Driving with manual transmission questions

My opinion is that the break in feel was a sign of good, long lasting mechanicals.

 

Relax. You are not hurting the truck, they are tougher than you think. I taught all 5 of my kids to drive my 85 manual. With all the stalls, gear grinding, lugging and everything else the truck survived and is still going strong. Listen to the engine and you will get a feel for it. I’ve noticed that the clutch on the new one is slower and I have to ride it longer than I’d like especially in lower rpms. I wouldn’t be too gentle with it and try winding the engine out before shifting. Worry less and drive more. Welcome to the manual club.

 

Agree except that the only time I press the clutch all the way is when in 1st, they are all a little different.

 

It sounds to me like you might be having some issues with coordination between your clutching and your shifting. Here's what I'd suggest trying.


1) find a big empty, level, parking lot
2) Put the truck in first
3) Without touching the gas, let the clutch out slowly till you can hear the engine drag a bit on the clutch. Put it back in, repeat till you've got a feel for where the clutch engages
4) Now do the same thing, but let the clutch all the way out, still without touching the gas. With a bit of practice you will get the truck moving without touching the gas at all.
5) Repeat in 2nd and 3rd gears.


The idea is to get a good feel for where the clutch grabs. Once you know what that feels like and where it is in the pedal stroke, its much easier to have a feel for shifting.

 

OP.....check with your Father. He more than likely has experience with a manual tranny.

Its all technique and timing. You need to understand where the clutch begins to engage. You also need to develop a "feel" for the proper shift points and how the shifter moves in the gear pattern. In time, this will all become muscle memory.

Until you have developed some shifting skill, do your best to avoid stopping on a hill.

 

There’s great advice on here Tacoma World members let’s not argue about if she should have bought this or not and focus on helping. That’s what has made Tacoma World great in the past.

@Nuova welcome and enjoy your new Tacoma. I hope you get some great experience with driving a manual and enjoy your new truck.

 

Point taken. Horse left the barn already. Door was left open so no use in closing it now.

 

2019 6mt here, 50000 miles. My truck was not my first time in a MT but here's what I've learned about my truck.

1. The stock shifter sucks. Period. More on this later.

2. Get OVtune, helps with rpm hang and different throttles responses in each gear. The throttle response can be made the same regardless of the gear. Also I average 21mpg from it. More power too.

3. In a relatively flat start try and get to about 10 mph or approx 2000 - 2500rpms then shift this seems to be the smoothest and most balance of power to not lugging the engine and being able to accelerate normally. Don't slam the shifter into 2nd be gentle on the 1 to 2 shift.

4. Mine was clunky and crunchy, partly nature of the beast, partly break in. Mostly break in it will improve.

5. Search the accumulator delete on the forum much smoother clutch actuation.

6. Search for the core shifter or Hurst shifter on the forum. It's a short throw shifter that is downright fantastic here is a link to a video of mine. Completely eliminates the stupid 1 to 2 shift clunk: https://youtu.be/k8Kkcc-MklA

 

Congratulations on the new truck and welcome to the three pedal club!
Lots of great tips here already.

1) Listen to the powertrain, if it doesn't sound happy you probably need to shift up or down, as a very general rule keep the rpms between 2000-3000. Just listen and you will learn, drive with the radio off when in town.

2) Always push the clutch pedal clear to the floor, always ease the pedal out

3) Only have your foot on the pedal when actually needed, don't rest your foot there

4) Finesse will get you a long way toward smoothness, use a light touch and don't hurry - both with the pedal and the shifter
Don't grip the shift knob in a death grip and make it go from gear to gear
Instead handle the shift knob lightly with your fingers and palm, gently ask it to go from gear to gear

5) Enjoy the new truck and building a new skill!

And post a picture

 

Thanks! I'll try to consistently shift at higher RPM and see if it helps.

Reverse seems fine for me! I always push clutch 100% in. Thanks!

Thanks, i'll look into different shift knobs. And keeping smoothness top priority

Okay, thanks! I probably do take a little long to shift to 2nd out of fear of crunchy/jerkiness lol. I'll try to shift at a higher RPM and if that doesn't work try adding some gas.

Yeah I have nothing to compare the taco to! lol I definitely been driving like an old man, and not necessarily by choice ;p thank you!

Thank you!

I've definitely put some hours in an empty parking lot figuring out the bite point. I think i'm situated correctly to not struggle to get the clutch to the floor. I've tackled some hills and think i've got the anti-roll back methods figured out. ;p Also have no problem with rev-matching and downshifting. Smooth as heck that way! Thanks for all your advice!

Thanks!!

Thanks, yeah probably coordination. I'll try to work more on this.

Some of our fathers went out for cigarettes and never came back.. lol, but thanks. Trying to pay close attention. I sure do my best to avoid stopping on a hill but i've had to use the parking brake a few times ;p

Thanks!!

Thanks, i'll check these out and try to apply your advice

 

1. Yeah, trying to pay close attention. Especially on hills. I haven't listened to music in 3 weeks... my ears are grateful they aren't bleeding anymore.
2. Always!
3. I make sure not to.
4. Yeah I try to be gentle as possible.. sometimes only grabbing it with my fingertips especially to 4th lol
5. Thanks!!!

Here's the pic:

 

Welcome… practice is the key then it will become second nature and it will all be smooth and you will not have to think about it.

Funny bit of trivia for the day … in England if you take your driving test in an automatic you are only licensed to drive an auto. If you take your test in a manual you are licensed for both auto and manual. Probably 90% of the cars on the road were manual when I took my test in ‘96…

 

Awesome color, nice ride!

 

Once you’ve mastered clutch control your next lesson will be how to change gear without depressing the clutch. There is a certain point where each gear synchro is at perfect speed with each other and you can change gear without even touching the clutch pedal….

 

Sport M/T in Barcelona Red... good choice

 

oh boy...

Best colour and trim... completely unbiased.

 

OP, here's a thread you may want to ask questions in, BS, relate M/T stories:

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

 

First of all, kudos on taking the plunge on a new truck with a manual with no prior experience. That takes some courage! I had a friend who did this on a brand new Trans-Am and it worked out great for him… just took some time.

I haven’t read every reply, but several I saw did give some great advice already.

Regarding the 1-2 shift, I’ve noticed it’s smoother if I rev out 1st a little further (above 3k). This isn’t always necessary, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that these trucks do not have much low end torque, so it could help you to be smoother and not slow down as much.

Also, when shifting, let the syncros do their job. This means patience sometimes. If you are having to force it into gear, then they are not aligned yet. In some cases you can just apply slight pressure in the direction of the gear you want and then once the syncros are aligned it will slide right in. This mostly happens when downshifting or skipping gears, such as shifting 3rd to 5th, but it can happen on any shift if the conditions are right.

Sounds like you are on the right track and with patience and practice, you’ll have it figured out soon. Good luck and welcome to the manual club… a club that is getting smaller by the day.

 

dude buys a brand new tacoma in a stick having never driven a stick before. that is... incredibly boss.

It will just take time to figure it out. If you've actually never driven a manual trans before it will take quite a while before that left foot action becomes totally natural. But man there's nothing like it! I find myself pushing my left foot into the floorboards when driving my wife's automatic subaru. seems like your concerns and issues are all, imo, related to inexperience. you'll get there.

I will say something that was hard for for me when I first started driving stick was just staying relaxed when the engine got above a certain rpm and became louder than I was used to hearing. In an automatic vehicle, you'll never hear a continuous rev like that, and it took me some getting used to. I always felt when the engine got too loud I needed to shift, regardless of my situation, and it just took time to realize that sometimes you'll stay in 2nd gear when an automatic vehicle would go to 3rd. Something that helped me was just driving around the neighborhood and staying in 2nd gear and getting comfortable and not feeling like you HAVE to shift to 3. But once you realize you're the master of the machine, you'll never go back. Well, you might...but you'll know how to drive a stick. Not sure if any of this actually pertains to your original question, but people who drive stick LOVE to talk about driving stick, so that's what I'm doing.

welcome to a dying breed.

legendary move.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/ontario-canada.263/

Welcome! Check out the Ontario specific threads! Lots of meets and BSing in the main thread.