Sequential Gearbox - Do You Clutch or Not?

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Dockmaster

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Recently went back and re-read @SeanRitchie great thread that lead to his input on clutching or not when shifting a sequential gearbox. His thread is here : Sequential vs. Synchromesh, The Difference

Makes me wonder how many of you clutch your sequential or simply lift off throttle and shift? Any difference on down shifting vs. upshifting? Does it matter what gearbox you have? S4, S5, Albins, etc? I’m trying to gain some knowledge as I prepare for my first sequential gearbox in my new car coming soon. Thanks in advance for input.
 
I have a PBS sequential and I use the clutch every shift. I'm too scared to shift without clutching. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
 
I use the clutch in my s4. Especially when down shifting. Common sense tells me that taking the load off the gears is better for all the components in the transmission.
 
When I had my Fortin wide gear, straight cut gears so no shifting required, even though it was a H pattern, I never clutched when shifting up or down.
With my S4, I don't clutch shifting up, but I do clutch shifting down.
I find in high RPMs, even shifting up, I better be right on my timing or it doesn't want to go.
Lower RPMs, it clicks in like butter.

For S4/5 or S4/5D, it also depends on shifting mechanism generation.
New boxes have Gen 3, which I have read is very smooth.
I have a Gen 2 shift mechanism.
 
Clutch with my S5 - I tried to not use it after reading that same thread, but honestly, I was nervous and it was just too different...I had to think more about shifting, it didn't feel natural.
 
I blew out the master cylinder in the S4 and drove it back, when shifting without the clutch, it felt like you where rolling over the dogs, just did not feel right,
had to burp the throttle do get it to down shift,
So I use the clutch feels smooth with clutch
 
the clutch is just relieving torque from being applied through the trans, easing a shift. its not like the parts stop turning.

I recently setup a car with flat shift, via a strain gauge on the shift linkage and combination of DBW throttle control and ignition cut....achieving much the same results of using a clutch. A pressure sensor was installed adjacent the slave cylinder so the ecu knew when the clutch was being used to shift the car vs not using the clutch. it worked amazingly well.
 
I’m not surprised to hear most of you still use the clutch. For many of us I think it is just engrained in our brain and feels wrong to shift without clutching. How about any of you with Albins boxes?
 
I use the clutch to start and stop that’s it. My left foot sits on the dead pedal for the rest of the ride. I have an S4 and I lift for up shifts and time my down shifts when I lift as well. If I miss time a down shift I blurp the throttle to allow the trans to unload the gears and it always shifts like butter.
 
I do both but mostly use the clutch. It seems to me easier to up shift with out the the clutch but is easiest when on it harder in the upper rpms like at the drags, then downshifts seem to take a bit more skill and a blip of the throttle to do smoothly.

Honestly I like to use the clutch because it’s just more natural, too much thinking involved trying to no clutch shift all the time.
 
Subaru and S5, i use the clutch every shift, its just easier on my brain and my tranny.

sure i could shift with the best of them without a clutch but i feel using the clutch is a slam dunk on every shift.
 
I have a Fortin wide gear 4 speed in my back up car and a Fortin Frs5 sequential in my main ride, I only clutch to start and stop
 
S4
Only clutch to start

Even pre load the shifter for a up shift if i am feeling spicy
 
I never use a clutch with my FRS5 Fortin. Never. Of course I have a converter though. LOL! Shifting without using the clutch is no different than riding a motorcycle. Most good offroad riders do clutchless shifting. Done right , clutchless shifting is actually easier on the trans. Or so I have been told. On the other hand,I recently had the Fortin gone through and the dogs on 1/2/3 were all cracked.
 
Dockmaster said:
Can you expand on what it means to “pre load the shifter” ? Thanks!
Click to expand...
I do the same thing. You pull back on the shifter a little bit “pre-loading” the cables and shift mechanism right before you want to shift then as soon as you let off the gas and the trans unloads it slips right into the next gear. I actually prefer to preload on all of my shifts, up or down.
 
I used my clutch. Guess I’m ol skool cause my right hand and left foot are in sync with each other. On a dirt bike no clutch. Different set of muscle memory.
At the sand drags I wouldn’t use the clutch but in the dunes it just seemed more natural to use the clutch.
 
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