engine brake or not?

During gear shifts, how long is too long of a time stepping on the clutch?

Does the clutch burn while the clutch pedal is 100% stepped on? Or does it just burn in between fully engaged and disengaged?

 

the clutch only burns when you slip it under heavy torque. easy on the throttle when engaging and disengaging, and you'll be fine.

if you want to down shift at higher RPMs on a sporty car, you shift to neutral, release the clutch, spin up the engine, press in the clutch, and slip into the lower gear at the RPM matched speed....

but, a tacoma isn't a sports car. I take my time shifting it, and it shifts just fine. its even smoother since I replaced the original transmission oil with redline.

 

These guys seem to get it..

Shifting gears is an art, ask any trucker. With practice and mastering your revs you really only need the clutch when coming to s full stop. If your at the correct rpm you can easily just pull it from 1 to 2 or 2 to 3 etc.. same with downshifting.. It's not that I'm recomending this it's more that you should be trying to master the art of shifting.. It's healthy for the components when you learn when they're wanting to shift.. I don't really have the words for it, you have to feel it..

Just sayin..

 

Guess you guys call it "rev matching" when using the clutch? But actually, it's called "floating the gears" when not using the clutch. The point, is to match the rpm's to your speed negating the need for the clutch. Regardless, shifting smoothly from 5th to 2nd at 50mph will most likely grenade the tranny.

 

I give a lot of respect for truckers in this regard. Not only do they have to shit as hundred billion times to get anywhere, but many of their transmissions are still without synchos. They have to really learn the correct speeds to shift smoothly, especially on downshifts. And double-clutching alone deserves some respect.

Yepp, that's basically the terminology difference I use. And since I don't float gears often, I never think to use that term. Yeah if you shift at the right speed you can shift up and down without needing the clutch. I do it from time to time but avoid it mostly since it's not only not needed but if you mess it up, you put strain on your synchros, so it doesn't seem worth it to me. Same with skipping gears. Has its uses fine if done smoothly, but mostly unneeded and strains synchros if messed up. Though it is a cool feeling shifting without the clutch.

On a related note, I've noticed it's incredibly easy to pull the shifter out of gear if you go from coasting and briefly/lightly press the throttle. I figure it takes pressure off the trans for a sec when switching from coasting to accelerating (make sense?). I do it sometimes when I am going into neutral and don't feel like using the clutch. Would moving the shifter this way make floating gears easier? I haven't bothered to try, but it seems like it would.

 

You just decribed the "float" aspect perfectly.

 

Oh. Then excellent! I guess when I did clutchless shifting in the past, I was able to do it because the vehicle I had been driving at the time had a shifter that was super loose. Not only did it come out of gear easily without pressing the clutch nor the accelerator but the thing wiggled side to side as if it were in neutral... And to think, the owner of that vehicle didn't know that was unusual. But either way, I guess I wouldn't be able to clutchless shift as easily in my truck. I haven't actually tried it. I'll have to give it a try, and with the correct way of floating.

 

So ya know sente3, no BS. pic looking out from my non-taco Pete 379.

 

Oh very nice! I had no doubts you knew your stuff before, but if I (or anyone else) had, that'd all be gone now. I always like these truck shots; there's a certain type of art to them.
Something I've wondered, do all Peterbilts have that long nose or just the ones I've seen?

 

That's my conclusion too, I don't use neutral I leave it in a higher gear until I've slowed but I don't down shift to slow down. I use a lower gear on steeper downgrades 4 instead of 5. Off roading I use the same gear going down as I'd use going up.

 

Brings back memories for sure

 

that side to side wiggle was likely worn out shift linkage. probably some plastic bushings had worn out and disappeared.

 

Yeah that's what I figured, but since it still worked and it wasn't my vehicle (most importantly...) I didn't bother with any repair. I've never broken into a trans or any related parts before and I wasn't about to mess up someone else's vehicle. But it's a '98 Kia Sportage, so it's really not surprising that it was so loose. It is a reliable vehicle, oddly enough, but it's spartan and tinny and rattly as hell. Everything on it is so...shitty. But it's what I learned manual on, so those few months of driving it are fond memories all the same.

 

heh, I learned to stick shift mostly in 1960's VW Beetles, you wanna talk about sloppy linkage, hah!

 

Oh wow I can imagine how sloppy it must be. Perhaps I'm "lucky' to have learned in that "modern" vehicle. I use modern loosely, since it was 17 years old when I learned (I just learned last year) but I can't imagine it was very up to date with the times when it was new.

 

The sloppiest linkage was probably our 1971 VW camper bus... There was something like 6 or 8' from the shifter to the transmission under the 3rd row seating, and the shift lever was easily 3' long and moved like a foot from neutral into a gear.

 

Goddamn that's absurd. I'd like to try that out, just so see how vastly different it is from even my truck. Compared to the Kia, my truck is tight and responsive with its shifting. But I can imagine my truck is a far cry from a sports car. So to think how sloppy that VW must have been is an amusing thought.

 

Bread knife in a jar of peanut butter.

 

Nope just the 379 & 389 model. And the crappy freightshaker imposters.