Manual transmission Fan Club and BS thread (All Generations Welcome)

OK, this is coming from a non-owner (11 more weeks--maybe--sigh), but when I test drove a manual it did not have any issues going into first. I find it extremely hard to believe that any modern vehicle (like from '70 on) does not have a full syncro gear box. I mean my 72 pinto was full syncro and my '69 bus is full syncro.

 

the MT 6 is full-syncro

 

@Dannyblues

 

Hi. Ive yet to do any hauling although my 2016 Tacoma TRD sport 4x4 double cab has the towing package so I can't comment on hauling. However both 5 th and 6th are overdrive gears. In 4th your engine and transmission are turning at the same speed, that is 1 to 1. In fifth it's less than a turn of the engine crankshaft to turn the powertrain one revolution and in sixth even less engine revolution than that. Both gears are fairly close in my opinion. Overdrive makes the vehicle go just a bit faster than high gear which is fourth. Both fifth and sixth being overdrive gears basically keep engine rpms lower at a given speed than when in fourth which years ago was high gear and all we had before engineers developed overdrive gears with some exceptions. Way back we had three speed column mounted three speed shifters and a selectable overdrive switch as far back as the 1955 Chevy. I will say one thing for sure here however. NEVER rev the engine with the clutch depressed!! If you want to downshift just do it. If you really want a very smooth transfer between gears especially downshifting use the double clutch method as follows. In sixth right maybe at 60 mph. Take foot off gas. Maybe brake or not. Depress clutch. Pull shifter into neutral. Blip the gas peddle to rev match if possible the higher rpm at the same 60 mph that the lower fifth gear will require for a smooth downshift. With me so far? Now again depress the clutch and downshift to fifth. Let out the clutch. It's just a double tap method with blipping the gas in neutral in between. You shouldn't need to do it. The tranny synchros handle the drivetrain differences on their own. To use double clutching to upshift do the exact same thing but don't blip the gas in neutral. There are some great double clutching videos on you tube. Watch and enjoy but if you aren't jumping past gears like from fifth to second which you shouldn't do you need not do any of the above. Good luck. Dannyblues

 

So basically double clutch it to downshift? I can do that.

 

totally not necessary. you never need to double clutch this truck. the reason people are talking about this is due to the gear spread between 1 & 2. you just need to do regular MT stuff: shift at the right speed, get your throttle right, and work the clutch smoothly.

 

Please ignore @Dannyblues I think he is living in a different century than the rest of us. he is incorrect in just about everything he has said about driving a modern stick shift. If we're talking a 60's era Mack truck it is probably good info, but is totally irrelevant to a 3rd Gen Taco.

 

Sounds easier!

 

Having driven a 60's era manual transmission truck, driving this transmission is practically an automatic it shifts so easy.
The trick is never feel like you are forcing the transmission to do anything. It should drop into the gears as long as the revs are where they need to be.

 

See I cut my teeth on a 65 C-10 with 4 on the floor... the electronic throttle and clutch throw make this seem more difficult to me.

 

Once you have it for a little while you wont even notice it any longer. Way back when I bought my 08 Tacoma I was not liking the Rev Hang from the electronic throttle, but after a few weeks I never even noticed it again.

 

My biggest issue is if I could just get in and drive the thing it's no big deal. The second I start overthinking it is when I start slipping the damn clutch.

 

My 15 is a bit more difficult as the clutch does not catch until the pedal is damn near all the way up to the top, hoping my new 17 will be lower down.

 

Haha... keep dreaming!

It's near the top and only maybe an inch and a half of difference between engaged and disengaged.

 

My 08 was damn near perfect as it was right in the middle of the pedal travel.

 

As said earlier in the forum, 5th and 6th also seem extra picky. You have to be slower coming off the clutch than in any other gear, which is backwards from every other vehicle on the planet.

 

Like every other vehicle ever made!

 

This is only because the difference between 4th and 5th is incredibly small and it is coupled with one of the longer throws. Really, its just the fact that by the time you are in 5th and ready to release the clutch, your RPM's have dropped way too far which is why you have to be so slow with the clutch. If you induce a rev hang or rev match it, i guarantee you can be as quick as anything else.

No need to double clutch this truck. I double clutch downshifting into 1st only sometimes because 1st has been the only gear to get stuck on me trying to go into. To downshift, just rev match. If you are coming into a turn and need to be slowing down you can even heel toe it. Clutch in, blip throttle to correct RPM (or brake and roll foot to match if heel toe'ing) while selecting new gear, and release clutch. Its ok to take a couple seconds doing this. Slow is better (to some extent)

 

When you say "rev match" am I holding the throttle at a constant RPM and releasing the clutch or am I tapping it, letting off the throttle, then releasing the clutch?

Sorry for being such a noob... every other stick I've ever driven was broke in and very forgiving. Taco is not so much...

 

Heres what I do when I'm downshifting.

6th gear, steady throttle
Simultaneously let off throttle and push in clutch
Shift to 5th gear
Bounce throttle for a split second, just enough to get the RPMS to pop up to where I think they should be
Let out clutch and start pressing throttle

If I'm trying to go fast I do all of that the same except much faster and once clutch is back out I hammer down.