My dad has owned standard cars and tells me its OK to pop the car out of gear without pushing the clutch pedal, so you can save slave, master and clutch linkages so those partscan last longer, anyone knows if that can do damage to the car and tranny?

 

I drive a semi and most of the time it's smoother to shift by "feeling the gears". Tractor trailer do not have syncros so shifting without clutch is quite easy with practice. You have to calculate your rpm drop with the road speed and the shifter drops right into gear. With a fully syncronized trans this may or may not be a good idea and I'm sure someone will reply soon. IMO it's ok to shift gearswithout the clutchONLY if you are not feeling resistance. You may need to practice this and will grind gears in the process but hopefully you won't mash the gears to much. Train your ear on rpm drop as you will feel the shifter drop into gear. My old instructor told me that you've got the right rpm when you can shift gently with only two fingers.

 

i think he means just taking it out of gear. personaly, i dont think there is any difference either way. if youre just going slow moving around the driveway, i dont think it would matter. now shifting out on the road, id advise using the clutch to take it out of gear simply to allow the engine rpm to drop sooner, which will shorten shift time and reduce shock load when you go into a higher gear. when im out messin with my beater, when i stop, i just pull it out of gear by hand, no clutch. but when im shifting, i use the clutch simply to speed it up (rpm drop from 6k to 4k), and it shortens the shift time in miliseconds. and i can shift when driving gently without using the clutch

 

I can 'bump' gears up or down on my Harley just fine, but as previously stated , you really have to have a feel for when the rpms will allow you to. The key is to do it just as you take off the load. That precise moment the gears are under no load and can be freely shifted. However, on cars, I was never any good at it because the throw length of the gears was so far that my timing was always off and Id wind up grinding the hell out of them. My suggestion is thats is a fun thing to do, but not necessary to prolong the life of your transmission. And you are actually putting MORE stress on the shifting forks if you dont have it timed perfectly...............

 

please for the love of god use the clutch! even in a semi. manufacturers put clutches in vehicles for a reason, so use it. and by saying that shifting by feel will save on your clutch, slave/master cylinders and the trans, is not really correct. in fact by shifting without the clutch, you will shorten the life of the trans considerably, which is a much bigger problem than replacing a master or slave cylinder or clutch.

 

1985rs, I do agree with you on using the clutch as far as cars gobecause yes I've seen the fork pads worn because of forcing the gears in. I don't mean to hyjack the thread but what I'm stating is that when shifting a eaton trans can become easier for some of us without using the clutch except when starting off. One of the trucks I use has 365,000 miles and has had it's clutch replaced once. You are correct that the manutactures put clutches for a reason but sometimes we find ways of doingthings differently forthe original designand works out better for some.