilt some transmissions from drivers who got tired of me complaining about how often they burned through clutches, so they switched to "float" shifting and were hopeless at it... Told them to go back to using the clutch, and just planned on replacing them every year or so... lol
One of those trucks, we just cut a hole in the floor, ran a cherry picker in, and used it to lift and lower the tranny. Made it quick and easy to do a clutch job
(yes, we did try to train them better, but some people just need automatics! Lol)

 

@KillingTime - The rhythm (timing) is the exact same when you float. The way I learned was I was told to get rolling and then keep my left foot on the floor. Everything else is the same. I couldn't believe how much easier floating was. It's not an "advanced" skill, and there's no mystery to it. Play the same tune, but keep your left foot on the floor and it'll get easier with practice--just like that bass.

 

Like @MACK E-6 said - if you're rolling and you depress the clutch pedal all the way to the floor (engaging the clutch brake), the tiny brake pad in there is essentially trying to stop the whole truck. It'll fry real quick.

You should probably write that truck up and have the clutch brake replaced (the next one will last much longer!). And in the meantime, try to minimize the time the truck is running in neutral. Try to start it in any gear it'll go in with the clutch pedal depressed, and keep it in gear when you come to a stop. That'll minimize driveline damage from grinding and slamming it into gear over and over.

 

I failed to mention one particular truck, a old 9800 paystar, from like the 70's I think. That one stabbed me in the back one fine day, I stood it at the gas stop to get coffee, climbed in and released the brakes. Low gear loaded cement not far from Little Rock.

She would not take the low gear. Stirred that stick until I found it. CLACK! rocked harder to the one side, that should have been a red flag to not move without looking under the cab. But no. Gotta go, got a big mouth bully in the batch plant screaming where is that *&*^ cement. I hate bullys by the way, I tend to beat em up.

Anyhow. eased off... she wheeled on me catching like 8 feet of air cb radio lit up, snapped something int he rear axles. slammed down. I thought I was dead. Made it to the service road and another snap and the bogie axle started pouring a fatal content of thick oil from it's center. You tell me what it takes to snap the container of that center axle where the shaft goes in to meet the pinion or whatver it is in there. whew.

I threw interlock in and nursed it another 10 feet hoping but nope. It's fatal. Someone called in both hazmat and tow to gather it up and deliver the load. Whatever profits the plant had that day evaporated and the yelling started as if I was a 10 year old shifting or something. I asserted I did nothing wrong.

They fixed it. 3 weeks later. the following week the entire floor would fall over a foot down to the frame rails at 75 plus leaving my feet a few inches from the spinning shaft below the pedals and wondereing if dying will hurt when I get run over. And how to get out of that. I decided then and there I would never allow myself to run for such a crappy outfit again. And I should have known better. My last day there was overseeing a young 21 year old there in LIttle Rock driving that thing and unloading, he was doing it properly so I know it's time to quit that day and let him deal with it with three words of warning, that is hellbitch.