was told that clutch is not required when shifting…true?
Can one shift, extremely carefully, without a clutch and without damaging your transmission (mainly the synchronizers)? Yes, you have to match revs precisely. Is it a good idea? No, few people will be that careful all the time.
[b] Is it a good idea? No, few people will be that careful all the time.[/b]
I thought it was worth repeating.Especially true if driving with an automatic transmission. 
After you get the car rolling the normal way using the clutch in 1st gear you can shift to 2nd and up without the clutch. It requires some practice and a light touch on the gas petal. I can do it, but I don’t do it. It is tough on the transmission. Shifting properly using the clutch puts minimal wear on the clutch so why damage a transmission when the benefit to the clutch is virtually nil?
There are some new sophisticated sports cars with manual transmissions that have a special clutch that shift without the driver using a clutch petal. Perhaps you are reading about this new technology. In these cases the transmissions are made to handle the “clutchless” shifting.
If you are driving a vehicle that has a clutch petal you should use it. That’s the way the engineers designed it.
True. It takes practice but it can be done. Should it be done? No
Truckers call this “floating gears,” and for them, it makes some sense because their transmissions don’t have synchronizers, making them double-clutch for every shift. Still, when I was a truck driver, I used my clutch.
In order to shift without using the clutch, you have to experiment to develop the skill, and by that time, you have damaged the transmission. In addition, if you want to continue doing it without damaging the transmission, you have to be perfect every time.
Just use your clutch. If you use it properly, it will last a long time. My car has almost 200,000 miles on the odometer, and I am still using my original clutch.
There are some new sophisticated sports cars with manual transmissions that have a special clutch that shift without the driver using a clutch petal.
I don’t think the Toyota Tacoma has that option.
With the proper technique it isn’t REQUIRED to use it, but it sure is a heck of a good idea. It’s there for a very good reason.
Disconnecting the engine from the transmission while shifting relieves the load on the gears as they engage and disengage. It’s far easier on the parts to do that. Unloaded gears slide into and out of engagement far easier than loaded gears.
First gear is definitely the hardest! It reminds me of a train ride in Greece. We were going downhill and the sound of the wheels on the rails went from clickity clack to the tempo of a horse galloping. The little old ladies with a chicken under their seat, poking it’s head out out of the bag that prevented the chickens from running around were praying. The men were making signs of the cross saying oshikila (this is not good) as the teeth of the gears growled like an angry dog. When the gears finally fell into place you could see a giant look of relief, even on the goats on the train.
Just because you have matched the revs adequately to avoid a crunch or grind when you slip it into the next gear doesn’t mean that you aren’t putting extra wear on the syncronizers. The syncronizers are the only reason you don’t have to double clutch every time you shift gears WITH the clutch. It is stupid to wear them out prematurely.
For anyone interested they might look into a manual transmission and see just how small the friction ring (synchronizer)is and imagine that ring attempting to speed up the vehicle or slow the engine when shifting. Earliest transmissions actually meshed and unmeshed gears and required a steep learning curve to drive them. The Model T planetary transmission was a likely cause for the cars success. It was clash proof.