Bring back the stick shift

[dajn]

Originally Posted by powerdriver

Leave a stop light and never touch it again .. Broke a rod end on the clutch linkage , still brought a load back to the shop . use the starter in deep low and carry on .

I have a class A license. But I have it just because there are times I need it. I am definitely not a truck driver. But I have been around and I have dealt with real people. Where are these double clutchers at? Do they actually exist? I have never once met or talked to a truck driver that doesn't float. Not once have I meet a double clutcher. Let me hear from the double clutchers. Where are you? And why do you do it?

[1976gmc20]

All those double-clutching, gear-jamming, coffee drinking nuts are at a roadhouse in Texas playing the jukebox.

[burnin oil]

I have met a few. Not many. I have met alot more that will double clutch a single gear or two on a box that is funky. I have an old mack 5x3, pre triplex, that you better double clutch 4th. Floating will loose all the speed you picked up in 3rd. It's one of those do what ya got to do. In another truck I have I added a 4SPDR aux behind a synchro 6SPD. Main box is clutched but the aux is floated.
I think most CDL inspector's require double clutching because of the state laws. I remember my buddy doing his drive test. Floated the gears and bumped the clutch like he was using it.
76GMC, I love that song!

[mick53]

I'm putting a TKO 600 (5 speed) in my 53 truck. I want to drive. I know it will slow me down a little on the strip but not much. Also not a bad anti-theft device.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

All those double-clutching, gear-jamming, coffee drinking nuts are at a roadhouse in Texas playing the jukebox.

"Well, there'd be no truck drivers, if it wasn't for us trucks..." I remember that tune.

[dajn]

Originally Posted by burnin oil

I have met a few. Not many. I have met alot more that will double clutch a single gear or two on a box that is funky. I have an old mack 5x3, pre triplex, that you better double clutch 4th. Floating will loose all the speed you picked up in 3rd. It's one of those do what ya got to do. In another truck I have I added a 4SPDR aux behind a synchro 6SPD. Main box is clutched but the aux is floated.
I think most CDL inspector's require double clutching because of the state laws. I remember my buddy doing his drive test. Floated the gears and bumped the clutch like he was using it.
76GMC, I love that song!

That makes sense. I have seen a beat up 13 speed where you needed too double clutch one of the gears because the transmission had been abused too that level. Like I say. I am not a truck driver and do my best to understand. I can go through the gears with a 13 speed and I understand splitting gears. But when you learn how to slide out of a gear and smoothly into the next gear it makes you question the whole double clutch thing. Reminds me of my behind the wheel for my class A. The guy testing with me failed so hard you wouldn't think it was possible. He basically couldn't even walk, let alone drive a truck he was so nervous. Good memories. I still laugh about it at times.

[mick53]

I drove my 53 stock daily for 9 years. The 3 on the tree was so warn you had to double clutch it to downshift.

[crazy longhorn]

IF IT DONT HAVE THAT 3RD PEDDLE. iT IS NOT A REAL HOTROD
L ONGHORN

[67ChevyPickupMan]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

All those double-clutching, gear-jamming, coffee drinking nuts are at a roadhouse in Texas playing the jukebox.

Red Simpson-Hello I'm a truck. Good song

[Ironhorse]

For the actual pleasure of the drive or afternoon cruise, a work truck or a beginner kid car my vote is for the stick shift. Once a person masters the use of a stick if they want to move to an automatic, so be it. I think it should be taught in Driver's Ed with a stick shift but then most schools now days don't even teach Driver's Ed anymore! It was required when I was in HS and helped lower the insurance $$ at the time. Hard to buy a family sized type truckster with a stick shift now days. I admit I swapped my '71 4x4 to a TH350 but being 70 years young with bad knees and arthritis that didn't like the heavy clutch action it was a choice I made to keep from losing my '71 4x4. Still miss the SM465 stick. The only stick shift left in the stable is my old former 1/4 mile race car: '57 Chevy 2 dr. sedan. 283, dual fours, 4 spd Muncie, buckets, long tube headers and 3:55 posi rear end. About as an old school hot rod as you can get but damned if I'll go to an automatic in that one !!

[1976gmc20]

Sadly, if I get a nice family pickup it's going to have to be automatic so my wife can drive it

She used to drive sticks; at one time that was all we had. But she gets sloppy about it and then gets upset when I correct her. I can have her driving all nice and smooth with a clutch and stick and then six months later she is lurching around corners in high gear

[special-K]

Anymore, a stick shift in a truck really sets it off. It was that way in '92 when I ordered my K3500 with a 5spd. You'd never find one on a lot. Same thing for a regular cab 8-lug pickup, 2wd or 4wd. I ordered it as a single wheel one ton 4wd regular cab with bucket seats and console. You never saw them like. Not around here. People were all the time asking about those things, especially the manual transmission. I also removed the 4x4 stickers while they were fresh and it was painted Woodland Green, a fleet color not normally offered.

[davischevy]

I went to a lot of trouble to find the K10 I am building now to get a stick shift.

In a big rig I seldom use the clutch, even in traffic, I try to sneak up on traffic lights, so I don't have to clutch. My left knee loves me for it.

I will own another four speed Chevelle or Impala someday.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by special-K

Anymore, a stick shift in a truck really sets it off. It was that way in '92 when I ordered my K3500 with a 5spd. You'd never find one on a lot....and it was painted Woodland Green, a fleet color not normally offered.

yup, looked at literally 25-30 trucks before we found a GMT400 wit a 5 spd.
and awesome color Special! my crew is woodland green- not a color you see everyday (except on our forest service trucks...)

[1976gmc20]

Well I lucked out my 89 junker came with a five speed. But it's a 1500 so it's the light duty five speed So far, so good ….

[burnin oil]

It's long gone now but I picked up a new 03 2500hd in 2003. Red standard cab 4x4 with a 6l and 5 speed. Only options were 4.10s and LSD. Had 384 miles on the OD since it was a dealer trade. Truck turned out to be a lemon so I traded her in on a dodge diesel in 04. That truck was sold when i needed a dually for another dodge. Both were 4 doors but 6spd 4x4s. I finally brought home an auto over the weekend. Considering it will be used to deliver mail in the country I will let it slide. I don't have to drive it.

[dajn]

Originally Posted by burnin oil

It's long gone now but I picked up a new 03 2500hd in 2003. Red standard cab 4x4 with a 6l and 5 speed. Only options were 4.10s and LSD. Had 384 miles on the OD since it was a dealer trade. Truck turned out to be a lemon so I traded her in on a dodge diesel in 04. That truck was sold when i needed a dually for another dodge. Both were 4 doors but 6spd 4x4s. I finally brought home an auto over the weekend. Considering it will be used to deliver mail in the country I will let it slide. I don't have to drive it.

Dodge really is the only way to go when it comes to this. I completely understand where your coming from. General motors and ford have always pushed their v8 garbage. I have never liked dodge but I will say that the real deal is say a 2001 dodge 3/4 ton. With the 5.9 cummins. Now that's a pickup. Obviously I mean v8 diesal garbage.

[davischevy]

My wife learned to drive on a stick shift.

In 1990 I bought a new K1500 with a five speed. She complained about that truck for five years, and never drove it once.

In 1995 I mentioned to her a new truck I saw at the Chevy dealer. Saturday morning she asked if she could go trade for it. I told her what I would pay and the conversation died.

Later that morning I was in the shop and heard my truck back out of the garage. I stuck my head out and asked her "I thought you said you couldn't drive that truck." She said "No, I said I wouldn't drive this truck.".

She traded for less than I said I would pay.

[burnin oil]

Dajn. I have had 3. A 12v, 5.9 common rail, and a 6.7l. I still drive the 6.7 and the 12v is yard art the moment. It will get used as a drivetrain swap into a 57 GMC. I parked it after breaking something in the clutch. Before that it had a couple of wiring fires and tore the cab sheet metal from twisting. Cummins good, wrapper is not as good.

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by burnin oil

Dajn. I have had 3. A 12v, 5.9 common rail, and a 6.7l. I still drive the 6.7 and the 12v is yard art the moment. It will get used as a drivetrain swap into a 57 GMC. I parked it after breaking something in the clutch. Before that it had a couple of wiring fires and tore the cab sheet metal from twisting. Cummins good, wrapper is not as good.

WE have an 07 Cummins 6.7 six speed dually that we bought new. It has a little over 300,000 miles now. It has a brand new clutch, but the transmission needs attention. The body on it has been great. It will go to auction next month.

[LS short box]

Ok I will be the anti stick in the mud. The C8 has a dual clutch that shifts faster than almost anyone. I won't ever own one but to keep up with other super cars you need to have every edge that you can get.
I am currently converting my 68 C10 LS swap from a T56 Magnum to a built 4L60E. The T56 is a great trans and was fun for a while but around town and in heavy stop and go traffic it got old quick. Also the 68 cab is a little bit cramped.
I don't know if you have driven a built and "tuned" electronic controlled auto trans but they can be very cool. My 4L60E will shift at full throttle at 6200 rpm every time just short of the 6500 rpm rev limiter. The very conservative 2800 converter just makes it more fun. Part throttle shifts are firm but not annoying.
Having said the above build and drive what you want and like.

[special-K]

I find it interesting how you have people who feel working a clutch and shifting as an avoidable chore while at the other end you have those who never give it a thought. It's not about the transmission, it's about the people. We have differences in how we cope with things, react to things, how we adapt, accept, and deal with things. Many are all about anything more convenient while others just don't mind doing what that convenience is meant to save you from doing. We could be having this conversation over roll up windows vs electric.

It's funny to see someone suggest a 19 year old truck is the thing to have and call the other two companies junk. Is that trucks of the same age? How do the current Dodges (sorry, I mean Ram) compare? Does the current Duramax have all the problems Dodge has had with their automatics? Lets compare those to a 19 year old Allison since this is a transmission thread

[davischevy]

I love to drive a stick shift, not because it's fast or convenient, just because I like it.

Apparently I also have a 250,000 mile Duramax piece of junk.

[burnin oil]

Short box, I have considered a built auto for one of my trucks a couple of times. After a day or two of thinking I come back to this will not work for my application. One trip up the driveway and I would be stuck with big ruts to repair. I can however put the truck in granny and got right up at 2k RPM though. Built motor that is still slightly under the curve at 2600 and lugging. I am the extreme though.
Longhorn, I agree with you. I spent many years in heavy traffic where it was stop and go 10 feet for atleast an hour. I worried more about the clutch life, fouled plugs, and overheating than my foot. I learned to drive on an auto because my parents had a blazer with a th350. They sold it within a couple months and I have been banging gears since. Every auto vehicle I owned was switched to a manual except one. I was looking for factory pedals and junked it before I swapped it out.
Larry, I was born a chevy guy and the that body style was the last straw for me. I drove a ton of them and never cared for the Allison's shift logic and the paddle shift still did what the computer wanted to an extent. A friend had a manual duramax and I hated the transmission in that. I couldn't find the gears very well. I towed with them quite alot but nothing over 10k. I preferred the older 90s model with a 6.2 diesel. Not nearly as quick but the auto did what you told it alot better. I also prefer a solid axle so I spent years hoping that the general would go back to it like the ford super duty. When I went to spend the cash on a new truck I only had one real choice. Dodge. Walked on the lot and took my choice of 6 speed manuals. to be fair that ended with the 2019 model year. This also marked the last year of their vehicles that I will buy.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by special-K

I find it interesting how you have people who feel working a clutch and shifting as an avoidable chore while at the other end you have those who never give it a thought. It's not about the transmission, it's about the people. We have differences in how we cope with things, react to things, how we adapt, accept, and deal with things. Many are all about anything more convenient while others just don't mind doing what that convenience is meant to save you from doing. We could be having this conversation over roll up windows vs electric.

...

I find myself stomping the floor and reaching for a shift lever that isn't there in an automatic. My pickup has these really convenient window handles that let you close the window after you have pulled out the key

Going down our ice covered driveway in the winter is sometimes treacherous with an automatic because it just wants to go faster than the brakes can hold it without sliding. I've found what works best is just to coast in neutral and barely use the brakes. The pickup you just stick it in 1st and idle down feet on the floor, though I have had times in 2wd when the rear wheels would start to lock up and kill the engine just from the compression.