How To Avoid Gear Crunches From First To Second

[made_guy]

hey ya'll, i like many people have a bit of a crunchy box - gearbox that is.

The most apparent and common crunch is definitely 1st -> 2nd.

we all know it gets better as things warm up, but while it's cold (and even while its warmed up for that matter) give double clutching a go!

you can do it with a little throttle blip if you really want a'la double-down-shifting, but it's not really necessary in everday driving.

instead of just:

pushing in the clutch; and

shifting the stick down through neutral to second

release clutch

do this:

push the clutch in (doesn't have to go all the way)

move the stick from 1st to neutral

release clutch briefly

push clutch in again

shift from neutral to 2nd

release clutch

it takes a while but if you are used to double down-shifting, it should be a breeze. if you're not used to it - it's a great way to get used to the motion of double-clutching and will put you in good stead to start double down-shifting and start saving your clutch and synchros.

i know this has been mentioned before in other "crunchy gearbox" threads, but i thought i would bring some attention to it as maybe there are other people who are nursing their gearbox and/or clutch until they can afford to replace them.

cheers

[Rekin]

eh? didnt you miss the step where you blip on the throttle as your in neutral, just before u shift into 2nd?

In cold mornings it wont even shift into 2nd for me. Pop it into neutral, a slight blip on the throttle, and then it easily slides into 2nd

[made_guy]

yeah i mentioned that you can if you want, but just driving around town, throttle blipping when up shifting isn't usually necessary.

however if it helps your changes i'm not going to tell you not to do it

Edited July 5, 2007 by made_guy

[dangerous_daveo]

But really, its not how its meant to work, and your gearbox is shagged, its time to look at getting it fixed as all you are doing is masking the problem.

[Rekin]

But really, its not how its meant to work, and your gearbox is shagged, its time to look at getting it fixed as all you are doing is masking the problem.

lol yeah a rebuilt gearbox is somewhere on the to-do list.

but in the mean time, best to squeeze as much life out of the current one before it dies

[made_guy]

^^ true that! plus, this is actually the most 'gentle' way to treat a box and will increase the life of any gearbox new or otherwise.

[MotoMan]

Ive been shifting this way for months... not getting any worse... however ive budgeted $2k for a rebuild and new clutch

[DRD-00F]

Isn't this general knowledge?

my box is a bit like that in the cold... i could use some new gearbox oil though... very common skyline problem...

i heard that its normally 2nd to 3rd though... i think they said that on Top Gear

but yeah, gearbox still works, its just a minor annoyance... no need for a whole new gearbox...

[jrocket]

I always double clutch down thru gears in my car. My gear box in my subaru 4WD lasted me bout 420,000km ish before i swapped it out by driving in this style. Mydad used to have the car so he done bout half of the kms but i stretched its life out by always double clutch.

Only reason i took gear box outta the car is because the syncro's were screwed and was starting to get a bit of a handfull to use. Also i had a spare kicking round with only 150,000kms on it, so it only made sense to change the rooted one out.

But yeah i would easy make it too 500,000 kms if i kept up with the double clutchin.