Floating Gears

Well........ since I am a student and I am being taught to float when going down through the gears, I decided to have a little chitt-chat with my trainer.

This is what he said..........

They were teaching students (at our school) to double clutch up and down, but many students were failing the driving portion of the DMV test because they missed a gear (couldn't find/get it in gear fast enough) when they were using the clutch.

They have found that the dmv testers are more patient and give more time to students who are trying to raise the rpm's and float down through the gears..... it isn't seen as "not finding the gear" (as with a clutch) it is just reported as "need to work on getting into lower gears faster." They may lose a point but they don't fail.

In addition, the trainers feel that they have had better luck teaching the floating down to new students BEFORE they have learned to use the clutch. Once they have learned to use the clutch it is much harder for the student to give it up and float.

After some thought......... and some trying the clutch to shift down....... I agree with my trainer. I am glad that I learned to float down before I was allowed to use the clutch........ now I am comfortable either way and I only have 10 hours of driving under my belt.

Now, I am going to put my two cents in on the effects on the clutch and transmission........... (aren't you excited)....

I was always taught that floating into gears was actually the best thing you could do for a transmission and a clutch........ if it is done correctly!

If you are spot on and and can shift gears exactly when you should.... there is no wear or tear or damage on any component.... I'm not sure I appreciate the saying "clutches are crutches" since I very often rely on one..... but I do get the point......... the clutch is there to HELP me get the gear.......... it really isn't required.

For me the most interesting part of this is that..... I drive an American Stock ("Okie Bowl") for amusement..... and when I am racing I often float my gears up, but I usually clutch down......... now I'm in a truck doing the exact opposite...... go figure....... heaven forbid anything transferred over to make my life easier!

 

Storyteller,

It seems to me, then, that the instructors needed some instruction themselves. Or he was feeding you a line. The location of the gears doesn't magically change when the clutch is depressed, and nobody in my class ( or the class following) had any trouble finding gears.

Not that it would have mattered - missing a gear isn't an offense to the Colorado DMV. If you miss it, back out, and pick the right gear (going up, hit the one you just left, going down, hit the next one down. Skipping gears is perfectly acceptable)

They don't even mind if you put the clutch to the floor and put a little polish on the gears.

Now, if I'd hit a curb or crossed over a white line...

 

The whole point is knowing what gear to be in any given time and taking care of the equipment. I'm sure you new drivers have never been in a KW cabover with cable linkage. Some of those you had to stand up almost to move the gear shift. I've been in alot of trucks and I've talked to the manufactures and they all say the same thing. If you can shift properly then you have no worries. And like I said before all it takes is one time under load to bang a gear and there goes a tooth off the tranny. Then the company will just say it was drivers abuse.

Any school that is too lazy to teach how to double clutch is not worth any of my money. Everyone needs to know how to operate the truck correctly and double clutching MIGHT be required. Once you know how to hit the hole every time without so much as a rub then you're ready to shift without the clutch.

It's like the hidden gear on a 13 speed. You can use that gear to pull a grade a little quicker but miss it and goodbye tranny. And no I will not say where that gear is.

 

Can't believe that a trainer or school would not want to teach new drivers how to double clutch. I totally agree that we should learn how to shift using the clutch before we try floating the gears. My first few years, I never floated gears and just used the clutch. Eventually, I ran into a different type transmission which caused me to start floating the gears because it worked easier.

Now, I have driven a fair amount of new tractors and have to usually hit the clutch a time or two through the gears because it might be too hard to force out of the hole into a higher one. Mechanics in the past have told me that its ok to float gears as long as you know what you are doing and don't grind them down.

Some trainers have egos because they have nothing better to do. They want to look like they are something special because you can't do what they can, even though they are supposed to have more experience than the person they are training. One of my previous bosses used to brag to the inexperienced drivers that he wanted his drivers to float the gears because that's the way he did it. Actually, he didn't have that much experience himself. You can NEVER go wrong using the clutch for shifting. Sure there's more wear and tear but its probably easier working on the clutch than tranny problems. If you know what you are doing with the clutch and treat it right, you will have less problems with that, too. Everything is relevant to how you treat your equipment.

 

I'm new to this so all I am going to say is that I am actually glad I have been given options.

We have only been driving for 2 weeks so I only have 10 hours in the truck and obviously I know very little.............

However, we were taught to double clutch on the way up and to float on the way down from the very first night. In addition we spent 3 hours out in the country just learning the low gears (1-4) and shifting skills before we went out around the city.....

Double clutching up is easy as can be......... and floating down is usually a breeze if I can just remember to start soon enough....... it sure takes a lot longer to stop a truck!

..... my biggest issue has been floating down to 4th - I don't know if all trucks are like ours but it usually seems that I am either going to fast and need 5th or I have slowed down to the point I need 3rd...... I have asked the truck if I can just pretend it doesn't have a 4th gear (and I think we could come to an agreement) but my instructor says I cannot enter contracts with my equipment until I have more experience.

During the last two nights of driving I have noticed that when I can't find a gear right away (double clutching up) I can usually look at my rpms and float it right in without an issue.......... the reverse has also worked...... when I have had trouble floating down I have been able to use the clutch to find the gear........ I feel much more confident knowing that I have options......

My concern with only knowing how to clutch or double clutch is that a clutch will allow you to put a vehicle into gear even when it is not the perfect time........ this can have several consequences...... whereas it is extremely difficult to get a vehicle to "float" into any gear it is not ready for.........

But what do I know?

I'm a newbie
I'm from California
I am not a man
looks like three strikes so I just might be out.........

 

Aw, only one strike, in my book. And it's correctable. Um. *easily* correctable

 

Man or woman it doesn't matter. You need to know how to use the clutch. You'll find out when you're pulling a hill under load and have to shift and miss a gear. But don't take our word for it after all what do we know?

 

All very true.You better #### well know how to use a clutch it for some reason you have a brainfart on a downhill while under a load....Floating will take on a whole new meaning for you.

And although I can float either direction about the same,I've always found it a bit easier to float while upshifting than downshifting.

 

Oh, yeah! Had to do that on my first training trip into the mountains. Being happy at 45mph in the right line, 4-ways on..come around a curve and there's a big honking trailer a couple hundred yards in front of me - going a LOT slower.. No way around him - too much traffic and I'm way slower than them anyway. So, downshift is the only option. Fortunately, didn't BF it - Got on th clutch, got on the go-juice, got from 9th to 7th in a zip-zap-zowie, smooth as silk. Possibly my best shift of the day, come to think of it.

Never got closer than 50 yards to that guy, either.

(a bit later, we left the Interstate and I got to do some 2-lane mountain driving. Oh, mama that was fun!)

 

That's the whole deal right there. You've got to know what gear to be in for the road speed. Before I retired I would do 5 to 6 loads a day in the city. That's alot of shifting if you use every hole. I skip gears because I think it's useless to use every gear when you don't have to. Like when you know you're coming to a stop. I would let the engine drop down to almost stall RPM's and then shift to the right gear. Of course loaded you've got to use the gears going up but never coming down.