You must be kidding.

 

I'm guilty of doing this a bit, but I do believe it can be bad for your transmission if done excessively or incorrectly. Depending on how much torque is on your drivetrain, either from deceleration or acceleration, you will notice that it can be difficult to get it to "pop" out of gear and into neutral. It is my belief that this is a result of your synchros trying to keep the transmission in gear, and they will wear prematurely if you overwork them by forcing it out of gear while there is a lot of torque on the driveline repeatedly.

If your driveline tension is fairly neutral, and the lever falls out of gear easily, I don't believe it is anything to worry about. Just avoid yanking it out with any amount of force.

I'm not saying I'm right, that is just how I think it works, and I'm subject to being wrong.

 

Clutches are cheaper than trannies.

If you blip the throttle a tiny bit when you kick it into neutral, it shouldn't hurt the synchros, and yes, that's 1 less clutch engagements of the hundreds of thousands of engagements it will go though it its life.

Always safer to just use the clutch, but if you do it properly it shouldnt hurt anything. But ask yourself if you're good enough and if the benefit is worth the possible problems it could create.

You can shift out and into gear without the clutch and if done properly, it too wont hurt the synchros, forks, or gears, but again: are you good enough and is it worth wrecking your transmission practicing?

0.02

 

Just use the f'in clutch. That's why it's in the car.

 

i actually shift mine up w/o clutch all the time i personally thinks im doing no bad at all cuz im doing it so smoth that there is no hesitation no grind nothing its jus every thing going in at the perfect time and same thing with shifting into neutral as long as it can slide out w/o hesitation youll be fine jus dont force it and again i never had a problem doing it in any of my cars

 

it is bad to shift without the clutch. maybe in the olden times you can do that but the synchro will wear out faster if you keep shifting without the clutch. replace synchro=replace the tranny. if you are slowing down under load the gear will pop loose easily as a result of shifting without a clutch for a prolonged period of time.

 

Yes it's true, because you're not disengaging/engaging the clutch, running thru it's slip points, but you need to take the load off of your gearbox by delegating rpm with the gas pedal. You can shift your car entirely without using the clutch but you need to match rpm. You can't however, go into first without using the clutch from neutral (at a stop) the car needs to be moving for the gears to mesh correctly. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I wouldn't try it, stick with the clutch.

 

what he said!

 

whether you call it power shifting or granny shifting its not a good thing! period!

 

Shifting to neutral without using the clutch is a useful technique when approaching a stop light where you will be sitting waiting for the green. Just lift the throttle and coast toward the light while applying light pressure to the shifter toward neutral. When the drivetrain reaches the point of zero torque through the gears, the lever will move easily into neutral.

Then you can sit at the light with the clutch pedal up and no pressure on the throwout bearing or clutch springs. When the light changes, clutch in, select first, and drive away. If on a slope, set the parking brake while waiting for the light.

Shifting without the clutch is also possible without doing serious damage. To do this, it is important to be able to match the engine revs to the car road speed very carefully. I taught my daughter to do this and she was able to get the car home after a clutch cable broke.

Kern Fischer
Performance Driving Coach

 

I'll try it next time.. Hopefully I won't destroy anything..

 

I'm thinking the clutch is there for a reason and I am going to use it for the intended reason. Although I have driven my 1984 Dodge 4x4 for over 200 miles and never touched the clutch! LOL getting it going again was a b*tch from stops! BTW that clutch was totally fried!

Josh

 

I shift without my clutch all the time, never had a problem, as long as you time the rpm's right, 5th gear can be a little tricky though.

 

if you don’t want to use your clutch, get an automatic.[/QUOTE]

seriously