Floating Gears

Yep me neither, the instructor told me to shift into neutral first, then flip the range select - now I can educate him.

 

10 Speed transmissions have always been set up to pre-select. Thirteen speed transmissions have not...In the earliest models of the thirteen speed transmission you could pre-select the low/high range but not the direct/overdrive selection. Most driver pre-selected anyway and eventually in the later incarnations of the thirteen speed transmission they redesigned it so you could pre-select without doing any damage. There are a lot of those old transmissions around today and most drivers still pre-select them without any clue that they are not shifting the high side of the box correctly.

 

I'm not a professional driver, not even 1/2 of one, but I am a mechanic and do understand how manual transmissions work. I also full-heartedly agree that floating does'nt make you experienced (thats what I was trying to say in my earlier post, just didn't convey my thoughts very well.). I appreciate your post, and will do my best to learn from everyones post's in this thread, as I soon will be trying to become a professional driver, and leave being a mechanic as a hobby again.

 

That's called shotgunning and it's really a sign of inexperience. I know when we all are loading and someone drives by and rev's the engine up while up shifting everyone turns and looks. You can do the two finger shifts when you do it right. There's no need to bring the RPM's up unless you are downshifting.

I also believe there's no need to run with the engine brake on all the time either. I do alot of city driving with a very large truck and the trick is to time your lights. When you have to stop just take it easy. Some will say the engine brake saves your brakes but I'm not one of them. I want my engine brake to work 100% when I need it going down the grades. I know Union 76 tried running the engine brake on all the time for awhile then change it to work with a switch. They just didn't gain anything from it.

Try to shift where it only takes two fingers to find the hole. You'll feel much better about your driving skills and you'll get a few smiles from the old hands. Then if you really want them to notice show them you know how to use progressive shifting. You can do it all it just takes time and practice in doing it. Better to break bad habits now than later.

 

I said a little throttle, read it again. Like resting your foot on the pedal to slow the drop in rpm. How do you even upshift by revving the engine? It's not possible.

I do do two finger shifts. Or one, lol.

 

There will be a certain drop in rpm when up shifting. Mine with a 18 sp with 355 gears is 400 rpm. I need to raise my rpms 400 to downshift with or without using the clutch. Watch your tach and find out how much your rpms drop between gears when upshifting and raise your rpms that much when downshifting.

 

It's easy, you pull the stick in neutral shotgun the pedal and then shift. Alot of new drivers do it because they're too slow in their shift. However what you're doing is too much to worry about. Know your speed and you engine RPM and you can make the shift without even thinking about it. After awhile you'll know by sound. Shifting should not be the major concern, when you're shifting every time with ease then your attention will be on all the other items that can get a truck in trouble. That's just plain old defensive driving.

 

I usually double-clutch, more out of habit than anything -- when I went through training, and more importantly my CDL exam, double-clutching was required. And I've kind of stuck with that.

I can float gears in a truck; it's not particularly hard. I just never got in the habit of doing it regularly.

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter much. If you're a reasonably skilled driver, you won't grind and the wear and tear is negligible. If you're a rookie or a student, odds are you will wear out a tranny pretty fast either way.

I know the first time I drove a truck, that poor tranny probably took more abuse in half an hour than it had in the previous half decade!

 

It is second nature to me, I don't have to think about it.

I'm trying to figure out this shotgun thing. So you're in 4th accelerating, you take it out to put it in 5th, floor the pedal, let off, and wait (and wait and wait and wait) for it to slow back down so you can get it....probably down to 3rd by that time.

 

I think hes saying you just blip the throttle when up shifting, not full throttle. such as your in 4th and you go into neutral, but your too slow with your shift, so by then you've lost RPM's, so you have to blip the throttle to get it back up to the high enough rpm to shift into 5th, atleast that's what I'm getting from what he's saying.