Do you need to double clutch?

I cant figure out why a driver would need to double clutch when its so much easier to float the gears. I only use the clutch for starting off forward or reverse. I need to get it figured out how to double clutch because like you said a dream job could pass me up just because of not using the clutch. Seems like a clutch would last a whole lot longer if drivers just floated the gears.

 

What an absurd statement.

 

Well you know, it wasn't my idea, the absurdity of it.

 

This debate had been going on since I started over 40 years ago. To double clutch or not. Guess as long as there are trucks and drivers it will continue. The good and bad can be argued from Both sides with no one completely right or completely wrong. Some drivers double clutch exclusively , some don't , like some folks smoke and some don't , however neither is immune from lung cancer. To each his own I say , unless you're taking a road test , then ( IMHO ) it's a good idea to double clutch.

 

Because our industry is still predominantly made up of men.

I've run them in South Africa as well, where you'll find a mix of synchromesh and unsynchronized transmissions. Never really saw any benefit to it, other than making it easier to put a warm body in the seat, which companies looking to do this will probably turn an eye towards autos at this point.
One of our European forum members told us it was from a very real driver shortage which came about for them in the 70s, unlike our fabricated one which came about decades later.

 

Eaton Fuller says to double clutch their transmissions.

 

The latest one is making me slow down to upshift, of all things, clutch clutch no, clutch clutch slow, no, clutch clutch slower, oh, too slow, downshift, start over... whatever happened to progressive shifting? I think they've rethought that for me. Oddly though I slept on it and the next day it clicked, still I don't like it, they should stop screwing with how trucks shift, so I don't have to relearn what was second nature for each newer one.

 

Some companies may require you to use the clutch. It's best to be prepared for all the different ways to shift.

 

I'm more comfortable double clutching than floating it helps me with timing.

 

Ok just for fun, (real story) so im training a guy on a 8 speed (yea yea why so few) anyway he had only driven a strait 6, getting him used to the split exc.. his double clutching was waaaaay off. I tell him relax, hell float if ya wanna. He says float? I said yea, no clutch. I explained it to him. He started trying, doing ok, missing his revs. From taking to long to shift, then reving up insted of letting the revs fall, lose road speed and still going for a higher gear excc.. i tell him ok its like this (im in the pass seat) i say speed up, ok off the gas, (i grab the stick from the pass side pop into nut.) Ok a little rev, ok off the gas, (stick falls into gear like butter) he looked at me said how the ####? I said pissed ya off having me do that from here didnt it? He said yea. I said shift better and i wont have to. He got better quick.