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Topic: So how many hours do you spend in traffic each week?

Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-23-2013 04:20 PM

Once you shift out of gear, into neutral, you have to momentarily engage the clutch so that the drive side of the transmission is rotating at the same speed as the driven side in order to prevent grinding as you shift into the next gear.

Modern automobile transmissions have extra gears that keep everything synchronized so double clutching is not necessary.

Many large trucks don't have synchronized transmissions so, depending on the vehicle, you might have to double clutch but passenger cars are universally synchronized, these days.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 06-23-2013 05:09 PM

quote: Stephen Furley
The old British Rail Diesel trains from the '50s had an interesting gearbox; I don't know why a smaller version of it wasn't designed for cars. It's a Wilson constant mesh epicyclic box. There are four gears, in the top one all of the gears are locked together and there is a direct 1:1 drive through the box. The other three gears are provided by three epicyclic gear systems, with the one to be used selected by tightening a brake band around it. To change gear, other than to fourth, one brake band is loosened and another is tightened. As suggested by the name, all of the gears are constantly meshed. There's an automatic wear adjuster thich takes up any slack in the brake bands. It's a very simple system, and seems to work well.

Sounds like the predecessor to the continuously variable transmission, which is just starting to become standard on some seriously expensive luxury cars. I've only driven a CVT once, in a rental (free upgrade, as they didn't have the boring compact I'd booked) for a couple of days. I only ever drove it in inner city streets and never got a chance to see how it would cope with serious bends and gradients, though.

Interesting that the basic principle was understood and implemented over half a century ago.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 06-23-2013 05:19 PM

It has even been in production over half a century ago and not only for luxury cars [Wink]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-23-2013 11:18 PM

quote: Leo Enticknap
I tend not to listen to music while driving, because I'd be afraid of concentrating on it too much and not on the road enough.

If I'm driving in "regular" highway situations I tend to have some form of entertainment on the stereo. But if I get into a situation with icy roads, or in a lot of traffic I'll turn the stereo off. It definitely can be distracting. Don't even get me started on these idiots with cellphones.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 06-24-2013 11:17 AM

I always drove automatics until last december when I bought my most recent car a 99 Mustang GT 5-Speed with a short throw shifter and a bunch of other assorted mods (the car was built from the ground up as a project car by the previous owner) I had only once ever driven s standard in my life so it took some getting used to but after a month or two I don't think I would ever buy an automatic again.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 06-24-2013 01:36 PM

quote:
Sounds like the predecessor to the continuously variable transmission, which is just starting to become standard on some seriously expensive luxury cars. I've only driven a CVT once, in a rental (free upgrade, as they didn't have the boring compact I'd booked) for a couple of days. I only ever drove it in inner city streets and never got a chance to see how it would cope with serious bends and gradients, though.

This past weekend my girlfriend bought a new 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SV that has a Continuously Variable Transmission. Nissan seems to be putting their Xtronic CVT in all their vehicles, even the entry level Versa. The dealer in Wichita Falls had a $100,000 Nissan GT-R in the showroom. I'm not sure what kind of transmission that race car had, but I did enjoy looking at its 600 horsepower twin turbo charged V6 engine.

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 06-24-2013 03:40 PM

I don't have a commute any more, but being stuck in traffic can make one rethink the choice of a manual transmission...

I've got a 96 Mustang GT with a stick and I love going through the gears, but sitting in stop-and-go traffic is so annoying that I would not have a stick-shift in a car that I used for commuting through traffic.

That said, I don't think I could stomach being stuck in traffic twice a day, every day. I don't know how people do it! I would find some way to make public transportation work for me and then use that down time to zone out, check E-Mails and RSS feeds, or just listen to music/audiobooks. Just the idea of spending hours every day stuck in traffic makes me feel unwell.

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Scott D. Neff
Theatre Dork

Posts: 919
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 06-24-2013 06:32 PM

When I lived in San Francisco it took me total of an hour each day. I thought it would be worse moving to Oakland since any time you pass the Bay Bridge approach you should just kiss your ass goodbye. But no... 20-min each way. So per week: 3.5 hours?

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 06-25-2013 08:14 AM

quote: Scott Jentsch
but being stuck in traffic can make one rethink the choice of a manual transmission...

The only thing that gets to me about getting stuck in traffic with a manual transmission is the people who feel they will get to their destination faster if they get their car as close as physically possible to yours. The last thing I want to do is roll backwards into someone. I have gotten pretty good about letting out the clutch just enough to not allow the car to roll backwards (even on a steep hill) without stalling out before I take my foot off the brake. I know some people who use their parking brake on hills but I find it to be a little difficult. My only concern is incresaed wear on the friction disk and pilot bearing that you get from "riding the clutch" so I much prefer if someones leaves me a little room to just take my foot off the brake put it on the gas and engage the clutch with just a tiny bit of backwards motion.

So to all of you automatic transmission drivers out there... Please leave your fellow motorist a little room in traffic there is no need to have your front bumper practically touching the rear bumper of the car in front of you. Thank You! [Smile]

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 06-25-2013 12:29 PM

I was taught never to ride the clutch or to leave it disengaged for prolonged periods, as these are basically quick and efficient ways to wear them out. I always go into neutral, clutch up and handbrake on when stopped in traffic. It's not such a problem here, because the traffic light sequence pauses on amber for 1-2 seconds when going from red to green, not an instant red-green switch as in California; so your reaction time doesn't have to be instant when setting off.

The other thing that irritates me about people who leave their foot on the footbrake while stopped in traffic is that their brake lights can dazzle the driver behind, especially if it's dark outside and they have a high level brake light. There's also another safety issue: without wanting to sound overly morbid, if I'm stopped at at pedestrian crossing with the car in D and held stationary on the footbrake alone (or, in a manual, in first gear with the clutch and footbrake both pressed down), then if I have a masssive heart attack, I will probably release my foot from the brake, the car will roll forward and I'll take any pedestrian who is on the crossing at the time with me into the next world. At least if I'm in neutral with the handbrake applied, I'll just be me.

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 06-25-2013 02:00 PM

No need for a massive heart attack; a sudden severe bout of sneezing, as I have from time to time, would do it. I don't think it involved a stationary vehicle held on the footbrake, but there was a story in the news last week about a driver running into a group of people outside a school, said to have been caused by coughing.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 06-27-2013 10:12 AM

I did not intend to imply that I sit with the clutch partially enaged or disengaged. I usually will shift into neutral and on most roads without a steep grade I can sit in neutral without a foot on the brake. If I am on a hill I will keep my foot on the brake with the car in neutral until I am able to proceed then I will shift into first and partially engage the clutch enough to prevent rolling backwards without stalling while I give it some gas and fully engage the clutch. This allows me to prevent my car from rolling backwards on hills.

I could see the point of the brake lights if most of the vehicles on the road in the US weren't automatics in which people sit in drive with their foot on the brake at stop lights.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 06-28-2013 01:39 AM

The way to solve that problem would be to fit some sort of timing device whereby the brake light automatically goes out after, say, ten seconds of the car being stationary and the brake pedal remaining pressed. That way the brake light will do its job (alert the driver behind that you're slowing down while you're still moving), but it won't dazzle the driver behind while you're waiting at the lights. Once you let your foot off the brake and the car begins to move, that resets the timer.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 06-30-2013 10:40 AM

Leo, that is a GREAT idea. I find that sometimes people are so sensory over loaded that they don't even realize your brake lights are illuminated. I have been rear ended sitting at a red light by someone who claimed they never saw my brake lights even though they were functioning properly.

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 06-30-2013 11:11 AM

Add to that, there should be a modification that turns on the headlights when the wipers are activated. A simple diode would do the trick.

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