Proper clutch use

I either can't, or don't feel comfortable enough to float.... In 11 months I've done it like 4 times. There's something about clutching and keeping rhythm - clutch out of gear; clutch into gear (up); clutch out of gear, rev, clutch into gear (down) - that keeps me in tune with the rig..... I also play bass, so keeping rhythm, across the spectrum is key for me... Music is big for me, and the rig sings a song I'm keen to when it's running, and I'm running it, properly... on the other hand I know when I'm out of tune.

Probably sounds a little screwy, but there's an undercurrent, a human chord that's inherent to most of what we do... So much of my driving is based on sound. I grant sight is the most important sense, but sound comes tied to a reverberation attached to your being... to be tied to the rig and run it right, you hear it and feel it.

An example, as an aside: I had to do a simulator test recently - did not do all that well, particularly in the shifting dept. This, mainly because the auditory component of the sim was muted (the instructor said the room acoustics were bad and speakers were misplaced / not sufficient). There's a sound and a feel that are coupled.... for myself, if I couldn't hear - I don't know if I could drive properly.

My clutch, 150k Freightliner, is still stiff as the day I got it assigned (61k). Feathering is great, use it all the time in heavy stop/start traffic and while backing. Try not to 'panic stop' and I'm sure your clutch will last what these other guys suggest - 500k+.

 

When you get a clutch replaced , get your flywheel resurfaced get your rear main replaced and get a top dollar clutch and brake .
Not a time to be cheap.

 

Im happy that your rig is not a bean can.

I have not had the pleasure of running a nice rig that many miles on it. Ive only had 4 rigs to drive that were a million plus and all of them were bean cans, a total... mule for dollars rather than maintaince and upkeep. It's a product of running for some very shady outfits back in the day who did not give a #### for the shop or quality care.

Interestingly enough that experience has caused me to learn how to ######rig a 18 wheeler running poorly or not at all to kick it in the arse and get it moving again on a prayer, shoestring and a bit of duct tape. Or stripping a bic pen to make a splice in the airline. Things like that. Basically I was the shop.

That came in handy later in my time. I'll refer to those 4 trucks as bean cans thankyou very much. But I will not want to have anyone with nice well kept equiptment to think Im trying to insult them too by calling those bean cans as well. I would literally not know.

My love for old iron includes trucks with very high miles, but they have been painstakenly kept to original factory spec, are tight in the frame, suspension and steering within reason and not bean cans. Do you understand? I drove a 57 or 58 white (Somewhere around that year) two axle cab in school that was perfect in steering, not much cab room and transmission was johhny on the spot. But for what it was it's a joy learning to dock with it.

Im not here to cause trouble, there is enough of that already just being alive in this industry as it was.

 

I agree with the sound and feel of the truck song lol
I am a sound guy, and bass is one of my favorite instruments to work with.

Think of float shifting like finding the right harmony with the lead guitar.
You may be playing a different riff, and in a different key, but you can find that harmony because you know how the music works.

So learn to beat match the transmission, and you will find a new and beautiful rhythm and tune.

I use the throttle to keep the rhythm, where you use the clutch.

Throttle on, release to shift, click out when beat (torque) matches, pause 2 beats in neutral, click into next gear, throttle on.

Same tune the other way, but add a kick to the throttle while in neutral.

 

I don't think in terms of music, even though I push big pipe organ now and then butchering old tunes that no one cares to hear these days.

Anyhow... For me I found that my own heartbeat was a good time keeper for floating. click click click apply power. Next gear up or down and in the timing. click click ... RRRRPPPT ops. back to old gear kicker in and try again.

 

Things I do to preserve mine--

With truck shut off, start truck and slip into LO gear with clutch depressed the minimum amount.

If truck is running, depress clutch to the clutch brake, (truck dead stopped) and gently try to put it into 4th(13speed) or 5th(10speed) gear, as it is almost about to slip in, slide it over to LO gear.

Anytime truck is in motion, foot is off the clutch pedal. Exception to this is a tight backing situation where I 'feather' the clutch to slow things down.

My clutch finally went out and I floated from Albuquerque NM all the way back to Stockton CA. I mean it was so bad I couldn't stop in gear with the truck running and couldn't put it in gear with the truck running. It went 808,000 miles doing it my way, no regrets.

 

It's always miffed me that the old saying goes 'find the harmony to lifes melody'... but rhythm is neglected... rhythm is what holds it all together!
I'll consider modifying my song, Ke6. See if we fall into a new groove.

I'm a metal guy, so I'm doing double-time, X1... 130-150bpm (beats per min) - and that's usually what messes me up: moving too fast. Knowing this, when I settle my ### down, I'm generally much more proficient at banging gears.

 

A couple of places I worked at, they sent me to retrieve trucks where the clutch wouldn't disengage... It is fun trying to drive through city traffic without a clutch! Lol

When I was 19 I started driving a 24' straight truck, Volvo FE with a 9 speed, for a big commercial laundry. We were in a little college town on the top of a 1,600 foot hill above the Napa Valley, and I often did the night run out to 101, and up to the hospitals up in Ukiah, Willits and out to Fort Bragg on the coast.
I got to where I could go the 2 hour drive from the plant to Ukiah, through several stop signs in downtown main street intersections, and twisty hilly canyons, and only use the clutch and brake once. (at the bottom of our hill, since I was still going downhill, I had to actually stop)

For the other stop signs, they were on slight uphills, and so I would coast and exhaust brake down to 1st, and then just before I got to the line at idle, I would just blip the throttle, and the drive train had enough slack and windup, that the truck would come to a full stop, then spring forward. I did it at least once with the local PD that liked to sit and watch that intersection...

Anyway, yes, being able to float shift is a good way to get out of a jam sometimes! Lol

 

Classic rock would be your friend then lol.

Whenever I would actually get out and drive on a rare occaision I too would think in terms of music. Its like a song and dance. First get yourself in tune with the truck, then you coordinate your feet and shifting arm to the rhythm.

 

Since I am a sound guy, not a musician, I don't always use the same terminology lol

What I was trying to say included the rhythm as well as the tune.
You may be different on both, but yet matching musically.

I don't do metal, and only sometimes Dance or other fast beat music, but shifting too fast is still the most likely way for me to mess up lol
So just find the Count that works for you, whether a 3 count like some of us, or a 15 count for you!