Another question about using the clutch

[bearthebruce]

So clutch in, brake, shift, clutch out and done.

On our Missey, while mowing, I have to shift to deal with hills and slopes... at the bottom of the hill, I clutch, brake, stop, down shift, and go - all at full throttle. At the top of the hill, at the apogee of my arc before turning down, I clutch, stop, upshift, and go at the faster pace. So half the pattern is done in a lower gear and half in a higher gear... Its the best I can do on this 8x8 tranny driven by 33 ponies dragging a 5' brush hog.

My dad would come back from the grave to calibrate my eyeballs if I slipped a clutch - even a wet clutch. I can feel that 2x4 upside my head already!

Nope.. got to shift... for real.

I do have lots of brush and rock piles to deal with. The previous owner was native American and rocks had some special spiritual meaning to him I am told. Rather than clear them from the field, he piled them - right in the way! That's a lot fun when during the season a rock decides to take a walk from the pile and you don't see it until the brush hog is top of it. Can you say pucker?

I'll be out there Monday. 10-12 hours depending on how high the grass is.. probably run out of daylight before I am done. I have never mowed this late in the fall. Wonder what new challenges I might find.

Enjoy your hours on the land. I know I do.

 

[5030]

Somebody who is just learning should forgo this advice.

Whether a tractor, pickup, semi or motorcycle; don't slip the clutch unless you like down time and repair bills.

I do the same with my Focus RS 6 speed and I always float the gears when I drove big trucks. It's an acquired trait however. Big truck gearboxes are not syncronized either. For me, a clutch is for starting out and coming to a complete stop.

 

[DK35vince]

You can't throttle down while the mower is putting a load on the tractor. The tractor should stay at pto speed.

Guess I've been doing it wrong the past 40 years
I use the foot throttle to speed up/slow down when there are trees and obstacles to go around all the time when mowing.

 

[azbinder]

Having taught new students on how to shift manual transmissions, I can understand why teaching to shift while rolling in a non synchronized transmission can be problematic. A difficult task, no...not really but it does take someone holding your hand explaining what you are doing wrong, as you do it rather than you doing whatever you can figure out to "stop the grinding".
For people who grew up around equipment that needed shifting while rolling, a tractor isn't a big deal. Some people who are mechanically inclined enough to be able to understand the what and why's of how a gear change is affected by motor rpm. This isn't as easy for people who grew up with nothing but automatics and away from other industrial equipment.
If you say it is easy, consider yourself blessed as having grown up around it, got taught by someone who made it easy, or are very mechanically inclined, because it isn't easy for a lot of people.
I got a crash course in different over the road transmissions. Learned on a 5 speed Mack day one, and on day two my instructor didn't show up. We were hauling mail and the boss gave me keys to another truck and told me to go, but be careful. I called him 20 miles down the road, saying I couldn't get the truck to go over 29mph...(he knew it would run 90mph). After a few i (5th) and he suggested I go back and try again, and this time when I got to 5th, reach around on the front of the gearshift and pull that little button up and run those 5 again. Dang if that didn't help!!! That was 44 years ago, and many different transmissions with different gear patterns and temperaments. David from jax

Sounds like a 10 speed roadranger.
I used to drive a Mack with a straight 5 speed behind a Mack 6 cylinder.

 

[Doug Vee]

My grandfather's Massey Ferguson 35 had a two stage clutch. First stage disengaged the transmission, the 2nd stage disengaged the PTO.

The old girl worked really hard running the 6' Bush Hog, hard against the governor, especially while mowing tall, thick hay with grass blades. The gas engine did not have the torque to keep the 6' mower at PTO speed, so the process was to disengage the transmission stage until the engine RPM recovered, at which point the clutch was engaged and forward motion was continued.

I don't recall there ever being an issue with the clutch, though I was an adolescent kid during this time period so may not have been in the loop. The engine was overhauled though, sometime after I was on to the rest of my life.

Doug

 

[Too many Kubotas]

If his tractor has the gear transmission, it's likely unsynchronized and he'll need to stop to shift it.

Those transmissions aren't being shifted by people learning on their own, most are highly supervised in a yard to learn how to shift those transmissions.

I didn't know the above things, so I've shifted all kinds of transmissions and transfer cases on the fly without using the clutch. That includes tractors, cars, pickups, and Peterbilts.

Actually, when getting my first Pete (which didn't have the decal on the dash) I had to call a friend and ask what the two switches on the shifter were for.

Being able to shift a non-syncro transmission is a knowledge that really comes in handy when losing the clutch, in anything. I'm sure glad I figured out how to do it.

 

[Jstpssng]

My grandfather's Massey Ferguson 35 had a two stage clutch. First stage disengaged the transmission, the 2nd stage disengaged the PTO.

The old girl worked really hard running the 6' Bush Hog, hard against the governor, especially while mowing tall, thick hay with grass blades. The gas engine did not have the torque to keep the 6' mower at PTO speed, so the process was to disengage the transmission stage until the engine RPM recovered, at which point the clutch was engaged and forward motion was continued.

I don't recall there ever being an issue with the clutch, though I was an adolescent kid during this time period so may not have been in the loop. The engine was overhauled though, sometime after I was on to the rest of my life.

Doug

A two stage clutch is just that; two separate discs within the clutch pack. It's designed to be used just as you describe. I bought my HST because the geared 3301 doesn't have a 2 stage clutch, which I consider important for running tiller and bush hog.

 

[OzarkChris]

On our Missey, while mowing, I have to shift to deal with hills and slopes... at the bottom of the hill, I clutch, brake, stop, down shift, and go - all at full throttle. At the top of the hill, at the apogee of my arc before turning down, I clutch, stop, upshift, and go at the faster pace.

Back in the day, it was an accepted "policy" to be the same or 1 gear lower going downhill than it took to go up.

Yes this was for trucks, and was for saving the air brakes, but it could be argued in you case too!

 

[tjus77]

So clutch in, brake, shift, clutch out and done.

Unless going downhill, don't even brake. Your shredder will slow you down enough. I have done it without braking, but always be prepared when on a downgrade to brake in case you miss the gear at first.

 

[olenjohn]

Depress the clutch petal, put it I gear, release the clutch and keep you foot OFF the clutch petal. Clutch is for shifting gears, not for slowing down.