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

I've done about 30mph in 6th in 4lo. Typically I use 2nd while wheeling in 4Lo. Maybe 3rd for stretches of smoother ground. I use 1st for steep hills or descents.

 

I've been through 2nd. From my personal experience, take that with a grain of salt, mostly 2nd to 3rd is pretty good for trails. 1st for sketchy parts that require slow but torquey situations. 4th on occasiotional spots where you have some trails that stretch out some. Ronnie dhale has some good videos on YouTube where he touches the whole what gear in 4l situation.

 

I pretty much only use 1st and 2nd Gear in 4 Low

 

Anybody ever feel a jerk when turning your AC on. I was just coasting downhill in 2nd maybe 18mph, turned the AC on and heard a quick hiss and the truck jerls forward as if I had dumped the clutch.

 

Yes. This a/c compressor seems to kick on violently. Mine also has always emitted a horrendous grinding sound when I first turn it on after the truck has been sitting in the sun all day and it's really hot.

 

Cheap truck problems I guess lol.

 

My AC compressor doesn't do these things

 

I wheel in 4lo a lot. I'll go as high as 4th often. 5th occasionally. As long as you are not over reving the motor I can't see what it will hurt.

 

I would like for some of you to critique my downshifting method.

BTW I rarely downshift to accelerate and pass another vehicle and I NEVER use the clutch to slow the truck down or downshift more than one gear at a time at high speeds. I usually will change lanes or gently accelerate in my current gear without lugging. Anyways, I normally downshift by reducing speed first with brakes or coasting followed by clutch in>Straight downshift>gas and slip clutch to increase RPMs.

here are typical scenarios for me:

6th gear @ 65mph
Traffic slows to 55mph
Brake to 50-55mph
clutch>downshift to 5th>Slip clutch+gas

4th gear @ 38mph
Brake to 15mph to make right turn
Clutch>downshift to 2nd>Slip clutch+gas

My shifts go into gear smoothly and smoothly overall. But my question is, am I doing a significant amount of wear on clutch and especially synchros by doing this. Or is any increased wear negligible.as stated before, I try to avoid huge RPM gaps and I'll increase throttle slightly before slipping the clutch. I am mostly concerned about the synchros. Thank you guys very much.

 

Yep it's the compressor adding extra load to the serpentine belt. On the 4 cylinder you can also instantaneously feel the loss in available horsepower. I don't use the A/C unless it's really necessary.

 

It just sounds like normal manual driving to me. I think you're overthinking it.

 

Sounds like u do everything you should for clutch and synchro longevity. Like he said, that is very normal operation.

 

I wasn't overthinking this at all tbh but I ran into a couple of double clutchers and of course they tell me that I'm if I'm not double clutching I'm killing my truck quicker and quicker.

 

That's what I thought too. Please see my last post, thanks!

 

you can argue that everything's a wear item. they can argue that point to death. can you say double clutching will keep you from tranny wear forever? of course not.

and btw, synchros. it's a machine, it wears. don't be afraid to use it as it's designed.

when my clutch wears out I'll replace it with a higher performance one if all goes to plan. if that's 100k away instead of 150k away then the sooner i get to enjoy the higher performance... it's just how i look at these things.

 

That's a good a counterpoint. I try to drive and do almost everything as simple and uncomplicated as possible. Thanks

 

I feel I slight loss of power when using the AC, but nothing major. I too rarely use it. Recently had mine fixed more for the girlfriend than myself.

 

lets say I'm coasting to a red light, shift to neutral about to stop and the light turns green when I'm still doing 6mph. Is it better to slip the clutch in 2nd or shift to 1st. 2nd makes the engine growl and 1st requires some pressure on the shifter to go in.

 

i would rev it up to maybe 4k, clutch in, and feather it out keeping the motor around 2500-3k until releasing. 1st is a little drastic unless you're really aggressive with it.

 

Do you think I'm hurting the engine If it growls for 2-3 seconds.