Ah, Discount Tire....

[thegoat4]

So I've been needing tires. Both of the ones in the back have had a severe vibration for the last 10k, and one of the fronts started to peel off sidewall yesterday. And I had no spare.

So, bought a rim yesterday, bought brand new tires today. They tried to upsell me some Michelins that were ever-so-slightly bigger, but I passed. Kinda regretted it, but oh well, saved me $200. Plus the one old tire I'm reusing as the spare wouldn't have matched.

Anyhoo, there was one kid in the whole place who dared to say he knew how to drive a stick. I went to get food, and when I came back Beebop was already inside gettin' done.

But I got to see his driving "method" when he pulled out. Wound it up to at least four grand and ever so gently applied the clutch. Once he got rolling out the door and backed as far as he wanted it, shifted into first, and rode the clutch until my poor truck changed directions. I'm pretty sure he never hit the brake or fully applied the clutch. By the time he got over to me I could smell burning.

God I'm glad I put off changing the clutch for a few more miles!

I gathered him and a couple of of other guys over and schooled them on how to make a truck go without incinerating the clutch. And I made sure they could all smell the result of failure.

The manager noticed this, came outside, and after chatting a while and sniffing my truck knocked $100 off my bill.

Shoulda got them Michelins.

 

[jrmustranger97]

Thats pretty funny. Not that the guy smoked your clutch of course, but that you had the stones to teach them how to drive. Most people hate it when you do that!

 

[chico4554]

the way i teach is to not even use the gas. To get the true feel of the clutch just let it out slowly until you feel it catch, then if you hold it there for a second the truck will start moving just fine. Its amazing the amount of people that dont know how to drive clutch anymore, or even want to try to learn.

 

[Jspafford]

I would rather had them stall it a few times than burn it up.

If a guy cannot drive a stick, I have to wonder about his masculinity.

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

I blame the automatic transmission for the wussification of America.

 

[Zerocide]

Its cool that you schooled some kids that are basically suppose to know that already.

However i got no room to talk because the one time i got my hands on a manual i stalled it 3 times on a left turn....i really want to learn manual but dunno anyone who owns a manual that also happens to be willing to teach me.

 

[chico4554]

Its cool that you schooled some kids that are basically suppose to know that already.

However i got no room to talk because the one time i got my hands on a manual i stalled it 3 times on a left turn....i really want to learn manual but dunno anyone who owns a manual that also happens to be willing to teach me.

if you lived by me id let ya drive my saturn whereever, its a really easy manual to start out on.

 

[holyford86]

A really fun manual to drive is the '29 dodge pickup one of my buddies has. It takes finesse to get moving and shift the thing because it has no synchros. Pathetic thing is it drives better than some of the newer vehicles they have.

 

[rickcdewitt]

reminds me of the time i had tires done at wally world and i watched some moron use a 19 to strip my lugnuts missing the chrome after i told him to use an 18mm.they sat there looking stupid until i got an 18 out of my tool box for the idiots to use.the manager gave me a discount also,it looks bad when you need to borrow a customers tool to finish a job you screwed up.

 

[samsonitesamsonite]

i would insist on a new clutch. And I wouldn't stop until I got them to put it in. When I worked at the shop changing tires/working as a mech. we had to PROVE that we could drive a stick before the would allow us in customers manual cars.

 

[thegoat4]

A really fun manual to drive is the '29 dodge pickup one of my buddies has. It takes finesse to get moving and shift the thing because it has no synchros. Pathetic thing is it drives better than some of the newer vehicles they have.

Eighteen wheelers are fun too. Unless there's something wrong it doesn't take a whole lot of finesse to get rolling, but you've got anywhere from eight to seventy-two gears to mess with, none synchronized.

Usually the pattern is like a five speed, but with reverse in top left. Go through the five, flip a front lever (range) up, then go through the five again. That's a ten speed. A nine is similar, but bottom left is Lo, and you skip it when in high range. A 13 is like a nine when in low, but in high, the other four spots can be split with a second lever (splitter) on the side of the stick. 18 is the same, but you can split the low range too. Then there's a 15, 8 lolo, and even a rare 20. All of them have at least two reverse speeds, some have as many as four.

On some of the old overdrive transmission that third rail is backwards.

Then you have a "super ten" that just has the side knob. So bottom left is 1/2, top middle is 3/4, bottom middle is 5/6, etc.

Mack Trucks makes their own transmissions, and those have pretty much every shift pattern under the sun. They even have a twelve speed where reverse is a switch on the side of the knob. So you have 12 forward speeds and six backwards speeds.

You can also have two-speed rear ends. Kinda like a doubler in practice.

And the really old trucks have two sticks because they have two transmissions mounted back-to-back. I have seen one with three, but have no idea how to drive it.

I lied a little earlier when I said, "none synchronized." When you flip the range or splitter, that is synchronized, it's just gears you shift by moving the stick that aren't. But on the old setup with two boxes, literally nothing is synchronized. A range shift in that is a project and if you miss you pretty much have to come to a stop to get it back into a gear.

The one with 72 gears had an 18 speed in the front, then a four speed behind it. So you have a stick with six positions and two small levers, then a seond stick next to it with four positions. Kinda like having two doublers. His final crawl was in the 300:1 neighborhood. But if he used that with much power at all he'd blow up axle shafts and spit out his driveline.

That's fun to drive. 625horsepower, 2,000 ftlbs torque at the flywheel, 72 gears, and a top speed of 124. Fast as a fire truck but a whole lot bigger.



It was in the shop because he tore that second transmission loose. Oops.

 

[Shoeboy]

I work in a shop, and drive a lot of cars. Sad to say that most of the cars are the "automagic" now (so many people think that its just drive and go and don't know the basic principal of how an automatic or manual transmission works, its easier and takes a hell of a lot less time to tell them "I don't know how it works, Its magic..."). My truck is a standard and even with the standards slowing decreasing in popularity, there are still quite a few I drive. Its hard jumping from one standard to another, expecially if you're going from a Ranger, to a Dodge 1 ton, to a civic, to a saturn, to a corvette. Every car has a different clutch and sometimes it takes a little to get used to it, but I never let it rev high to engage it. SunFlowers (sunfires) are the worst clutch in my opinion. They just feel completly of to me and if they wear just a little, the friction point seems to be very hard to find. But ya, riding a clutch (unless you're feathering the vehicle forwards) is never a good idea.

Thats awesome that you got a nice chunk of change off your tires because of that. Reminds me of when I bought my toolbox, it was susposed to be delievered to the store in the morning. A buddy and I were walking around the tool shop until about noon when one of the owners (private shop, 3 owners, very nice guys), told up to go for lunch and it was on them. Plus on top of that I got a $1300 tool box for $1000 and no taxes. Ya, good things happen when things seem like they're going wrong...sometimes.

 

[azhrei]

I taught my daughter by bringing her to this very long hill, over a mile... I had her keep trying and sure it took over an hour... she was able to drive it after that...

 

[truckman]

A buddy of mine told me the story of how he thought his ex g/f to drive a stick. He got her in the car 93 SHO. Awsome ride any ways he told her to let the clutch got it going she gave it some gas now hes like hit he pedal all the way to the left let off the gas and shift gears well next thing he new he was eaten the dash as she stomped on the parking break. Did i forget shes blonde on top of all this. When he told me i about pee'ed my pants.

 

[Shoeboy]

I tried teaching my ex how to drive stick. She was one of those people who would driver gas with right foot, brake with left foot (worst thing ever). I could only stand to see my truck stalling so many times, and by the time I gave up on her. I could smell quite clearly the clutch burning. She was a bad driver without throwing a standard into the mix.

When my sister started driving and I took her out, I noticed that she was driving the same way, gas right foot, brake left foot. I guess the AMA is hiring bad drivers now, teaching bad lessons. So to brake her of this habit, i tied her left foot to the seat so she had to drive (my van's automatic) only using her right foot. She's in school right now, but after she gets out I'm teaching her standard...after she finds someone to borrow a car from, as my truck just got a major face lift (pictures coming hopefully by the end of the week, as a clue, the only factory metal on the thing is the cab, most of it at least, the inner fender supports, and the frame and engine).