Any tips for learning to shift without clutch

Grandpa here, Kiddo. You wont have to ever worry in trucking to be called super trucker, because you aint going to be our here that long. probably already had a half dozen accidents already. No money.

 

That's like 1', 3', and 10' from the truck, right? And if you are around a curve you should just skip them because no one can see you anyway? Seems to be the industry standard.

 

Syncro's were developed specifically to allow shifting with the clutch, the syncro takes the burden instead of the gears. This was a move to make driving manual transmissions easier so more people could purchase cars back when there were no automatic transmissions. Syncro's will not last in commercial transmissions that have many more gears and daily shifts so they are not installed in commercial transmissions. If you want to know the entire history of transmission evolution in motor vehicles then I don't know where to send you, you could learn it by rebuilding some transmissions from all these era's like I did over the last 40 years but if you want to read it I don't where to find it all beyond the shop manuals.

Double clutching was a technique developed for drivers who could not master shifting, it was always a bandaid and was not something that most would admit to using; outside of cheesy country songs it was an embarrassing thing to have others know.

 

Both my father and my uncle were mechanics in addition to being drivers. They both worked on transmissions. They both claimed that not using the clutch while shifting wore a groove on the input shaft, so both recommended using the clutch while shifting.

I never found out what the big whoop was about wearing a groove in the input shaft was.

 

In answer to the original ? DON'T. Always release the clutch.

 

Could make it weaker and more prone to shock load... but only a poor or new driver has a risk of getting that.

 

My own takeaway from this discussion is, when not using clutch, just make sure that all shifts are buttery smooth and there is no serious gear grinding or truck shaking, and only pull the shift lever gently with fingers and not jam it into the next gear. This is what I am practicing now, being smooth with gear shifts. When shifting in risky places like intersections, I prefer still to double clutch.

 

Why do most transmission last over a million miles if they aren't "intended" to be shifted without the clutch

 

They aren't. Releasing the clutch takes the load off the gears. Can you shift without releasing the clutch yes you can. Is it a good idea, not really.

 

Because the clutch is what takes most of the damage, but few who use the clutch for shifting are getting a million miles out of the transmission either.

The clutch will last the life of the transmission if used as it was designed, if you can stand the bearing noise that is well north of a million miles.

You can add a lot of savings in rear ends and driveshafts as well, everything in the drive train benefits from shifting correctly.