Clutchless Shifting

The old school west coast log haulers I know would have pulled you out of their truck,beat the crap outta ya and made you walk home for "jake shifting."

 

One thing for the newbees to remember, if you're doing a road test with a potential employer, I would ALWAYS double clutch.
Some companies frown on floating the gears, and if they see you doing it from the getgo, you might be looking elsewhere for employment.

Been there, done that.....

 

True. I have yet to understand why.(if you can float correctly) The weak link is the clutch, so the less you use the clutch........

 

If you aint good enough to do it, you shouldn't try it. My Dad started driving before Jake brakes were invented, hell before spring brakes were invented. I think I'll stand on what he taught me.

 

You don't even have to be good at it to do it. I hear Drivers do it all the time. Why? I'll keep my opinion to myself. The reply to your post wasn't my opinion, I called an Old Timer and asked what he would have done had a driver did that to his logging truck.

 

Bottom line is what works for you and the given situation. Heavy load, steep grade, you have alot to loose to be macho. When you pull a trans down and go thru it you can see which ones the drivers were floating, The edges of all the gears will be worn and sharp. Floating if you own the truck will eventully cost you gears because of wear.

I do float at lot of the time, depends on what the truck feels like it wants. I suppose load, grade, road condition all play in to it

 

I think people who shift using the Jake are Mesicans (Thats what the Mesicans used to do with those 4 X 4s) It is really hard on a crank and cam. I drove 2 million miles and never used a clutch except to start out. One can put it in low gear on a 5 X 4 and creep along til a light changes. I agree the clutch and Transmisssion companies want you to believe you cant possibly do it any other way. I've driven trucks with over 2 million miles on them and no one ever used the clutch, probably would've got fired for it. If you used the clutch on a 5 X 3 B Mack you'd have to stop on the side of the road and restart cuz it would never go back in gear. I drove a real truck, fire out the stack, black smoke like a coal train, 150 degrees in the summer and 30 in the winter on a warm day. Been in all 50 states and seen about everything, police chases, naked women, FAST trucks and white pills.

 

Depends on who you ask. I float 'em all and never had the results some claim will happen.

 

1. If you want to keep your opinion to yourself, don't share it with me.

2. If you want to pull however many miles of whatever percent grade in whichever gear you started out in you are free to do so. Just have the courtesy to pull over for the guys that can shift to higher gear.