How hard is manual shift?

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

I fart in your general direction!

Now go away or I shall taunt you some more!

I love me some Monty!

 

oh ya.. that thing to the left.. "clutch" ya don't that for anything

 

No you don't...Not if you know how to really operate a transmission.

Yes they do...If you know how to operate the equipment.

If they're worn out...Otherwise, No.

So....My truck is 10 years old with 1.5 million miles on the clock, When will I need to start using the clutch?

 

usually the older a truck is--with wear it becomes easier to shift--you just kind of toss it either back or forward and it goes into gear by itself--unless you are a trying to be a rice burner boy with the double clutch and a slam shift

 

It's easier to shift than it used to be. Lets take a nostalgic stroll into antiquity...

Auxiliary in under, main in 1st, auxiliary to direct, auxiliary to over, main to 2nd and auxiliary to under, auxiliary to direct, auxiliary to over, main to 3rd and auxiliary to under.... you see where I'm going with this.....

Don't get caught with both in neutral, make the shifts "square" to avoid jamming the linkage, and shift the main first during compound shifts.

You won't learn how to shift by reading about it on the internet.

 

Easy on the new guy W9. His trainer was probably a newbie too. I wonder what the percentage of drivers out there that floats is nowadays? With such a high turn over rate valuable knowledge is being lost in the sea of newbies. I think this explains all the high beam flashing going on.

Kagetsu, you can drive a semi without a clutch just fine. No its not hard. The term for this is called "floating". Most experienced veterans only drive this way. It is so much easier and will save you from having to replace your left knee cap by age 45.

 

Anyone tells you you will never grind gears once you are used to them is lying! It all gets easier with time, but everyone grinds them every so often. Get pissed at the boss and the gears grind so much easier!! You willl learn your truck in a trip or two.

 

I will tell you straight up,I'm as good as they come,forwards or backwards
and I still tickle a hole a few times "A DAY" and be far from perfect.

 

My first Peterbilt 387 had 550,000 miles and the tranny was like butter... meaning I could float gears all day. It was actually easier to float rather than clutch.

My "new" 387 has 350,000 miles and I have a helluva time floating the gears since the newer tranny is so notchy and tight when shifting out of gear. I have just gone back to double clutching. Or sometimes I disengage the clutch to get it out of gear, let the clutch out after it's in neutral, and time it right to float my way into the next gear.

I drove manual transmissions in all my cars and trucks for 20 years before a began driving a truck, and the biggest hindrance learning to shift a non synchronious truck trans was remembering to not push the clutch all the way to the floor after the vehicle was rolling (thus engaging the clutch brake.) That habit too a few hours to rid myself of.

 

Sounds like a old Mack Dumper i had, Had to use both hands to shift it and there was no power steering. If i remember right, it was a 1967