Is it better to push the clutch in when starting the truck?

Ehehehe all i can say is try to get a 1693 started when its 20 below not pushing the clutch. One of the rigs i learned on was a 1960s pete 359 and that thing was a PAIN to get started. Still sad i passed up buying it back then. But i was 19 and he wanted $7200. Big money for a brat.

I personally have and do do both. If its cold i hold it in via pure habit. But ive forgotten to do it a few times and its been fine in my 579. At this point with modern trucks it really doesnt matter.

 

Lot of the more modern oil is thinner than the old stuff we grew up with so yea a little difference in cold weather.

Bought an old farm tractor some years off a man, he said it was running when he last used it, but it set for a couple years. When he tried to start it with a new battery it just made a clunk sound, told me the engine was locked up.

I let it set till spring before I had time to fool with it. Pulled the starter and pried on the teeth of the flywheel with a bar, it rolled over slick as a gut. It was winter time when I bought it and cold as a well drillers… well you know. I drained over a quart of water out of the transmission lol… hard for the starter to turn that counter shaft when it’s frozen solid.

Folks can and will do as they feel comfortable with, and I’m comfortable with that as long as I don’t own it….

 

1693s - heat for two minutes and try it, if it fires go back to heat until it smoothes out. If not, heat again. It was acceptable to use ether after it was cranking. They needed good glow plugs, and good batteries. I believe most had series/parallel switches to start on 24 too.

 

Back in the “old days”, I would pull up on the compression release, hit the starter to get it turning over fast and then push the cable back down to get it to fire.
Kinda wish those were still around.

 

I've read plenty of horor stories about the Paccar freaking out leaving drivers sitting at guard shacks and fuel islands. I've driven several of the Detroit's who couldn't make up their mind if it wanted to skip shift 2 or 3 or 4 gears, then back down then back up. Going down hill they'd go into coast mode, then go into -oh ####- mode when it gained too much speed then downshift into a gear that almost redlines the engine. The 2016 and 2017 Mack mDrives I drove were a pain, no creep mode so backing a heavy load up an uneven area was a pain in the ###. When you went to accelorate there was a very very fine line to make it shifi normal. A little to low of throttle and it would lug and skip gears unnecessarily, a little too much throttle and it would launch and torque the frame like a tractor at a tractor pull. Never had any that were anywhere as smooth as me and my manual, and I guarantee that the clutches won't last anywhere as many miles as a manual.

 

It definitely takes a lot of practice to be smooth, no doubt. I rarely dock or back into a spot, so i don't always think about that.

 

Those were pretty neat. You could get your oil pressure up before it fired.

 

My 01 pete had an 18 speed autoshit with clutch originally. Was really nice when it worked good. Was a son of a gun when it didn't. There was a few times it slammed gears so hard I got out of the truck fully expecting to find parts on the ground

 

I've heard a newer truck do that. IIRC it was a swiftie. Drove along side him for a few miles. Watching for gears to fly out.