Double declutching

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Are there many lorries on the road where double declutching is actually required?

I’m fairly good at rev matching and using heel toe for braking but I’ve never had to double clutch.

I’m just wondering if it’s worth practicing?

2

Greenuser:
Are there many lorries on the road where double declutching is actually required?

I’m fairly good at rev matching and using heel toe for braking but I’ve never had to double clutch.

I’m just wondering if it’s worth practicing?

I doubt any of us have driven one in at least 3 decades

3

ROG:

Greenuser:
Are there many lorries on the road where double declutching is actually required?

I’m fairly good at rev matching and using heel toe for braking but I’ve never had to double clutch.

I’m just wondering if it’s worth practicing?

I doubt any of us have driven one in at least 3 decades

Ahh thank god for that :slight_smile:

4

High mileage manuals might well have failing synchro, needing a bit of care, but a genuine non-synchro box? As Rog says, very rare now.

5

i actually used to enjoy mastering a crash gearbox,back in the day. training with J Coates,back in '79,i was instructed to use the gearbox as such,'tho it was a synchro box in the training truck.

6

carryfast-yeti:
i actually used to enjoy mastering a crash gearbox,back in the day. training with J Coates,back in '79,i was instructed to use the gearbox as such,'tho it was a synchro box in the training truck.

Ditto in 1979 but I did my then HGV class 1 training with an ex Atlas express instructor who had set up his own training company but I am damned if I can remember the name of it …

7

I learned rigid in a J reg Scania 92 in 2004 which had a syncro box but my instructor made us double clutch and told us that one day we’d thank him for it.

True to form I had a day driving an L reg ERF EC6 and they guy I was with couldn’t believe that a newbie could drive it.

But never had one since, although been useful with a few old knackered gearboxes.

8

I drove an old back loader bus with double clutch and no power steering for a wedding a few times. I was given training 20 minutes, he said remember what I tell you and you will be fine.

Slightly earlier turn to a corner as the wheels are in front rather than behind you (in a conventional bus), keep the bus moving even if at 1mph with no power steering, it was double clutch in 1st to 2nd gear.

It reminded me of driving an old land rover but got used to it quite quickly.

I went for a corner once thinking I was driving a coach with power steering, I needed new underwear and had to stand up in the cab to turn it! No one noticed thank god.