Driving a standard, no clutch wear style

[dadsbee]

We had a couple of threads going the other day, figured I'd just post it here. How I drive a standard when out cruising. Something I've been doing most of my life, whether it be the Bee, my '90 T Bird Supercoupe or my Milk truck back when I was 16 years old... some 42 years ago!

 

[snakeyes]

Yup I remember those days

 

[BeepBeepRR]

My clutch slave on my RX7 blew a seal years ago I had to drive 30 miles with no clutch at all... Had to plan out stop lights... LOL

 

[dadsbee]

Probably why my pressure plate is still good after 40+ years!

 

[biomedtechguy]

What about additional wear on the synchros and other related parts? They have to "work harder" to speed match when you don't disengage the clutch, right?

 

[dadsbee]

I don't think they have to work at all compared to the guy that adds no throttle, uses the clutch and just hammers it a gear down. OE #'s trans, 157,000 miles. Still smooth as silk and I put most of those miles on it. My old man ditched it when I was a kid and she resided in the garage "till I got it back out.

 

[66 Sat]

I sometimes drive my modern car like this but only on upshifts, which just slip in so easily. Downshift are a bit trickier, can easily get a massive grind if not perfectly executed.

 

[440+6]

Been doing that since i was a kid too, on and off now though.

 

[hunt2elk]

So it doesn't look like you are letting up on the gas when down shifting?

 

[91r/t]

Man I always admired that skill. I can bang gears like a maniac on my 4 speeds but my dad always was able to do this on his stock 66 Charger and I could never get the hang of it. Both my cars are pretty wild motor wise so its a bit harder, but I still would love to tame this skill someday. Cool to see.

 

[moparedtn]

Wow, talk about coincidence...
I just watched that on YT based on their "recommended" videos and didn't know you'd put
this post up yet!
Yep, I still sometimes drive like that, mostly to show off to the wife that I can do so.

Different car/era, of course, but back around 1990, I had hernia surgery on my left side
(yeah, down there) and couldn't hardly walk, leave alone push in a clutch on my 5.0 Mustang.
In those days, such surgery was VERY invasive (30+ stiches outside AND inside) and it took
weeks to heal properly, or risk ripping what the surgeon had done.
I still had to work and all I had was the T5 in the 5.0....so I basically drove for about a month
without using the clutch at all, save for starting out from stoplights.
The car, when I sold it many years later, still had the original drivetrain intact at 250k miles,
complete with original clutch, despite my beating on it every time I got in it.

I don't normally drive clutch-less in Fred; that's stress on the transmission that costs a bunch
more than the clutch does. Besides, that's the function of a clutch to begin with - to take the
stress off the driveline during gear changes, eh?

 

[alfaitalia]

So it doesn't look like you are letting up on the gas when down shifting?

Quite....you need to give it a little juice on the down changes to match the input speed to the output speed to stop the grind....with just a little pressure on the stick the gear will slide straight in once the speeds match. Same reason I tow heal down change on a track day...to bring the revs up for a smoother change as well as be able to brake at the same time. On cars with better pedal positioning (brake and throttle closer together like my ALFAs) its much easier than in this video!!

 

[Ironbuilt]

I drive my 18 speed Eaton transmission in my Kenworth like that everyday. The clutch is only for starting, stopping and extreme torque load situations. We (truck drivers) refer to that as "floating gears".

 

[moparedtn]

I drive my 18 speed Eaton transmission in my Kenworth like that everyday. The clutch is only for starting, stopping and extreme torque load situations. We (truck drivers) refer to that as "floating gears".

There ya go. Vrooom-Vroom to let the input and output speeds match and she falls into gear...

 

[Hey-O]

I drove a stick most of my life as a young man, learned to drive on one and took my drivers test on one. The majority of wear on a clutch is from taking off, not shifting. People riding the clutch taking off is a killer for a clutch. I was taught to get off the clutch as soon as possible with little gas. I never had to replace a clutch in my life and I can run through the gears with the best of them. Driving without one is a knee saver though. Just my opinion.

 

[dadsbee]

So it doesn't look like you are letting up on the gas when down shifting?

Off the gas and up shift, almost falls in place with some practice of coming off the pedal. Downshift is on the throttle just as you want to shift to take the load off the current gear and bring the rpms up to match driveline speed next gear down. Watch my toe in the video.

 

[Beekeeper]

that’s how i drive all my stick vehicles. First time my wife saw my shifts she said is your transmission bad

 

[oldbee]

I drive my 18 speed Eaton transmission in my Kenworth like that everyday. The clutch is only for starting, stopping and extreme torque load situations. We (truck drivers) refer to that as "floating gears".

LOL, I think the rear cover alone on that Eaton weighs more than the whole 4-spd trans in cars!

 

[RussT Plymouths]

I read those posts too, reminded me of when my older cousin and I would see which of us could drive the furthest down Main Street without using the clutch. Silly things you do as a teenager with no extra money. First gear in my old truck didn't have a synchronizer, so you had to speed match the gears before down shifting.

 

[coronet68mx]

I do that often, my wife was surprised the first time she saw me doing it, for me the trick is to match the rpm from the transmission and the engine, nice video Wayne.