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Switching Gears
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:24 pm
by FieldMarshalRed
Hello guys! Randy here. A fellow Model T Ford enthusiast. I have watched many tutorials on how to drive the Model T and how to switch gears. I know that to drive off in low gear, you must push in the clutch all the way in and adjust the throttle for speed. To switch to high gear, push the hand brake lever forwards, close the throttle, and release the clutch. One burning question I have though is how do you switch back into low gear if you are already in high gear? And also, how do you regulate the speed once you are in high gear? Thank you.
Re: Switching Gears
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:32 pm
by Dan B
FieldMarshalRed wrote: ↑Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:24 pm
One burning question I have though is how do you switch back into low gear if you are already in high gear? And also, how do you regulate the speed once you are in high gear? Thank you.
Re: Switching Gears
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:35 pm
by Dan B
FieldMarshalRed wrote: ↑Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:24 pm
One burning question I have though is how do you switch back into low gear if you are already in high gear? And also, how do you regulate the speed once you are in high gear? Thank you.
You just throttle down until the speed of the car matches low gear, and push the clutch pedal to the floor to re-engage low gear.
You do not need to use the handbrake lever once the car is moving. Most people just use their foot to hold the clutch pedal in the position you want it to be in. If you look under the car, you’ll see that the clutch pedal rides on a cam attached to the handbrake lever, so it’s the same as using your foot. The handbrake lever does nothing internal to the transmission.
You regulate speed by using the throttle once in high gear.
Re: Switching Gears
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 5:12 pm
by Norman Kling
That is almost correct. One more thing I will add is depending on whether you are slowing down because you are going uphill or are slowing down, you must slow down to the speed the car would be going when you are between 10 and 15 mph. Then as you push down the low pedal as you pass through the neutral position you adjust the throttle speed so the engine is going close to the speed it would be in low. Then continue to push the pedal down hard to keep it in low until you either reach a speed where you can shift to high or if you are slowing down when you reach almost a dead stop. When you are slowing down, just before you come to a stop, you let the pedal into neutral and hold the brake pedal down until you get ready to start again or you can pull back the parking brake if your legs get tired.
The most important thing about stopping a Model T is to remember that neutral is half way down the clutch. If you forget and push all the way down you will either hit the pedestrian, kill the engine, or go through the back of the garage.
Norm
Re: Switching Gears
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 5:21 pm
by Jugster
DRIVING A MODEL T FORD 101
I'm going to oversimplify and tell some mechanical "half-truths" here, which might be helpful for a new driver to understand (and then I'll make them full truths at the very end).
The Model T Ford has two forward gears and one reverse. _Each gear has its own clutch and because of the way planetary transmissions work, all the gears are always meshed, so one doesn't so much shift gears as engage the clutch which corresponds to the gear you wish to use.
All other cars that have manual transmissions have two ways of disconnecting the drive wheels from the engine: You can step on the clutch pedal, or you can put the transmission in neutral, or you can do both at the same time._Model T Fords don't work that way.
The Model T transmission does not have a true neutral. _It only has clutches, all three of which must be disengaged if one wants to disconnect the drive wheels from the engine.
The secret of understanding how to drive a Model T is in understanding the relationship between the floor-mounted hand lever and the left pedal. _The left pedal is used to select between the clutches of the two forward gears in these three operating positions:
A.) low gear clutch engaged, with the left pedal fully depressed;
B.) high gear clutch engaged, with the left pedal fully released and in the full up position;
C.) neither of the two forward clutches engaged. _This third condition is maintained by holding the left pedal between the up and down extremes with your left foot. _This last condition would be the equivalent of holding a conventional car's clutch pedal down to the floor while in gear and this is as close as the Model T's transmission comes to being in neutral. _Though it is obviously not a true neutral, for now, we'll refer to it as neutral.
A convenient way of holding the car in this "neutral" condition is to use the floor-mounted hand lever, which operates in three basic positions:
a.) Floor-mounted hand lever all the way forward; which does nothing more than allow the clutch pedal to come all the way up and engage the high gear clutch when you lift your foot off the left pedal;
b.) Floor-mounted hand lever halfway back; which locks out the high gear clutch by blocking the left pedal from coming more than halfway up when you lift your foot off the pedal. _In this case, the transmission is held in "neutral" unless you press the pedal fully down, which would then engage the low gear clutch. _If you lift your foot off again, the pedal will not rise beyond the neutral position (By the way, with the floor-mounted hand lever in the halfway back position, you could also engage the reverse gear clutch by pressing down the center pedal. _Releasing the center pedal would disengage the reverse clutch and the car would then be in neutral again).
__Keep the floor-mounted hand lever halfway back whenever you know you don't want to accidentally engage high gear, like when you're making a U-turn, when you're in a parking lot, etc.
c.) Floor-mounted hand lever all the way back; which not only locks out the high gear clutch, but applies the parking brake as well. _This is the position you would use for hand-cranking the car or waiting at a long, red traffic light.
By the way, the parking brake is used for holding the car's position when parked, not slowing or stopping, except in an emergency (unless your parking brake shoes have been modified with the right kind of linings and that's unlikely).
The right pedal is a conventional brake. _Antique car brakes are nowhere near as powerful as modern car brakes.
The Model T has two small hand levers mounted just beneath the steering wheel:
The small right-hand lever (as seen from the driver's position) is the hand throttle, which is not spring-loaded. _There is no accelerator pedal. _Pushing the throttle lever down increases power. _Pulling it up reduces power. _The throttle will stay in the position in which you leave it and will not return to idle when you let go of it.
The small left-hand lever controls the spark timing. _Essentially, this control allows you to choose between a spark the occurs late in the ignition cycle (meaning after the piston passes top dead center), or earlier in the ignition cycle. _For hand cranking the engine, you want a late spark. _A late spark insures (more or less) that the crankshaft will not suddenly change direction while you are cranking and break your arm with a backwards-spinning hand crank. _An earlier spark is used for driving. _The faster you drive, the earlier the spark you will select. _The latest (fully retarded) spark position is with the handle fully up and the earliest (fully advanced) spark position is with the handle fully down. _Again, make sure the spark handle is in the fully up position whenever you touch the hand crank.
Hand-cranking a Model T is sort of like starting a powermower with a pull-cord (and at least as hazardous). _The powermower needs gasoline, air and spark to start and so does the Model T. _With the spark lever all the way up, the throttle cracked open, the floor-mounted hand lever all the way back and the rear wheels chocked, you're ready to wrestle this beast to life with your bare hands.
__Make sure the ignition is switched off and the ignition key is out of the keyhole. _The choke is the cute little wire loop sticking out the front of the radiator on the passenger side. _Hold it out and crank the engine over two or three half-turns (You'll have to push the crank in to engage the ratchet). _Now, the engine is primed. _Stick the key in the ignition and turn it counterclockwise, unless your Model T doesn't have a starting battery, in which case you'll instead turn the key clockwise to engage the magneto.
__With your left hand (Don't get me started on the dangers of right-handed cranking), engage the crank ratchet at about the 7 o'clock position and smartly lift the crank to the 12 o'clock position. _Do your best not to crank past the 1 o'clock position. _If the engine starts, advance the spark lever to the point where the engine idles fastest. _You may need to reduce the throttle a bit to keep from racing the engine.
Okay, time to drive. _This is best done in a large, vacant parking lot without speed bumps. _Pull the chocks, bearing in mind that some Model T's tend to creep forward even with the floor-mounted hand lever all the way back (and this is why it's considered bad form to hand crank a Model T with your back to a wall).
__Get in the driver's seat and make certain all the doors are firmly latched, particularly if you have a touring car with suicide doors. _Plant your foot on the brake and slowly bring the floor-mounted hand lever forward to the halfway position. _Now, practice starting and stopping the car using first gear only. _Get used to the very sensitive steering. _Get used to the very insensitive brake. _Don't watch your feet any more than you really have to. _Take it real slow so you won't tip the car over in a turn. _Practice backing up. _When you back up, do so very slowly, because a Model T can be very difficult to steer in reverse at anything more than a creep.
__After you've practiced this stuff to the point of confidence, it's time to try shifting from low to high gear. _Start as you've been practicing and at about 10 or 15 mph, close the throttle and move the floor-mounted hand lever all the way forward. _Now, add some throttle. _The car might tend to shudder and lug a bit as you accelerate in high gear, which is normal. _Practice braking the car to a stop with your left foot holding the left pedal in the neutral position. _If you have trouble finding neutral that way, use the floor-mounted hand lever. _Once you can dependably stop the car without resorting to the floor-mounted hand lever, it's time to practice starts, shifts and stops with the floor-mounted hand lever all the way forward.
Those are the basics. _Yeah, there's some more stuff involving things like the mixture control and gasoline shut-off valve, but those are mostly common sense items. _Okay, okay... Don't forget to turn off the gasoline after you shut down the engine, otherwise, your carburetor, which is gravity fed from the bottom of the fuel tank, might leak out the entire contents of your tank, which, at best, will earn you a hefty summons from the EPA. _There—you happy now?
Okay, now about those half-truths...
Strictly speaking, the Model T doesn't really have three clutches. _It has one high gear clutch, a stationary low gear band and a stationary reverse gear band. _Bands differ from clutches in that when a clutch is engaged, both ends of the clutch spin. _But when a stationary band is engaged, it tightens around a spinning drum and stops it from spinning, which somehow, through the magic of planetary gears, causes something else to spin and impart motion to the car. _Go figure.
Strictly speaking, the Model T doesn't really have two forward gears. _It has a low gear and direct drive.
Re: Switching Gears
Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:36 am
by Roffe
Wow. Bob you said it all. Very well described.
