Driving with hand on shifter...mythbuster question?

I was once told (forget who) that it was a bad idea to drive around with your hand on the shifter. In other words, only put your hand on the shifter when you need to shift. The theory was that if you rested your hand on there, you were transmitting vibrations down the shaft that could ultimately lead to premature wear, etc.

What I want to know is if this was BS or is there something to this advice.

 

If you apply any pressure forward or back you are potentially causing a bit of wear to the shift forks.

Probably pretty negligible in a modern transmission.

 

+1

Interesting though, the owner's manual for my Lotus Esprit (2003) states a clear caution NOT to do it ---- so, it may also depend on the particular gearbox / linkage design.

 

That's what my F-wrench says, so I just don't do it.

Jedi

 

Put your hand on the shifter while driving then relax your arm. Any pressure in any direction can be felt. I did it on my 3.2 Mondi and you can feel the gears working in there. I find a better place to put my hand is on the steering wheel.

 

If you've seen the inside of an Esprit gearbox you'll respect their warnings.

 

LOL --- true 'dat!

They certainly could never be described as "robust"

 

The "transmitting vibrations" is false, the rest is true!

 

You will kill a transmission - given enough time - on the front wheel drive WV's if you do this.

 

+1. Rather you are preloading components that dont need that kind of fun. Let the shift forks and syncro find thier own happy running positions.

 

The engine vibrates, your hand dampens and there are plastic bushings in between the two. Three fingers on the knob only to shift and then get it back on the wheel where it belongs.

 

Those things called "synchro's" are mini clutches inside the transmisson, usually made of brass. When shifting, the synchro's match the speeds of the gears to make it easier for the gears to mesh without grinding. Pressure against the shifter can make fingers of the shift fork and those synchro's rub against each other and you can cause premature wear of both the fingers and the synchro's.

Sort of like driving around with your foot pressing on the clutch pedal.

If you are not actually shifting, there is no reason to do it and if you press hard enough you are causing parts to rub against each other that dont need to.

In the photo, pressure on the shifter can cause the friction cone (synchro) and the shifter forks to wear.
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Nuff sed

 

Ain't that the truth!

 

FTW.

But then, I've spent the last 40 years with the "Italian driving postion" -- based on the premise that elbows were a mistake.

 

for past 23 years been driving with my hand on the shifter all time, Time to change driving habit

 

Everyone knows that your shifting hand goes between the legs of the babe in the passenger seat when you are not shifting.

Sheesh

 

I don't buy either side of the transmision arguments. But what I do buy is the fact that you have so much greater control over the car when both hands are on the steering wheel, that having both hands on the steering wheel is the only place for them to be excepting for brief interruptions.

 

Thats too much excitement for LOL

 

Only if done properly.

 

Heh... this seems to be a long standing statement then. This is stated in my Lotus Esprit (1989) manual as well, lol!

Sadly (or maybe not! >.> ), I've never seen the inside of the Lotus gearbox, so I'm not exactly sure what I've been missing. That said though... I was a hair under 100k miles on that car when I sold it, and never had any issues with the gearbox. No shortage of other issues, but from my experience, I thought the gearbox was one of the stronger points of the car. Was I just lucky? Anyway, I knew way less then than I do now about mechanical things, and I just now consider myself to be in "newb" territory, so take that as you will. I can honestly say after my current restoration efforts, I have more knowledge on my Fcar than all my previous cars combined. Then again, ten times nothing is still nothing, no?

Well, sorry for the meandering babble... point was this was pointed out in the 1989 Esprit owner's manual as well.