Shiftin' Question

Weird. My school taught us to float. I took my test floating. Even though I can do both, floating is just easier to me personally. To each his own.

 

Ok after 30 yrs floating is the only way to go bad knees also 300 rpm drop average kitty power

 

If you float properly, there is absolutely no grinding at all.

 

You are correct. It SHOULD float right in if you're doing it right.

Many drivers aren't.

I double clutched the whole time I was driving. It's how I learned, it's what I'm comfortable with, and I can do it well. It's what works for me.

Find what works for you, and do it correctly.

But starting from your CDL permit, you have to learn to double clutch first, OP.

 

N if you do heavy haul...you will quickly see double clutching is not possible alot of the time. The rpm drop when climbing a grade is so quick that there is no time to play around double clutching

 

That's total Horse ####. I've been driving over 35 years and have NEVER used the clutch except to take off and stop. I driven just about every type of transmission out there and have NEVER hurt a transmission or a clutch. We have a new breed of steering wheel holding imbeciles out here driving that are too stupid to figure out how to match the engine speed with the wheel speed to get the truck the truck into the next gear without grinding the teeth off so a bunch of non driving trucking executives decided that everybody needs to use the clutch. The same people that decided we need to stop for ten hours and have to do all our driving within a 14 hour window.

 

Here's my source:

 

I call BS. State CDL testing requires the driver to double clutch. If your state is different, please cite your source.

 

@windsmith, you are right that tranny manufacturers encourage clutching during shifts. The reason for that is that improperly floating gears can lead to snap loads that damage gears.

However, a mediocre double-clutcher is still harder on the transmission than a good floater. I had to the shift tower off my last truck @~750K, and there was only minimal wear on the dogs. I've seen trannys with 250K on them that looked far worse. With either method, a driver who is putting force on the shift forks and sliding clutches due to bad technique will wear it out much sooner than someone who knows how to slip it in gear.