Float or Clutch

how can they tell if you are coasting?

 

If your clutch brake works and you push the clutch all the way to the floor when you go to put it in gear just before you go...And if you know how to put it in gear without gear clash, It is not a problem to kick it out, Stop,Wait without sitting there with the clutch pushed in through the light and then pop it into gear and go'

We're not talkin' about passin' a test here, We're talkin' about drivin' a truck in the real world!

If you are going to pop it out of gear to coast up to a light that's probably about as far as you'll coast...

Which is what a lot of drivers do and that's why you see a lot of company trucks with no clutch brake.

 

If the engine is at a constant RPM (idle) while the vehicle speed is changing, it's pretty obvious that the vehicle is not in gear.

Anyone with working eyes and ears can tell.

 

Why not just drop it into first just before the truck stops moving, then push the clutch in 2 or 3 inches? I don't touch the clutch brake unless I have to. Even if its just to hold the gears stopped. When them #### things quit, they quit in a hurry.

 

Yeah, i know, i had a clutch go out a few weeks ago actually. Went from working perfectly to not feelin right to getting towed in 2 days..heh....It also had 340,000 on it, only the last 70,000 from me, and the trans felt sloppy as hell the whole time i had the truck...and the truck was totally trashed when i picked it up...so basically, some steering wheel holders were in that truck immediately before me..

People who just coast in neutral all the way from 10th just dont friggin know how to shift. drove with one of these super truckers for a while. "OH, 10 percent grade? PUT IT IN NEUTRAL!"

seriously though, i usually downshift just a couple of gears unless i think the light is going to turn green for me...usually without the clutch..

then clutch goes in and i stop. I don't usually use the clutch brake to stop the gears unless i've been idling and am now putting it in gear...

And sometimes i do pop it in first or third right before stopping...
One thing though, you have to double clutch every once in a while on some of these newer trucks, because of these "automatic clutch adjusters"...if you never use the clutch, you eventually find the clutch way out of adjustment, and most mechanics wont adjust em...

How? The clutch brake is on the input shaft. When you push the clutch in, the input shaft is disconnected from the driveline. Simple.

But uhhh, yaaaa, i know how to drive a truck. I'm not pushing the clutch in those extra 3 inches if i dont have to......never have, never will.... and i have over 150,000 miles in trucks..only lost one clutch.

 

Sorry to disagree...(heh heh no I'm not cause I do it all the time)...but there are no laws about coasting "down a hill"...the poster is correct, it is coasting period. In most states, if you are involved in an accident, and they can show you were coasting out of gear...then you were "driving out of control of your vehicle". Never, at any time, should you be coasting out of gear! Just because you think you can grab a gear, no matter what speed, you stand a good chance of selecting the wrong gear, then you are grabbing for another wasting time and possibly causing other traffic problems.

I agree with Dance...I use both methods depending on the load, the road conditions, and the traffic situation. Mostly 85% I am floating.

 

Absolutely correct...clutch coast to the stop...at the moment of actual stop, it will just slide right into the gear you want for starting out.

 

The input shaft is NOT disconnected from the transmission at any point in time. The clutch brake is firmly attached to the input shaft between the clutch and the transmission, right up in there behind that access panel. When you step on the clutch, the throwout bearing moves forward and pinches the clutch brake (firmly attached to the input shaft) to the rear of the clutch housing in order to stop the input shaft, which stops the gears in the transmission.

If the transmission is in gear and the wheels are turning, so is the input shaft...and the clutch brake. If you have the clutch pedal on the floor so that the clutch brake is engaged while the truck is rolling and in gear, you are essentially trying to stop the truck with that little clutch brake, and it will burn up the clutch brake (as well as wear through the throwout bearing and clutch housing) pretty quickly.

The only thing the clutch does is disconnect the input shaft from the engine. The transmission (when placed in neutral) disconnects the input shaft from the output shaft.

 

Float.. I hate having popeye left leg...lol..and bird right leg..lol.. but really..I was taught years ago...the clutch is for stopping, starting and backing up... other then that..leave it alone...

 

The shin bone's connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone's connected to the hip bone, the hip bone's.........

And I have a question about the last line of the quote....can you exchange input shaft with "swift driver"?, and output shaft with "Swift Driver Manager"????