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Does anyone else shift with no clutch?

How do you do it the ratio is too different if you ask me.

I can slip it out of gear easy just ease off fuel and pull easy on shifter and feel it out when rpm's are right but since the ratio's are so different rpm has to change too much to go to next gear or speed change to go down. But if I miss fuel to load or rpm I can get a clunk and HATE it and feel like I am beating it (know its really hard on gear teeth) so I use the clutch much much more often than not.

Or I can match it as speed is dropping and feel it into a gear from neutral but that is harder for me.

But its not like shifting an eaton that I recall where the ratios are fairly close.
 
I do it quite a bit. I wont say its not bad on the tranny but i'm rebuilding one of mine now and there is no extra wear that cant be blamed on high miles. When im towing i match rpms, in normal driving i just time it while it idles down.
 
I do day to day drivin. I would not try it pullin a load.

As for dad's mack 5 speed unsyncro'd, after gettin it rollin there is noo other way. But that is a different animal.
 
mines an sm465 but the gears are the same ratio (minus overdrive of course). Only use the clutch when towing or starting from a red light.
 
Every time i drive my truck, loaded or unloaded it doesn't seem to mind or care. In fact I think it shifts better without using the clutch between gears. Only time i ever use the clutch is when i take off from a stop. Not to brag but i have it dialed down to make it shift smother then an automatic
 
I do both. It really depends on the rig, clutch and shifter weigh in the vote (early vs late NV4500, and whatever shape the clutch is in.) some rigs dont like the clutch, and some rigs dont like being speed shifted, so I just drive accordingly. I do favor clutching most of the time though.
 
My 94 makes the same short grind either way so no big deal. I'm ready to get the K3500 93's clutch smoothed out and run it (waiting on the att fund now really). All clutch parts are sitting waiting for someone to regain their ambition to put it all together and the 94's tranny (rebuilt by me) installed.
 
I use to all the time with my '84 K20 and various other older pickups/trucks without any problems. Then I bought my XJ and for the life of me I could never shift with no clutch without grinding gears. Although it got to where I would only push the clutch in just a little to shift and it was darn smooth.
 
Oh no there is no adjustments on my 94 Chevy 6.5 its all about timing the rpm's. Couple of years ago i crashed on my snowmobile shattered my knee cap and had a cast from my hip to my ankle, well to make a long story short I couldn't fit in my car so the only thing i could drive was the truck. I had learn quickly how to drive using only my right foot, being diesel its fairly simple to take off without pushing the GO pedal. Now every time i push in the clutch my knee burns a aches so bad, so the tradition has stuck. The only gear i have issues with is 4th, that one is tricky to do but even then it only gives me trouble once in a blue moon.
 
I can kinda make my 67 do it, but with no Tach it takes a lot of attention and patience, lol.

Only way to do it on the Freightliner. ;)
 
I have a 93 K2500 single cab and my clutch was tricky when I first got the truck so I got used to driving it without one other than the evil eye from my wife when it shifts rough the pick up runs great but my 5th gear went out could that be a result of not using the clutch I down shit too without also
 
5th out like it goes into gear but doesn't transfer power to driveshaft. The 5th gear has a nut that can vibrate loose and the gear moves back out of alignment so it doesn't mesh.

Its more prevalent on Dodge trucks and I think a vibration -harmonic thing. They make a fix for it.
 
I could do it either way on my 95 NV4500. Match the rpms and it would shift smooth as silk without the clutch. I didn't do it often though.
 
red said:
mines an sm465 but the gears are the same ratio (minus overdrive of course). Only use the clutch when towing or starting from a red light.
Click to expand...
That's how I was with my sm465.
My furd has the zf5. Junk trans and they hate floating the gears.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
I have 7 worn out syncro rings, a couple trashed sliders in the scrap iron pile, and $1200 other reasons the Prior MT Owner left me to say "push in the damn clutch". The PO thought he got away with clutchless shifting for 100K. He didn't leave much life in the trans. Well he did but is was as a metal dust in the bottom of the oil sump. With all that the clutch didn't even make 100K for him.

These cheap afterthought 'wouldn't you rather have an automatic?' automotive manual transmissions are not tough Big Rig transmissions. The complete lack of RPM control with the newer ECM's being smarter than you and doing as it damn well pleases doesn't make rev matching very accurate.

If you want to be lazy and not use a clutch get an automatic. If you want to show some "skill" with a cheap automotive MT, well, the first step is knowing it's different than a Big Rig Eaton. The second would be double clutching and rev matching. Third, and this is the important part, shifting a cold NV5600 with flat syncros without feeling notchy because it was shifted without the clutch way too much... Fine line between Skill and PIA depending on the viewpoint.
 
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