GEAR-CHANGING FAULTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 106, 26 July 1927, Page 10

GEAR-CHANGING FAULTS

NOVICE DRIVERS’ MISTAKE

HEAVY WEAR ON MOTOR-CAR

Gear changing on the modern car if not done properly will result in wear to a vital part of the car, which can be obviated, providing the driver takes necessary care when changing. Many drivers, especially beginners, take little heed of the lessons given them on gear changing, being content to get the gears in, in any A clashing* and banging of gears at the outset is invariably followed by a determination oil the part of the driver to force them in, and then the trouble sets in which causes wear and is liable to strip the gears.

Beginners who fail to handle the gears properly at the outset, who take no heed of the importance of gearchanging, continue to practice on a new car until they have caused irreparable damage. Correct speeds of the engine, which are not always understoood, are not considered by the novice the essential to good gear changing. They bang away at their gears with the engine racing at a wrong ratio, and have little hope of changing without causing the inevitable clash.

If they would only let their engines idle and speed up to the requisite ratio they w'ould not have the same difficulty in getting in the gears. In most cases the process of gearjhanging calls for judgment, and unless "the driver can get the feel of his car he will have difficulty in accomplishing the satisfactory change. The persistency to get the gears m when the first attempt fails is a grave mistake, and the novice should change his speed or slow' down and attempt the change, commencing from first gC Too little attention is paid to the all-importance of gear-changing by the beginner His object is merely to get going in top, and as long as he gets there the methods by which the change is accomplished worry him very little. A car that is handled properly will show none of the gear wear which is apparent in the car that has been handled negligently as far as changing gears is concerned. Too few instructors attempt to show

the beginner the principle of the double shuffle. It is much quicker to demonstrate to. the new driver the principle of gear-changing and leave it at that. The double shuffle is the most sure and easiest, method of changing gear, and only on rare occasions will the driver miss his gears. It can he practised and perfected just as quick as the ordinary change, though there is a little more difficulty in it, if the fundamentals of changing are not taught first. The double shuffle is merely a twomovement change, instead of a pullthrough change, with the clutch out all the time while changing. From first gear you merely spee i up the engine, throw out the clutch, at the same time working the gear across neutral and letting the clutch come in. Throw out the clutch again and push the gear into second. To come into top, speed up again, throw out the clutch, at the same time pulling the gear into neutral, throw out the clutch again and pull the gear into top. They are all distinct movements, but it is surprising what a simple change can he accomplished. . The beauty of the double shuffle is that changes at all speeds can be made easily, whereas with the direct pullthrough you will miss your gears more often than you will succeed in getting them home. With proper treatment of the gears the motorist becomes more competent and a better driver. A man who misses his gears is immediately branded as a bad driver.