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

Wait? I think I may have misunderstood your emoji...maybe you were saying YOU have never double clutched. In that case disregard my initial quoting of your post....

Man the internet is hard...

 

Yeah, sorry. I've never double clutched. No issues either. A bit confused why folks still do.

 

Yeah me too. That's why synchros were invented.

 

Yeah with the clutch depressed you can blip it whenever, that's the point of the clutch. Sometimes I'll sit in the lower gear with the clutch still in if I misjudged my deceleration and blip it when it's time to release.

As others said double clutching where you release in neutral and blip there (as opposed to "granny shifting" which is what you're describing) is only truly necessary in unsyncronized trannys, like tractor trailers. Some people do it in cars as for serious racers it gives a bit more stability to the shifting (which probably won't be a concern in Tacoma's), to prevent wear on the syncros (which in a modern transmission should last a lot longer than other components assuming you're not constantly forcing the gears in), or probably mainly because that's what they're used to or what they find more enjoyable.

 

What you're doing is just rev matching. Or "blipping".

When you double clutch, you...

Depress the clutch and put the shifter in neutral
Release the clutch and blip the throttle
Depress the clutch and shift into lower gear
Release the clutch.

The point of double clutching over just blipping is that you actually spool up the shafts in the transmission to alleviate the amount that the synchros need to work. Think of it this way. Let's say you're in fifth gear and you're decelerating. If you want to skip a gear and go into third, it's more work for your third gear synchros to speed up your shafts to allow third gear to mesh. If you double clutch it, your gears are already up to speed so the shifter will mesh immediately.

This is something you can test out on the highway. When you're cruising at speed in fifth or sixth gear, try downshifting to third or fourth (whichever is two gears down from the gear you're in). Without the double clutch, you'll feel resistance going into the lower gear. If you double clutch it will go right into gear because the synchros no longer have to do as much work.

 

What he said.

 

Tried that route...too much damage.

Now I have a new tacoma...still was a great car

 

Thanks for that. I will try it on the freeway. I usually rev match down from 6th to 2nd. I still have yet to get to first smoothly from second. It's hard on this truck unless I'm going 8mph in 2nd and go into first. But I have noticed from 6th to 4th I have to rev to around 3500 rpm at 65 mph when I'm rev matching. I'm assuming you do the same when you put it in neutral and blip to get into 4th, yes?

 

Don't over think it. If the transmission snicks smoothly into gear, then that is just fine. My syncros broke in after the first couple hundred miles. All gears are smooth, even skipping on downshifts (like low RPMs in 6th to 3rd).

If you can't feel the clutch take up in your butt when engaging / disengaging the clutch, then that is just fine.

Otherwise, if you feel that you are forcing the shifter or the truck is bucking around with your clutch work, then work on that. Get it all good at cruising RPMs then play around at the upper rev range.

2nd to 1st at slow speeds is the hardest shift. Only do that if you have to, like stop-n-go traffic. For normal driving and stops, slow down in 2nd, clutch in to stop, and shift to first to pull away.

Edit: When it is all good, you should be able to pull away at the speed of other cars and pretty much keep up with them while shifting. Not forcing anything and being nearly as smooth as a slushbox.

 

Yup! Just make sure to let the clutch out beforehand or it does nothing haha.

Also I don't bother going into 1st when coming to a stop in any of my vehicles. First is a takeoff gear, not a stopping gear. I dunno if others disagree but I say just stay in second right up to when the engine would lug then go to neutral. You'll likely be going less than 5 mph by then anyway.

 

I use the gears and clutch to slow down. Every gear lift up on clutch slowly and the truck damn near stops it self. Hardly any brakes.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

that's what I've been doing. I just didn't know if you should go down into first. Damn TW makes you overthink when you read what others post haha.

 

Here's a question I was thinking of the other day while passing a slow driver in a 55mph area. What's you favorite gear? (not neccesarily 1st cause you need to it start going, or 5/6th cause it's need to cruise at high speeds.) I'll reword it as, what gear is the most fun or enjoyable for you?

Mine is 3rd gear (I have 5 gears and a 2.7L first gen). I like it because I can accelerate by using it any where from 25-70 mph which makes me feel like I have a race car within those few seconds. Of course then I shift into 4th and lose most of my pull because of the 33s and steel wheels on a little engine and no regear.

 

I have 6. And I go in this order to start off. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th. Slow down 6th, 4th, 2nd, 1st. All lifting clutch till I feel it's not slowing and just a little braking.

 

I just love manuals. Especially when a non-manual driver freaks out that I'm coming up to a red light or stop sign yet not slamming on the brake. I guess they don't understand the mechanics of using the gears to save your breaks.

 

that's my favorite. I make it a mission to try not to use the brake. I think 4th is my favorite gear. I can slow down on the freeway with it and I can fly with it.

 

I hate coming up to red lights and have them turn green right as I'm about to stop.

 

I've heard that technique is hard on the transmission, not to mention clutch.

 

As above, if you are not feeling it, the truck isn't.

Put it this way, in an extreme example, what is harder on the engine / transmission: full throttle 1st gear to redline or smoothly dropping it into 1st near redline and letting it engine brake? We can do the first one, a lot, without problems and the weight is shifted to the rear wheels. The second, it is just the engine compression loading the transmission and the weight has shifted toward the front.

I am not saying to do this, just something to think about.

Also, I've heard it several times that moderate engine braking early on helps the piston rings seat. Just an important as varying the cruising RPMs in the early days.

 

Maybe you can answer another question of mine. Occasionally when making turns and shifting to second I'll overshoot the correct rpm for my speed and upon engaging the clutch will make the engine growl and force the RPMs down. Is this harmful in anyway to the engine.