Double Clutching '49 F2: Hear me Coming a Mile Away

[desertplainsman]

Like my father, I actually learned to drive a stick in this very pickup when I was 14 (32 years ago). As a youngster, double clutching came easy, but when I first pulled the restoration back on the road, I ground them gears like I was sharpening an ax! I actually had a neighbor comment that he could hear me grinding a block away. Good thing the tranny has some hard gears!

[alanwoodieman]

quite thinking about shifting/double clutching and the old memories of doing it will come back. biggest problem I have is trying to shift too fast and winding up the engine too high before shifting. show us some pictures, wish I had my first truck back.

[desertplainsman]

Originally Posted by alanwoodieman

quite thinking about shifting/double clutching and the old memories of doing it will come back. biggest problem I have is trying to shift too fast and winding up the engine too high before shifting. show us some pictures, wish I had my first truck back.

This was the very truck my daddy learned to drive in. His daddy owned a Gulf Oil Co. distributorship and used the truck to haul a 500 gallon skid tank of fuel oil around to the farmer in Elmore County, Alabama. Daddy told me Gulf would come by every year and give it a fresh coat of Gulf blue and orange paint. It probably had a dozen or more layers he sandblasted off with one of those Harbor Frieght 5-gallon sandblasters.

BTW...I remember daddy switching gears without clutching at all!

[Barry-ct]

I remember driving a 49 F-2 in the early 70's and it was tough to shift! Up shift I got down pat really easy, but the downshifting was tough. It was one tough truck! Now to get my 50 F-1 on the road......

[D. Jones]

Practice, practice, practice, you'll get there. My first log truck was 1946 White with a 5 speed main and a 3 speed brownie. Neither transmission had any synchro's. Other than when I was stopped I didn't use the clutch. When I put my 45 1/2 ton together I put an old 4 speed in it. I changed it out for a 3 speed with synchro's because of the gear whine while driving in 3 rd was just too loud.

I still like the sound of those old square cut gears but, not up close.

[slowforty]

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Years ago my Uncle bought a 3/4 ton Ford pick up with a four speed. He could never shift it properly. My Dad drove it and he never made a sound. I asked him why he could drive the Ford and not make a sound. He said MY Brother is a Ham Handed SOB. You cant force anything . I watched Dad and when he Shifted he use Two Fingers on the shift knob and did not FORCE the Shifts.

[35fordtn]

I drove a 51 F3 with the 4spd. transmission as a daily vehicle for a year. After enough time in the drivers seat I was able to shift without even using the clutch. They are considerably more tough to drive than the 3 speeds.

[Brendan]

i have a Model A, it is easy to shift with out a clutch

[rotorwrench]

The adjustment and condition of the clutch plays a large part in successful shifting with the old non-synchro 4-speeds. My Pop had a 1952 F3 so I learned on those transmissions too. No matter how good you get at it, it seems they always skip at least one tooth going in. You get to where you can feel for the counter shaft cluster speed after a while. You tend to use the brakes more instead of down shifting. Down shifts take a real finesse of the shift mechanism. The clutch has to be just right.

[GB SISSON]

I got all this same advice when I bought my AA stakebed in 1972. Old guys would just say things like 'double clutch' but never really explain it. I finally caught on by trial and error, but downshifting was still pretty awful. So after owning probably 30 ford trucks with that 4 speed I will try to give a brief explanation of what is required for a clean shift. Like others it is now second nature and I don't think about it often. Ok, Starting in granny take it up to a moderate speed for a normal shift, depress clutch and shift into neutral, release clutch briefly, depress clutch and shift into second. What you want is to anticipate where your rpms will be when you are in second and have your road speed and rpms already 'there' before moving the shifter. Not sure if I'm explaining it right, but it's just about putting everything where it will be aligned ahead of the actual shift. Downshifting on a hill is tricky because road speed falls off real quickly especially with a load. There is only a brief moment when all things are aligned and ready to mesh. At this time you need to do the quick shift into neutral and anticipate that much higher rpm you'll be in when you engage the lower gear. All the while you are slowing down rapidly, so race the engine to what you think it will sound and feel like when you are driving in that next lower gear and quickly get it there. If you took too long to do all this , you will need to select the next lower gear, and that ain't fun. In my wordy fashion I am telling you to get your road speed and rpms already at where they will be after the shift is completed. I hope this helps and keep in mind I still grind occasionally when downshifting on our steep hills. After trying to teach this to myself at 19 I once pulled the top of the transmission expecting to find a box of metal shards and broken teeth, but to my great astonishment, it looked totally brand new in there. Those gears must be made of kryptonite.