Manual transmissions

Mostly correct, but not in every situation. It is actually easy to drop a drive shaft. I was in a shop the other day and a mechanic was working on a Tractor where this happened. those trannys are tough. And they are very forgiving. However not always.

 

The driveshaft may have been a twisted up mess, but how was the transmission?

 

I'm not trying to be petty or difficult. The transmission is part of the drive train. yes if a drive shaft gets dropped the transmission mechanically should be OK. However just to let you know this. Someone can rip teeth off a transmission gear by improper shifting. You are correct that there is forgiveness. This topic has always reminded me of the main landing gear of the single engine Cessna's. More then once I have heard a pilot scream "thank god for spring loaded landing gear" after a hard landing. Some of which were so violent they set off the aircraft ELTs. Just because there is a margin of error in anything does not mean it's OK to live there.

 

We had a student in our class that twisted a brand new u-joint and dropped the drive shaft. He was backing a tractor across the the parking lot a bit too fast towards a trailer. He hit the brakes hard and did not put in the clutch. Bang. We all thought he hit the trailer, but he didnt.

That was our first day on the driving range and his last day in cdl school.

 

I completely disagree. My personal vehicle is a manual. I went to truck driving school recently and I had a lot of guys tell me the exact same thing you just said. But actually doing it I had no problems. It's pretty much exactly the same thing. There are a few differences, but nothing major.

 

Well then your journey was easier. Because I found it was different. Oh the mechanics of shifting and clutch use is similar, however getting things synced was not easy for me to master.

 

If you can't find em...

GRIND EM !

 

I learned to shift in an old split shift Mack truck. My father employed the FIST system.

 

Don’t even look at the tach. You don’t need it.

You just gotta learn, no matter what we tell you you’re still gonna grind gears.

Learn to double clutch even though you won’t really use it much. I use it starting on super steep hills that’s about it. As long as you can take the weight off the drive train by letting off the gas you don’t need a clutch.

 

A slight guidance on shafts. FFE started deliberately buying trucks where the shaft will fail at rated engine torque. If you tried to dig in and pull that dead weight stump tree of a trailer at a scales to slide tandem you run a chance of the shaft breaking. The theory is that you break the shaft like a fuse before you break something really expensive.

I prefer to have a shaft that wont break and if something else did (And has) broken oh well.... I have destroyed transmissions and rears before in my time. CRUNCH> BOOOM. and done.