Posted by casebro on Thursday, August 14, 2003 at 11:14AM :
In Reply to: Driving lesson posted by Ang on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 at 10:08PM :
The only purpose of a clutch (after getting truck moving) is to match transmission input speed to transmission output speed. Synchros help by rubbing between tranny gears to match speeds, but if you don't have any- or they are shot- you have to do it yourself. On the up-shift, just pause for a second in neutral to allow the gears to slow down to the lower engine speed. On the downshift, double clutch- clutch, pull into neutral, letout clutch,rev engine to speed it will be at in the lower gear, clutch again, and drop it into gear, now de-clutch last time. Very difficult to do it into granny gear, not so tough in higher gears since they are closer together. Once you learn to match speeds, you can up shift without the clutch. And clutch will last forever sice you aren't using it up on every shift- mine go 200,000 miles and then fail due to pressure plate spring or finger wear.