I was taught how to drive stick from Grandpa who, with his brother, used to race Indy 500 cars. (Unfortunately, my lesson car was a Suzuki Samurai.) One thing he taught me was when moving from neutral to go to 2nd gear first. The reason was that its gear ratio made it easier to align before going into 1st gear or reverse.
I’ve seen other people have problems with it being a little fussy going from neutral to 1st or reverse, but I’m in such a habit mindset that I always shift from second gear and never have a problem getting it into gear. Maybe it’s something that worked more on older cars or selective tests, I dunno.
So I’m curious if this is just a myth or if there’s something to it.
I’m guessing that trick might have been useful on an old non-synchronized transmission, although I’m not sure how exactly. Non-synced transmissions have pretty much been gone since the 60’s, but they stuck around in some racing applications. On a thoroughly modern and refined vehicle such as a Suzuki Samurai, it shouldn’t be necessary.
Cheap manual transmissions used to put synchros on every gear except first - the reason being that if you were going into first gear, 99% of the time the car was already at a dead stop, i.e. the output shaft from the gearbox was not spinning. So to match the RPM of the gearbox’s input shaft to the RPM of its output shaft (i.e. zero RPM), you put it in second gear, the synchro brakes the input shaft to a stop, and then you can put it into first gear without any grinding. Presto: you had a way to shift into first gear without grinding, and the cost of one synchro mechanism was eliminated from the design.
Alternatively you could just clutch-in and wait for the gearbox’s input shaft to coast to a stop on its own, and then you should be able to shift directly into first gear without any grinding.
My brother used to have an Alfa Romeo Spider with a transmission like this.
I think what you may be talking about is double clutch shifting.
You let off the gas and put it into neutral. Let out the clutch to engage the tranny and make the engine RMP and the transmission RMP match. Then you try to match the engine speed with the next gear speed, by either increasing RMP or waiting for the RPM to fall, and then put the car into the next gear.
You can then slip the tranny into the next gear once the RMPs match without even using the clutch.
Please no hate mail for using the word tranny in this context.
Not the same thing. Double declutching is for downshifting while in motion. OP is referring to a method of getting into first gear while stopped and not grinding.
I used to do something similar in my old '87 Honda Prelude. Reverse gear synchro was worn, so I stuck it in first and THEN reverse, all while the clutch is depressed, to prevent grinds.
Your grandpa was correct. Try sitting in your stationaty rig with the engine idling and shift from neutral to reverse. Then try neutral to first. Now neutral to 2nd. Next try neutral to 3rd. Release the clutch in neutral each time. Do this seven times.
Which gear was easiest? I will guess that the higher the gear the easier it was with little difference between 2nd and above. Since it is a straight shot from 2nd to 1st he recomened that you shift from neutral to 2nd to 1st. IDK, but is reverse close to 2nd on the Samurai? If so, that is why he had you go from neutral to 2nd to reverse. If not try the gear that is a straight shot from reverse for it IE. Nuetral to 5th to reverse.
As a racer to whom thousanths of a second count, he knew the fastest way to get his race car into gear. This and other “tricks” are how he won races!
As to the idea that 1st and reverse do not have syncros, in many rigs today this is still true. Since 2nd has syncros, you are using 2nd’s syncro to get the gears stopped in the tranny and then you shift into 1st while the gears are stopped. Effectively you are using the higher gearing in 2nd as well as its syncros to get into 1st or reverse.
While todays cars have lighter gears and thinner oils in the transmissions, which help with shifting into the lower gears, as you have observed, folks still have problems with shifting into 1st and reverse. Your grandpa taught you a useful skill. Grin and think of him as you drive off.
Not just cheap trannys had no syncros for 1st gear. I doubt if you could find (m)any rigs from the fortys and fiftys that had a synco for 1st gear. Heck, many had no syncros at all!
Your discription of the reason this technique works is very accurate! Since his grandpa raced cars professionally, he did not want to wait for the gears to stop on their own. Hence the use of 2nd gear for this purpose.
I use the same technique, but I never gave much thought to the reason for it. The car just seems to go into first more easily if I go into second beforehand. Not to mention that, when decelerating, second gear can be a good “get the hell out of the way” gear if I notice a tractor-trailer about to plow into the ass end of my car, or something like that.
Maybe this was true for trannies without synchros, but in synchromesh-design trannies (which have been the norm for many decades) it’s hogwash. The gear ratio has nothing to do with it, as the gears are in constant mesh (except reverse) and it’s the dog teeth on the shifting collar that engage the gear. If one gear is easier to engage than another, it’s because its brass synchro rings are less worn.
Many (most?) designs do not have synchronizers for reverse (they’re not needed because you’re NEVER going to shift into reverse while the vehicle’s moving, right? :)), so it can take a little more effort to engage. I don’t see how the stated technique could affect that.
One thing to note is that in neutral with the clutch engaged, there will be shafts spinning in the transmission. They continue to spin for a couple seconds after the clutch pedal is depressed, and if one tries to select a gear right away there will be some resistance. Simply pausing for a few seconds will alleviate this.
I agree, the OP’s eddication was all about non-synchro first gears.
I’ve started off in second in many vehicles - rental trucks with a great-great-granny gear first, good to bump the beast off a standstill and not much more, some cars that had exceptionally low firsts.
I can start my summer car from a standstill in any gear, including 5th. That’s what 600 fpt in a curve as flat as the Great Plains will do for ya.
Jeez, you are rolling back the years for me here … my father taught me how to do double de-clutching back in the early sixties while I was learning to drive (at the age of 10)
He still used to do this even after the advent of synchromesh in all gears in the mid-sixties … bless.
My father taught me to drive in a Hillman Minx, with a three speed box, and no synchro on first. One place we often went to had a fairly steep slope up to a T junction and a give-way.
There was a restricted view so I would approach in second, slowing down, and if the road was clear, I needed to do a quick downshift while still moving, to get away. It took me a while, but i eventually got the hang of double de clutching. He also taught me how to change gear, up and down, without using the clutch at all - he claimed it caused less wear on the clutch.
I never remember a situation where I would use 2nd as a gear brake, as described. I did once travel across country with a heavy trailer. I learned to double-clutch into 1st so I didn’t have to totally stop - easier to pull away if you don’t lose all momentum.
