Shifting W/O clutch

[Mont91]

I have driven school buses for years with the Clark 5 speeds and some of the older ones with 2 speed axles. Most of them had about or above 200k miles on them when I got them, by then it was easier to float some of them then use the clutch because of the worn syncros.

The '50 in my sig was bought new by my grandfather and is what dad and I drove through high school. It has a non-synchronized 4 speed in it behind a flat head V-8. It was kind of nice because no asked to borrow it because they could not shift it. I learned to shift on a Ford 8N in early elementary and on it you either stopped or learned to feel the teeth on the gears with out grinding, this was a good learning experience for float shifting the '50.

 

[smokin_stroker00]

yeah the book doesn't tell you much on what not to do

But people do anyways just look at some the sig of the members of this site
and see how many mods are listed in the manual

 

[93turbo_animal]

I have drove my old GMC with out a clutch linkage broke so I would rev it up then when the rpms droped just before they would rebound back up to idle I would slide it in 1st granny low gear with 5.13's in the rear may have helped but after it was moving it was easier to shift with out the clutch but these ZFs need the clutch no reason not to use it as for the big trucks the only thing the clutch does is releave drive line preasure then you match RPM's and shift in and the clutch keeps the preasure off the driveline so if you can float the gears you can do all this in one easy step

 

[Chuckdiesel]

Ok so floating the gears is not a good idea and I had no idea about the syncros getting all messed up. Honestly and some may poke fun but me Im 5'4'' and with the bench all the way up to push in the clutch all the way i have to point my foot out to bottom it out or slouch, witch would not be that bad but the clutch is sorta stiff, like after a while the bones in my foot start to hurt if Im not wearing boots so It is convenient to not use the clutch unless needed.I need to do something about that, cause my friend jeramy (84TD) his clutch is softer and dosent bother me at all. I think the clutch is original and the truck is at 100500 miles. I dont think theres a difference in a 250 to 350 as far as the drive line. I have a new slave and throwout bearing but the previous owner for some reason did not replace the clutch when he did that Hopefully not much damage has been done and eventually Im going to modify my petal and then its going to be great cause most all my driveng is in town.

 

[Freight_Train]

hee hee hee,Install the Tanya Hood Driving assistance device..........Oh I am going to get it for that one.....

 

[Agnem]

OK. I'll concede that big rigs may have issues with clutching. Seems odd to me, that they are built that way, but perhaps old habits define the market.

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

in the 92 (it has a t-19) or in the 88 T-19 also
I use the clutch as little as possible.
used to have 75 360 with a t-18 hardly ever used the clutch on that one either


but in the 96 forget about shiftin the zf with out a clutch

 

[subway]

Ok so floating the gears is not a good idea and I had no idea about the syncros getting all messed up. Honestly and some may poke fun but me Im 5'4'' and with the bench all the way up to push in the clutch all the way i have to point my foot out to bottom it out or slouch, witch would not be that bad but the clutch is sorta stiff, like after a while the bones in my foot start to hurt if Im not wearing boots so It is convenient to not use the clutch unless needed.I need to do something about that, cause my friend jeramy (84TD) his clutch is softer and dosent bother me at all. I think the clutch is original and the truck is at 100500 miles. I dont think theres a difference in a 250 to 350 as far as the drive line. I have a new slave and throwout bearing but the previous owner for some reason did not replace the clutch when he did that Hopefully not much damage has been done and eventually Im going to modify my petal and then its going to be great cause most all my driveng is in town.

one thing you might want to check out is the shaft where the throw out bearing rides. they are known to loose there lube and get gaulled up causing the pedal to get quite stiff. a properly working hydrolic clutch in these beasts should be no problem to push in.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Yea our clutches when working properly are pretty easy to push. My dad had an 84 that you would get a sore knee from driving, at the time we assumed it had a heavy duty clutch installed but in reality the throwout bearing was probably seized to the input sleeve.

 

[Chuckdiesel]

one thing you might want to check out is the shaft where the throw out bearing rides. they are known to loose there lube and get gaulled up causing the pedal to get quite stiff. a properly working hydrolic clutch in these beasts should be no problem to push in.

Well thats a interesting story there. when i got the truck the dude just replaced the bellhousing and throw out bearing. When I drove it the clutch was really really hard and come to find out he never greased it

so I had to remove the fork and try to gob grease all over the bearing and shaft. maybe thats not quite sufficient but it made a big improvement but Its still stiff compared to my buds 84 250. I guess I should check to see if it has lost its lube cause i do get a sore knee some and its just not right, the guy should have greased it the first time

 

[HammerDown]

In a big rig 5,9,10 speed...I never use the clutch, no driver that knows how to do right it ever does.
Bringing the RPM's up and lifting off the accelerator at the right time and the shifter will almost fall out of and into gear.

 

[Agnem]

I sure can remember accelerating away from a stop light with a big rig next to me going through the gears and..... think now, you've heard it to That distinctive clunk of gears not exactly going together at the right speed.

 

[IDIeselman]

Oh for the love of god, pick ups use the cluth! Semi's use it once to get rolling and once to reverse, Mel you will hear a slight clunk as these gears are large and on most trucks you can split all of them 13 speed you can only split the high side 18 speed splits high and low. I know grossing 190,000 going through 16 gears you have no time for a clutch (especially a 60 series detroit) and to try to use it you will be lost in between gears and have to come to a complete stop to get moving again . The gears in the big trucks are designed (cut differently) for this reason. So in closing if it has less than 10 wheels under it use the clutch or you will soon find out why you're supposed to

 

[The Warden]

I will say this...it's good to know how to shift without the clutch even in a pickup. When I still had the T-19 in my truck, I taught myself how to do it, and was very thankful for it when my clutch slave cylinder failed...while slowing down at a bridge toll plaza...towing a trailer...

However, as others have said, it's best to not make a habit of it. I confess to being tempted myself (I have some issues with my lower back and hip that make it difficult at times to depress the clutch pedal; this is part of why my DD is a slushbox), but it IS bad for the syncros...

 

[fsSnowboard]

i don't know much about transmissions so i have a few questions.

1. what is double clutching?
2. where are the throw out bearings? my clutch is getting stiff again.

thanks