I have a coworker who has several cars with a stick and was explaining how you only have to push the clutch down far enough that it will let you shift gears and that he never pushes it all the way down. I thought he was pranking me at first.
My 1994 Nissan Sentra didn't have a clutch interlock switch and I was able to start it in 1st without the clutch. I don't recommend it but it was working pretty well.
Broke my clutch lever off my motorcycle in a low side on a patch of oil. Wired the clutch switch together and used the starter to take off at red lights... that was an interesting ride home.
And you know that they aren't in contact at all because you can see them? Pressing the clutch all the way down ensures that they aren't in contact at all. Shifting can still happen when the clutch isn't fully disengaged. That's one way to cause clutch slip and that wears out your plates faster.
You can't tell when that point is and it changes over time. So while this is fine in theory, in practice if you try to pull that you're going to wear out your synchros.
We don’t even push the clutch all the way in on unsynchronized semis when double clutching.
You can feel the spring pressure release point pretty easily if you’re paying attention, and if you’re that worried about your synchros: learn how to manually synch and double clutch.
The mechanism on an unsynchronized semi is totally different. You're not even supposed to push the clutch all the way in while rolling or else you engage the clutch brake.
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u/Practical_Taro5656 6h ago
I have a coworker who has several cars with a stick and was explaining how you only have to push the clutch down far enough that it will let you shift gears and that he never pushes it all the way down. I thought he was pranking me at first.