Are Rookies taught how to use a clutch brake anymore?

Typical response.

 

Brought my truck into our shop to have it serviced, The dimwiths that changed the oil decided to adjust my clutch also. Now have almost 2.5 inches of travel at the clutch pedal and little to no clutch brake. Slowly depress the pedal and wait a min or two and you might beable to get it into gear without grinding it.

Before adjustment I did not have to wait more then 30 seconds if that. I have to physically lift the clutch with my foot to get the cruise to work or the jakes to work.

I complained about it and all they did was put a heavy bungy strap ont he clutch linkage. That makes problems worse. I just quit using the clutch altogether unless I am starting out.

You usually don't need the clutch all the way to the floor when stopped at a light, but now my leg will start shaking because the clutch is so heavy to hold part way down.

 

If yer clutch brake don't work ya oughta check yer clutch brake fluid level!........................

 

I've wondered why nobody ever told me not to flip the range selector down when the truck is moving at speeds too high for low range, like when coming to a quick stop, not enough time to downshift through the gears. I did it once, and I heard a whine, started off kind of low pitch and worked it's way up to a "whirrRRRRRRR". I instantly realized it was some kind of synchro or something pre-rotating something in the hi/lo gearbox and it was probably EXTREMELY hard on it. So I never did it again. I'm not 100% certain that it's hard on something but it just SOUNDS like it is, so I don't do it no more.

I also figured out, on my own, with nobody ever telling me, to not hold the clutch all the way to the floor when the truck is moving, or the clutch brake will be trying to brake the entire truck. I figured that one out just by thinking about how it must work, while I was driving. Two shafts in a manual trans (I think) one of them is directly driven by the engine, post-clutch, and the other turns the drive shaft. If the truck is in gear, both shafts are forced to turn, even though the engine is idling and disconnected from the driveline by the disengaged clutch. The output shaft is always stopped if the truck is stopped, so the clutch brake MUST be only on the input shaft, which will be spinning whenever the engine is running and your foot is off the clutch. It's GOT to be a REALLY heavy shaft full of some mammoth gears, with lots of inertia. With no synchros to pre-rotate the gear shafts before they mesh, when you step on the clutch at a dead stop while idling in nuetral, that heavy shaft will continue to spin for probably a minute or two, unless somehow something stops it. Either by ramming it into gear, which can chip a gear tooth or just wear them down, or by some other method. That's when the clutch brake is needed. But if the truck is moving, in gear, both gear shafts are locked into each other and the clutch brake, which is only designed to brake a shaft full of gears that probably only weighs a couple hundred pounds, is now trying to stop the entire truck. Ain't gonna do nothing but burn it up.

Why the hell did I have to figure that out myself? What if I didn't have the inclination or the logic to figure that out on my own? How many clutch brakes would I have burnt up? Driving school instructor never even told me there WAS a clutch brake, and neither did my trainer at Covenant Transport. I figure it out several months later when I heard someone mention a clutch brake on the CB and I got to thinking.

 

we used to have this tractor that would grind really loud if you were rolling at any speed and you put it in neutral, and one of the mechanics actually told me its probably from people putting it in neutral, putting the range selector to the low side when the speed is too high for any of the gears on the low side

 

When you're done discussing clutch brakes... Could someone tell me why my muffler bearing would go out after only 10,000 miles?

 

Cuz you didn't grease it once a week like you're supposed to!

 

Is that covered under warranty?

 

Not without proper maintenance. He hasn't been getting it geased. Warranty won't touch it.

Just like warranty doesn't cover burned out turn signal bulbs if you don't keep the flasher fluid reservoir filled. Geez. Don't you guys know anything?

 

I've searched and searched and even asked at the fuel desk at a few places, I can't find blinker fluid anywhere. Where am I supposed to get some? My reservior is probably getting low and I don't want to run out.