[Golden_Girl]

I may have to learn how to drive a 5-speed truck soon, but I don't have a clue on how to drive it. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most difficult) how hard is it to learn how to drive a 5-speed and is it difficult to drive it?

[Scleros]

I'd give it a 3. If you can walk and chew gum without biting your tongue, you should be OK.

[ScottGem]

Its extremely easy to learn how, what's hard is getting it down right. Driving a standard transmission involves pressing a clutch pedal while you shift gears and give the vehicle gas.

Unlike an automatic transmission (you don't drive an auto, you steer it), you have to be doing several things at once. You have to monitor the tach and/or listen for the sound of the engine to tell you when to shift. When that happens you have to press the clutch while moving the shift lever. That also means you need to know what gear you are in and where to move the lever for the gear you want to be in. All of this needs to be done while you keep your eyes on the road.

Plus, each car is different. When I bought my first car it was a stick. I had practiced on other cars and was confident I could handle it. It took me 15 minutes to drive from the dealer to the gas station next door, because I kept stalling out. Took me a little bit to get the hang of the transmission.

But once you get in practice, it becomes almost second nature. Muscle memory helps you do things by instinct.

[Golden_Girl]

Thanks guys. Well, I do know how to chew gum and walk at the same time successfully. So, I may start trying.

[jmjoseph]

Like anything else, it takes practice. You'll have to learn the basics before you can take off from a dead stop, on a hill. That's probably the hardest thing to do.


You have the clutch pedal under your left foot, and then the brake in the middle, and then the gas pedal on the right. The gear shift is labeled. You start in first, then go to second, third, fourth, then fifth last. Once you get the hang of it, it's not that hard as long as you have coordination.

Good luck to you. And may your teacher have patience, a warranty, and insurance.

http://www.howtodothings.com/automot...shift-car.html

http://video.google.com/videosearch?...itle&resnum=4#

[Golden_Girl]

Thanks jmjoseph. Well, I don't have a teacher to teach me but I may have to start searching for one.

[KISS]

I taught someone how to drive a stick extremely quickly.

We went to a hilly development and I said you need to get the feeling of the clutch, so she just practiced getting the car rolling without using the gas. We did that for a bit.

Then we went to flat ground where you need to use the accelerator to get the same feeling as down hill.

When that was mastered, we then concentrated on how to get up hill with assist. Meaning using the parking brake to keep from rolling backwards.

Once all of that is mastered then you can head to the open road and use the tachometer to figure when to shift.

The hardest part in doing it this way is that you have to unlearn something that you did in the very beginning. Eventually you need to brake and depress the clutch in when your almost stopped. In the learning process she was depressing the clutch before she stopped.

My cousin asked if I wanted to take an 18 wheeler for a spin in the parking lot when I was in my early 20's. Now that was different. Clutch to get it out of gear and clutch to get it in one, so each gear change requires double clutching.

[Sticky Sam]

Getting the rev right/ letting the clutch bite when pulling away is tricky at first. Pulling from stop on a hill can be tricky, I never had a problem with this but most people do. I drive cars/ride motorbikes in Europe/USA/England ( RHD cars in England ) I never have a problem with any of them. When I first started to drive cars ( all cars were geared where I come from ) the gear changing/clutch co ordination was the tricky bit.

[frefoo]

As other people have mentioned it is not hard. It just takes practice.

The biggest challenge you will find is starting from a dead stop on a hill.

Since you mentioned a truck. I doubt you will have the use of a handbrake to help you learn, so you will want to practice that once you get used to the basics.

People have been driving manual transmissions for roughly 100 years so I have no doubt that you can master it.

[freedhardwoods]

My cousin asked if I wanted to take an 18 wheeler for a spin in the parking lot when I was in my early 20's. Now that was different. Clutch to get it out of gear and clutch to get it in one, so each gear change requires double clutching.

Some transmissions are like that when new, but most are not. I have driven over 2.5 million miles in an 18 wheeler. I have driven 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, and 16 speeds. A 16 speed is 2 four speeds (main and auxilliary) hooked together with 2 gearshift levers to shift. Once the truck is moving, I don't touch the clutch pedal till I am ready to stop, even with a 16 speed.



Everyone has else has answered your question. I will agree that some car transmissions are easier to learn than others. Don't get discouraged if you get a "hard to learn" transmission. Keep trying and you will catch on. With practice, you will be able to shift without even thinking about it.

[Golden_Girl]

Oh I hope so freedhardwoods, I would like it to become second nature to me. I can't believe you drive 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, and 16 speeds! I didn't even know it could have so many speeds, did you ever get confused with different speeds?

Hills are one of my fears frefoo... lol, so once I get the truck fixed up and a new battery I'll practice little by little each day until I get the hang of it.

Thanks again everyone for all of your advice, I'll be printing this out and studying it all.

[freedhardwoods]

.... did you ever get confused with different speeds?

Shifting without thinking about it can be a two-edged sword. I have driven 1 million miles in the truck I have now. Your senses get tuned to the sound and feel of the vehicle. Every once in a while I will realize that my hand automatically pulled the gearshift into neutral, and the thought flashes through my head "What gear was I in?" I can usually recover fast enough that nobody would notice, but there have been occasions when I was really lost in all that empty space between my ears and I had to look at the speedometer to figure it out. :o

[ScottGem]

I didn't even know it could have so many speeds,

You might want to Google How transmissions work to understand what is happening when you shift. Have you ever ridden a multi-speed bicycle with a dérailleur? Its very similar. In a nutshell, the transmission uses different cog to spin the wheels at different rates. So the engine can use the same amount of power to turn the wheels faster. That's why the motor sounds more strained when you are going too fast in a lower gear.

[Golden_Girl]

I used to have a 10 speed bike years ago.

What would happen if I ended up driving the truck using the wrong gear?

[KISS]

Nasty jerks. Truck could stall. Engine RPM can get too high. Truck could studder.

The manual for the truck should list the speed range for each gear.

The tachometer is your friend. It essentially tells you when to shift. Eventually you will use feel and sound to shift. The tach usually is marked with a "red line". You should NEVER exceed this engine RPM.

You need to learn how the hand brake works. Modern hand brakes are not like he hand brakes of the 50's. You could easily drive just using the hand brake if the hydraulic system failed on your brakes. Now we have dual master cylinders.

Then there is the "3 on the tree" or "4 on the floor" refers to whether the shifter is on the steering column or on the floor. 4 and 4 refer to speeds. Column shifting is annoying.