Driving without a clutch

I do this from time to time just to be able to in case i actually need it, its a lot easier in a lorry as they don't rev anywhere as high as a car but the gearboxes do cost a bit more.
 
Danm54 said:
You just stop in neutral, simple
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And then how do you go again, or do a hill start.

You can try to force it in gear which will rock the car very slightly and knacker the gearbox.

Or you can turn it off and put it in first then lunch it on the starter to get the car going.....

I drove 70 miles home with no clutch when my cable broke on the mway. Did it all in 5th, then popped it in 3rd and just got lucky on the lights by slowing right down ready for them when they were on red.
 
I drove nearly 40 miles in a friends seat ibiza with a broken gear linkage, that was just as fun as no clutch. Crawled underneath and got second by hand till we were clear of town, then stopped just on the outskirts and got third for the drive home :)
 
Yeah I drove 30 miles or so back from redcar with a broken clutch cable, I wasn't as lucky with the red lights... but it was very late so wasn't too much of a problem.
 
Berger said:
And then how do you go again, or do a hill start.


Or you can turn it off and put it in first then lunch it on the starter to get the car going.....
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This exactly, you can't do a hill start unless your starter motor is strong enought to pull the car up the hill, so you roll back to the bottom and start it there, if there's lights at the top then you need to be good with timing!

:D
 
Had to do it on a motorbike, when I came off and snapped the clutch lever of. Made starting and junctions interesting.

But every day driving, no. a clutch is there for a reason. even if you get it right most of the time, surly you still mess it up a fair bit.
 
Regularly do this on the SV650 but generaly just for upchanges. Clutchless is good for when making progress!
 
I once had to drive a Scirocco 30 miles home after my clutch cable snapped. Changing gear whilst moving was fine. Traffic lights were more of a pain as I had to turn the engine off, stuff it in first, start the car whilst in first, accelerate until at a sensible speed, then dump it slowly/carefully into third.
 
I had to learn how to do this when the slave cylinder blew on my volvo 740, whilst towing a trailer, with a car on the trailer, in Belgium, starting uphill, on a motorway in rush hour with no breakdown cover.
And i still had to deliver the car to it's destination (a service station), and get back home to northampton. Getting on and off the ferry was the nerve wracking bit. By then i had learnt the clutchless technique, but i daren't tell anyone i had a problem in case they didn't let me on.

It started uphill on the starter surprisingly well, but i was worried about burning out the starter cos then i would be totally screwed.

must have done about 300 miles like that.

then it did it again a few days later when i was returning the trailer, but by then i was an expert.
 
I often do this if I am in a manual box vehicle, used to do it all the time in my old Scania 124...


Alas, my car is an auto as are the vast majority of trucks at work so rarely get the chance.
 
Do it on the bike all the time going up the box but never in the car, could probably do it if push came to shove but there would be teething problems I'm sure! :p .
 
maccapacca said:
I'm very lazy, I dream about autos but can't bring myself to buy one :p
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Get one, you wont regret it :) ...just make sure you get a decent one paired with a decent sized engine, little 4 pots with autos can be rather unpleasant ...although it very much depends on the box in question. I have driven without using a clutch before but I've never made a habit of it.
 
Because of the silly design of the clutch cable adjustment on old Opel Mantas if you ran out of spare 'E' Clips you'd spend a lot of time driving around without a clutch :D
 
Could do it before I passed my test, which is what a free car does for you.

I sometimes do it for fun (and to stay in practice) in the Punto, those 514 boxes have massive synchros, completely indestructible.

It is bad for your box though, wears out synchros faster than clutch changes, because nobody can get the timing 100% even half the time. That moment before it just bobs in is wearing it out.


Berger said:
And then how do you go again
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Engine off, 1st gear, crank and go.

or do a hill start.
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Don't stop on a hill.

You can try to force it in gear which will rock the car very slightly and knacker the gearbox.
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You can try, you can try really hard, but you won't be able to push it into a gear.
 
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