Floating the gears; not using clutch

My dad drove an old pete with a 4x4 and later changed to a 5x4. He pulled wolfcreek for many years. Could float both sticks in neutral and put them right back into gear, sometimes with a little help from the jakes.. He no doubt was a supertrucker. I could not hold a candle to his two stick performance.. But it was a sight to behold.

 

Clutch pedal is for starting and stopping

middle pedal is for holding you at a light/stop sign

right pedal, gears, and the jake switch should be the only things you need at any other time

 

People who make videos and brag they can float gears just shows their inexperience to driving a truck.

It’s not hard, heck I just assumed everyone knew how to do it.

 

That the way I thought, most everyone I know drives this way.

 

When I took my CDL test. I pulled out onto the highway and took off and the instructor kind of glared at me, so I said “what?”He said you’re not shifting right, you need to double clutch. I said sorry man I have no idea how, you mind showing me? He said sure,pull over and get out, so we switch seats and he drove for a mile or two, showed me what he wanted,parked on the shoulder. I hopped back in, passed the test. Last time I ever used the clutch except for 1st or reverse. I learned from riding with dad…

 

When I was in driving school they insisted we double-clutch. At the end of the day the instructor climbed into the seat to drive the truck back to the school and proceeded to float the gears. I asked him when he was gonna teach us how to shift without using the clutch. He made us all laugh when he replied "what clutch?"

 

I'm a Truck Red Simpson I'm a Truck - Google Search

 

Red Simpson I'm a Truck - Google Search Maybe

 

I apologize. I'm just not tech savvy enough to get it over here.

 

In 1986 when I was at R&L drilling we bought a brand new Red International S1900, DT466 / 5 / 2 spd, cost $29,000 for the cab & chassis.

The driver they put in it was notorious for holding the truck on a slight incline with the clutch, use to burn me up seeing him do that, especially since I was not only a driver and driller but done the mechanic work on them when needed. Every clutch I replaced after him being in the truck had a flywheel with obvious signs of being hot.

Also the same guy who drove a truck with the clutch dragging a little, just enough to keep the input shaft turning but not pull the truck with the clutch pedal down. Switching from 1st to reverse he always put it in neutral then ground the gears trying to get in reverse or 1st. I told him one time to leave it in gear and change gears when it stopped rolling to avoid grinding the gears, he couldn’t understand the concept of that.

Same guy known to haul insecure loads…