Skill required for use of non-synchro gearbox off road?

Thanks for all the excellent responses guys.

It seems the consensus is careful and considered practise and good gear selection, especially when off road.

I will certainly look more favourably at the older girls from now on!

Non synchro boxes are not really that hard to get used to, a bit of practice will see you come good. You will however find it easier to change when the engine/gearbox needs to change as revs etc will already be closer matched.

MInd you if I jumped into a series landy I'd no doubt crunch a few gears - probably been 15+ years since I drove a non synchro box (Thornycroft Nubian)


Martyn

You would have to admit Hodgo that the F1 had a particularly difficult crash gearbox. The landy is much easier.

Once you have driven a crash box for a while you will find you can use the same technique to change quicker on a slow sychro box. i.e the range rover 4 speed, as the sychros will have to less work.

Its just a case of being able to understand whats happening in the gearbox, understanding road speed in relation to engine speed and you being able to sincronise the lot.

When you think you are good at it try shifting the transfer case from high to low and low to high on the move with out any noises.

Hodgo

In the 60s, a mate of mine, who was a bit better at that sort of thing than I was did that for a couple of weeks in Sydney traffic.
He had bought an ex Electricity Commission SWB at auction. A stick had jumped up and ripped the clutch salve cylinder off, but he thought the rest of the vehicle looked good , so he took a chance on it.

For a couple of weeks, he drove it around Sydney with no way of disengaging the clutch. He became quite good at sitting at the traffic lights with the engine switched off and in 1st gear low range. When the lights turned green, he hit the starter, worked his way up though a couple of gears and into high range and up another gear or two. Then did it all again at the next set of traffic lights.

The vehicle did turn out to be a good buy. He never had any transmission problems.

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Originally Posted by wovenrovings

You would have to admit Hodgo that the F1 had a particularly difficult crash gearbox.

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What is difficult about a F1 International gearbox? Have you driven a 6x6 Studebaker? The shift patern goes around in a circle. How about a carrier? The shift patern is spun around 180 degrees, and the vehicle will stop while changing between first and second gears.

Aaron.

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Originally Posted by vnx205

In the 60s, a mate of mine, who was a bit better at that sort of thing than I was did that for a couple of weeks in Sydney traffic.
He had bought an ex Electricity Commission SWB at auction. A stick had jumped up and ripped the clutch salve cylinder off, but he thought the rest of the vehicle looked good , so he took a chance on it.

For a couple of weeks, he drove it around Sydney with no way of disengaging the clutch. He became quite good at sitting at the traffic lights with the engine switched off and in 1st gear low range. When the lights turned green, he hit the starter, worked his way up though a couple of gears and into high range and up another gear or two. Then did it all again at the next set of traffic lights.

The vehicle did turn out to be a good buy. He never had any transmission problems.

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But he walked in circles due to an excessively large left leg...:D:eek:

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Originally Posted by Aaron IIA

What is difficult about a F1 International gearbox? Have you driven a 6x6 Studebaker? The shift patern goes around in a circle. How about a carrier? The shift patern is spun around 180 degrees, and the vehicle will stop while changing between first and second gears.

Aaron.

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There is nothing wrong with a Studebaker gear box I did my driver's course on studies and GMC in 1964, the difference being is that the vehicles were left hand drive and we are use to right hand. They are really no different to a Mk5 F1 only U are sitting on operate sides of the vehicle. Rear engine buses unless fitted with a U change box work from the left hand side of the vehicle to the right and when you have driven a 5 or 6 speed fuller one of the most unforgiving boxes ever made ( I feel ) . It will give you something to complain about
Or try a Leyland from the 1950 vintage 5 speed box on a rear engine vehicle They can be a mongrel.

Hodgo

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Originally Posted by Bushie

Non synchro boxes are not really that hard to get used to, a bit of practice will see you come good. You will however find it easier to change when the engine/gearbox needs to change as revs etc will already be closer matched.

MInd you if I jumped into a series landy I'd no doubt crunch a few gears - probably been 15+ years since I drove a non synchro box (Thornycroft Nubian)


Martyn

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I remember one of those times in particular Martyn.:angel::angel:

As others have said regards changing gear, after a while it becomes almost second nature.

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Originally Posted by hodgo

I taught at the Army school of transport for two years, when the International F1 ( MK5) was in service and this vehicle has a fully crash box which was often a problem to some students, I found the best way to teach them was to give them an understanding of what the difference was between between the two types of boxes is and and why one has to double clutch.
I know this will draw some flack from Dave and some other mechanical minded persons as its not technically correct and to try and explain a syncro cone etc to some one that does not have a mechanical aptitude is a bit hard. But I found this works.

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not going to pick you on technical issues on that one... you're trying to get a concept to a driver in this instance and at the end of the day anything that you tell them that makes them work out the magic concept of "matching the speed of the gearbox input to the speed of the vehicle for the gear you are ABOUT to select" is the right thing to say, I dont care if its "the jelly beans around this cake need to be moving at the speed of the smarties on this one before you put the edges of the cake in contact".

If you were trying to explain how it actually worked Id have a crack.

the box in an F1 isnt that hard....