Hey!

An odd thing happened about a month ago...

In a more ditzy moment, I was coasting along approaching a set of lights, tho still using the accelerator a wee bit, and I changed from 3rd to 2nd. Only thing was, I then thought "**** I didn't use my clutch!"

I've heard of rally drivers doing it but can anyone explain how it works?

Ta!

The right amount of revs and the gears will syncromesh, the wrong amount and they will syncrocrunch, Just fortunate by the sounds of it but not reccomended

Well, Buzz's gearbox is still in one piece, so I don't think I'll bother trying to recreate it lol

its easy enough to do and handy to know how to do incase your clutch cable snaps on the way home like mine did when i had the Clio

its easy enough to do and handy to know how to do incase your clutch cable snaps on the way home like mine did when i had the Clio

Best time to learn is when you have a rental car Going up is easy, going down through the gears is a little harder.

btw One of the lads tried taking off from stopped in his own car one day without the clutch :eek: , started the car while in gear, he got it going aswell

Changing up, let the revs fall as you pass through neutral and the gear should engage.

When downshifting, rev the engine slightly as the stick passes through neutral. When the revs are close enough the gear will change. (ie. double de-clutching without de-clutching...)

You do have a clutch to make it easier though

For some reason my Favorit changes gear as easily with the clutch as without. Simpleness I suppose.

I have to drive into the workshop quite often in cars with a hydraulic problem on the clutch , its ok until you have to line it up on the ramp and the very quickly turn the engine off before you hit the wall ,LOL . Rally drivers change gear without the clutch because the gearbox is designed to allow them to do that , dog gears , sequential change like a motorbike iirc

The right amount of revs and the gears will syncromesh, the wrong amount and they will syncrocrunch, Just fortunate by the sounds of it but not reccomended

i'n not going to reel off pages on how a gear box works but basically all of the gears except reverse are constntly engaged (meshed). but in neutral they can freely spin because they are no lock to the syncro mub/mesh, each gear has two seperate cogs, one which is on the first motion shaft, and one which is one the output shaft. the gear selector rod has forks on which move the syncro meshes backwards and forwards on the shafts, on a five speed box the are 3 syncromeshes. 3rd and 4th gear on the first motion shaft, and 1st and 2nd on the output shaft, then 5th gear on the end of the box........ still folowing????

when selecting first gear the selector fork moves the syncro hub along towards the first gear which presses a baulk ring onto the gear which engages it. the gears have a conical surface which acts like a kind of friction clutch on one end which gradually equalizes the speed of the shaft to the speed of the syncro hub as it engages. then shifting to 2nd moves the syncro hub the other way thus disengaging first gear and engaging second gear. then third, forth etc.

in all forward gears the shafts spin in opposite directions!

what you have to remember the two cogs which make up a gear are different sizes so therefore the two shafts spin at diferent speeds so a certain amount of time has to elapse for the speed of the shafts to equalise before selecting a diferent gear(usually when the clutch is depressed).

you can see the syncro mesh for third and forth gear on this diagram item number 9 to 14.

9 & 11 are inner and outer syncro(baulk) rings

10 spacer

13 syncro hub

21 22 24 the same but for fifth gear.

bear in mind that this diagram only shows the output shaft, the other shaft has the 1st and 2nd syncromesh on it.

the large pinion wheel on the end of item 1 is the gear that drives the differential.

item 30 is the reverse gear, this is levered down and locks against the two syncro hubs on both shafts, and makes them spin in the same direction, hence reverse gear.

waaaaay too much detail methinks..... i'll say it again, theres sombody on here who can explain this better than me i'm sure!!!!

anyway the anser to the shifting without the clutch is yes so long as there is enough time for the speeds of the shafts to equalize, normally easier at certain rpm's, but is possible at any rpm with practice!!

still folowing????

Yes, :P

I tried to keep it simple using the term 'syncromesh' but there you go.

i used to do it in my old mk1 clio all the time.. shifting up is easy shifting down you have to match the revs or it wont go in..

i did it because im lazy though.. :P

One of the lads tried taking off from stopped in his own car one day without the clutch :eek: , started the car while in gear, he got it going aswell

Happened to me in the Celica - gearbox and clutch failure meant I was locked in 2nd at rush hour :thumbdwn:

Amazing how much shove a starter motor actually gives but not recommended for rush hour hill starts :eek:

The only time I've ever felt the need for a 8200rpm reline.

My friend drives his most of the time without using the clutch. Guess that is why the standard clutch in his modified car lasted 110,000 miles whereas a lot of them are uprated because they melt at about 30k.

Happened to me in the Celica - gearbox and clutch failure meant I was locked in 2nd at rush hour :thumbdwn:

Happened to me in the Fabia too when my clutch pedal snapped. :thumbdwn: Trying to stall a torquey diesel to kill the engine and come to a standstill is quite a challenge

Chris

just turn the ignition off Chris

For some reason my Favorit changes gear as easily with the clutch as without. Simpleness I suppose.

i remember that well:rolleyes: ...doesnt it bugger your gearbox up?

I knew you could do it. I used to do it in the Mondy when I was feeling lazy - oh and when I knackered my ankle but had to drive home!! have never done it to fabbie though, as I can't see it being all that healthy for the gearbox! The clutch must be there for a reason!

! The clutch must be there for a reason!

stop you stalling?

i used to do it in one of my lupo's that i used for hillclimbing which had a paddle clutch. t he paddle clutch made it very difficult to chage gear smoothly anyway and it was very very stiff under the left foot, it didn't do the gearboxes much good mind you. on average i would totally nacker the box in about 5000miles if i was lucky. it's easier to just trow them away and get another one from a scrappy.

I once had to drive a works van 12miles back to the workshop with no clutch. Had to get through 1 town centre, 1duel carriageway and 5 roundabouts. had a headache by the time i got back, concentrating so much.

Blimey!

Ok so I've been lucky, and won't do it again lol And as for TeflonTom - love the post! Complete with pic!!!

Having said that, here's another interesting clutchy thing, for all you clutch-o-philes....

How come sometimes I had to double clutch my old Felicia when I wanted to change down to 1st?

probably because the syncro rings were ****ed. or it might have been somthing simple like the clutch being worn out or the cable being slightly out of adjustment.

That figures, he was my first car and he was "well loved" to say the least lol!

Alas poor Jimbo, gone but not forgotten!