[TR] why could my brother change gear in an old Triumph without using the clutch

[Rye Livingston]

Over the years, on two different cars, I've had a clutch cable break and had several miles to get home.  A BMW 2002 and a Jeep CJ5. Shifting up and down the gears, matching the RPMS with the transmission, was the easy part, and as you said the toughest part is 1st gear, especially when coming to a stop light.  I learned a trick from my brother who did this in our fathers 1963 356 Porsche. Slip it into neutral when approaching a stoplight and turn off the engine and coast to a stop at the light.  Put it in gear, light turns green and start the car in gear and zoom, off ya go.

I also used this "starting in gear" trick when I was in college and we were going out in the mountains for a "Kegger", (bunch of guys and a keg of beer.)  We were forging a creek, and I was in a BMW 1600 Ti Alpina (sure wish I still had that car!).  I went into the creek too fast and water splashed up and killed the engine and I couldn't restart the engine.  I could feel the car start to rock a little from the water,  and water was coming in the through the clutch and brake pedal slots, the water was above the door sills.  OK, put the car in gear and turn the key, and the starter motor limped the car out of the creek.  It was a 6 volt system too, but it worked.

Rye
PH: 530-FIND-RYE

On Jan 16, 2017, at 09:07 PM, dave n <dave at ranteer.com> wrote:

it is very doable.  I have driven more than one car quite a distance that way.  the toughest trick is to get it into first gear the first time.
 
but – using a clutch is much easier!
 
From: Geo Hahn
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2017 7:48 PM
To: Sujit Roy
Cc: Triumphs
Subject: Re: [TR] why could my brother change gear in an old Triumph without using the clutch
 
I think he was probably using the synchros to mesh the gears.  Not too difficult.
 
You can usually get it out of gear by finding that spot where the engine and driveshaft are in sync - that is, the engine is not driving the driveshaft nor is the driveshaft driving the engine - when they are matched the box will easily slip out of gear.
 
You then get ready to select the gear you want but stop short of actually trying to shift into it.  You get the engine speed close to right then lightly press the gearshift while you hunt a little up and down with the engine speed to find the exact spot.  When you find it that light pressing of the stick will slip the stick right into gear.
 
At least, that's how I do it.
 
Actually a good thing to practice (IMO) sometime when you've got the road to yourself -- as a hedge against the day when you have to drive home w/o a clutch.
 
Geo

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