freightliner 6 speed manual

[stegomon]

i drive a freightliner m2 business class with a 6 speed manual with 298,000 miles. i have maybe put on 28000 of those miles on. and i am not the only person that drives it. i lost all forward gears and reverse. but i still have 5th gear. it was making a loud wining noise than i went to shift into 5th. noise went away. down shift and nothing there. no loud bangs. just a loud wind in 4th. it has always had a hard time shifting into 2nd from a dead stop. i do sometimes shift with out the clutch from 4-5-6. matching my rpms. i also will shift from 6-5 down shifting but i hardly grind a gear......

now my real question. is this my fault that the trans crapped out. or is it because it is old

 

[Big Jim M]

First guess would be forks are bent. If other folks drive that ride then who knows when or how the forks got bent. Might not need any new parts might just need everything put back into shape to work as built.
Big Jim

 

[RonD]

5th gear on a 6speed is a direct drive, 1:1 ratio, between input and output shafts so if that still engages it means the input shaft gear and/or it's counter shaft gear is bad.

5th gear(on a 6 speed)
Engine--clutch--input shaft/output shaft------rear wheels(counter shaft or it's gears are not used)

1-4 and 6th gear
Engine--clutch--input shaft--(counter shaft)--output shaft------rear wheels

Yes, transmission problem, it will need to be pulled out and repaired.

Shifting without using the clutch saves wear on clutch disc but not transmission, clutch discs can be replaced fairly easy compared to transmission parts, so I will let you make that call

Kind of like feathering the clutch to slow down causes clutch disc wear but less brake pad/shoe wear, but brake pads/shoes are easier to replace than clutch disc, so.......your choice.
You can/should use engine as a brake just don't feather the clutch to do it.

As to whether or not it is your fault would be a hard call, input shaft gear gets all the load starting out so it is often the gear that strips out, and is a common failure for manual transmissions.

Transmission can not be disconnected from the rear wheels, it can only be disconnected from the engine via the clutch disc.
Rear wheels up to the trans input shaft tend to be a very steady RPM because of the mass of the vehicle, RPM matching of the engine to the RPM of the rear wheels(input shaft) simply can not be done exactly, close but not exact, so there will be stress some where, clutch absorbs the inexact RPM match normally so there is less stress on the parts involved, clutch wears down because of this RPM matching of engine to rear wheels but as said above much less expensive and easier to change worn clutch than broken transmission.

In my youth I thought this shifting without using the clutch was a skill that was impressive when I learned to do it, and like you I learned it quite well, and it relieves some of the boredom of driving, lol.
As I got older and started fixing manual transmission I learn a bit better how things worked, the very small benifit of less clutch disc wear isn't worth the "possible" stress on the other, harder to replace parts, just my opinion.

 

[stegomon]

Ok thanks guys

 

[Andy D]

Rpm matching shifts are less stress on the clutch and your left leg. Straight tooth, non syncro mesh gears are more tolerant to an extent. Bronze synchronizers suffer more from rev matching. If your shifting wasn't making grinding sounds and vibrating the shifter, it wasn't you.

 

[stegomon]

It kind of reminds me of an input shaft bearing. I lost a fm146 when I was younger and lost err and 5 th. And it sounded like that kind of winding. And this winding was only around a half a mile?

 

[Hagan]

Will you be in trouble if they claim in was your fault?

I'm guessing you must do some kind of deliveries?

 

[stegomon]

I do not know. It is a Ryder truck. I don't want to be the one flipping the Bill or have them a reason to let me go

 

[RonD]

Can't say if they will let you go or not, but can say it won't be from this transmission failure.

It would be very hard to break a manual trans in one go around, even if you drain all the fluid out of it, it would still last awhile.

Now if was the 3rd manual trans to go out, and you were the only driver..........well I would still consider it bad luck, but would move you to a desk job............or an automatic, lol.

 

[trail B2]

I drive a truck a lot for my construction company employer.Most are not synchronized but some are.It's very rare that I ever use the clutch.I drove a fuel truck for three years never used the clutch it was synchronized.There was even a spell where I stopped and started without a clutch.The standard for a paid driver is that way in my mind.The synchros aren't going out in your transmission it broke something else if they fire you for that you needed a new job anyway.

 

[Hagan]

If they fire you for that you needed a new job anyway.

I totally agree. I currently drive truck for a delivery company and I can't wait to get out of it. It's not worth it...little pay and a lot of responsibility. Then on top of that I got 2 tickets 2 weeks ago.

 

[stegomon]

Some one told me that this is the third trans in this truck. They had an other truck that lost 4 trans. He thinks that the trucks we get are a little beet when we get them. And then they put in used beet trans. So I am glad that it was just not me