Do you float gears or double clutch?

The way I taught myself to float gears instead of double clutching, was to first change over to single clutching on shifts. Then to realize that it still takes the same amout of time to shift as it did when double clutcthing....you have to wait a full second before you can shift into the next gear, whether you double clutch, single clutch, or no clutch at all. And the amount of time it takes you to double clutch is about a second....just the right amount of time needed to let the engine rpms fall.

You probably need to have at least 5,000 miles of driving before you are ready to try this....as you need to be very familiar with your gears, engine rpms, and road speed before you start this. On my 2nd job I did a lot of city driving and did way more shifting than I had ever done doing interstate driving, where you shift 9 times to get up to speed and then set the cruise for the next 3 or 4 hours. Just doing interstate driving you might need to have 20,000 miles of driving before you start this.

Once you start single clutching, you are halfway to floating the gears. You put the clutch in part way, pull the lever out of the gear and wait for the rpms to drop and then slide it into the next higher gear. You also learn not to jam the lever into gear, but to just "touch" the gear as you may have to wait a fraction of a second for it to go into gear. You won't hit the next perfect every time, so using a lighter touch allows you to "feel" when the gear is ready for the shift.

For new drivers on thing I found helpful was the following trick for matching ground speed to a specific gear for 10 speed trannies. It is quick and easy to use:

at 15 mph use 6th gear....you add the 1 and 5 to = 6.
at 25 mph use 7th gear....2 + 5 = 7 etc.
at 35 mph use 8th gear
at 45 mph use 9th gear
at 55 mph use 10th gear

 

i love these threads

 

These trucks have clutches?

 

I believe its called a start and stop pedal. lol

 

Yes yes. That's what I call it. I had to look up this "clutch" that many speak of.............

 

Take a job where you have to operate on unimproved surfaces. You'll learn about it real quick.

 

Back in 86 when I started, used the clutch for the first year. Now I float.

 

I ram it like it owes me money!

 

If you can't find it, grind it?? LOL