How often do you grind gears.... Realistically

Usually the more tired I am the worst the shifting gets.

 

I say it is like masturbation. There are those that do and those that lie about it. Some do it al lot, some only a couple times a month. The goal is just a rub or scratch. Light on the grip and let it slide in. True grind like dry rubbing will cause damage no matter how desperate you are to get it done.

That said I never have done either. I do not believe in lies as the Irish only embellish the story.

 

When I drove a CAT, I felt like the RPMs fell perfect and I rarely grinded gears. With the Paccar it was virtually identical. I ran a Detroit for a little bit and it took about 6 years for the RPMs to fall, couldn't get used to that so I had to shift with the jake on. Then I got into my current truck with a Cummins and I cannot find a gear to save my life. As soon as your foot comes off the throttle the RPMs fall lol I do better skipping gears but the truck doesn't have enough power at those low RPMs to make up for it. Coming out of a toll booth my truck sounds like a tambourine. Hardest part about getting into a different truck is the throttle response. If I can master that, I'm good to go.

 

I drive nothing but old stuff. Always had. My everyday driver has a RTO12513. Noisy. The older transmissions will clash, scratch, and bindup. They even have a habit of staying in gear when you pull the stick into neutral. Blip the throttle and it goes into nuetral for the next shift. Many oldrimers called it pulling the guts out. Nature of the beast for them. You have to wind them up higher rpm to get smoother. Gears are cut at different angles and pitches and tolarances have been changed. I did shift a newer 13 for 5 miles once in a ‘97 model and wow they’ve refined them a bunch mucho easier to shift and quiet. Lol!

I know plenty of guys that stirred the sticks on the old stuff from the beginning of time and grew into the new stuff. They are very smooth. They get back into an old truck and almost look like rookies again. Those older transmissions make you work harder no doubt.

 

Cummins traditionally have needed higher rpms for a shift. They return to idle real quick. Less than 7 secs from 2100 to 500 was the spec back in the “stock” mechinical pump days. Hot rod the pump and it could only take 3. You have to be fast.

 

The last time I ground a gear was the day I was born. Mom never did stop witching about the pain my already having a 13 speed gear shift in my hand when I popped out caused.

Or it might have been yesterday as I screamed at a jackwagon for deciding to slam his breaks 3 seconds in front of me in the slush coming down Snowcallme.

 

Learn to lift only as much as you need to, don't just take your foot off the throttle. I go back and forth between an old school Cat and a X15 Cummins.

 

I tried mastering that but gave up when I drove that Paccar. If you lifted your foot off the throttle to shift it either red lined or dropped to idle. I just keep my foot resting on the clutch pedal now to shut off the engine brake

 

Would be a funny way to do a quick personality test on a new hire.