Got my first manual truck and

[JoeJames]

Find a small hill on your property. Practice using the clutch/gas on that as if you were at a stop light. Gets easier the more you do it. You will get to automatically beingvable to balance the clutch/gas so no rolling backwards when the light turns. My Mom taught me in my Father's pickup. Just takes a lil practice. Good luck

In my opinion your's is the best advice. I had a heck of a time thinking it through on the best way to describe it. I started out in @1958 learning to drive with a Mitey Mite tractor made about 1946. The clutch was operated by a long lever that stuck up on the right side; the drive train was in the open under your feet so you could see it engage when you moved the lever. It would not pass muster with OSHA now. I finally got a vehicle with an Automatic Transmission in 1997; so for me it was all muscle memory and hard to describe.

[Brassmonkey]

OP ever notice how a big truck seems to just dump the clutch when taking off from a dead stop, bumper raises, cab tilts with the sudden torque? They do that to lessen slippage of the clutch. It makes the clutch last a LOT longer. Most modern manual trannys will upshift with no throttle quite easily, you will figure out the perfect engine rpm to shift, by letting off the throttle and pulling the shifter towards the next gear, it will leave the present gear and engage the next with just light hand pressure on the shifter, without using the clutch.

Yeah but the gearing is a little different on a big rig if he dumps the clutch he's gonna bust the motor mounts bang up the u joints R&P kill the springs in the clutch and on and on.

Op set a few hundred aside for a new clutch.

spend a hour or two putting around in first gear stopping and starting on flat ground after that you'll know what works good smooth is good jerky is bad if the whole truck is shuddering that's bad you're in too high of a gear downshift. engines like revs humming along at 3000 RPMs it's not a bad thing.

is that the 2.3/2.5 3 L 4 L whats under the hood of that Danger Ranger?

[Three44s]

Knock a hole in the muffler so you can hear the engine! Then you can listen to it while you modulate your clutch release.

It’s truly “seat of the pants”!

Three44s

[45workhorse]

The more you "think about" what you are doing the more you will mess up, it seems you have the basics down, now just get out and drive it?

My 92 Ranger has turned over 3 times, so I have put some miles on it. Standard 4x4 extended cab 4.0L.
Son and daughter both learned to drive on it.

[lightman]

When I taught my two sons how to drive a manual tranny, we first spent 5-10 minutes learning how to E-A-S-E the clutch pedal out with no throttle. The goal was to not stall the truck. After 1-2 stalls, both figured it out, and the rest was easy.

Thats the way I was taught. Dad started teaching me to drive his '57 Ford truck when I was 9 or 10. Manual steering with lots of slack, non-synchronized 3 speed transmission, no power anything. The first 3 or 4 vehicles that I owned were manual shift. I miss my 1980 Ford truck with the heavy duty 4 speed and 300CDI 6 cylinder. It would climb levees in low gear at an idle. I could drive all over the deer lease in 2nd gear at an isle.

Practice easing out on the clutch until you feel it begin to engage then apply a little throttle. As to what gear to use, let the truck tell you. You don't want to lug the engine very much but you don't want it to be racing either. It just takes practice.

[1hole]

Ford was "UAW-Detroit" and in the 1980s they apparently couldn't make a decent small pick-up for less than $200,000. The original Rangers were simply rebranded Jap Mazda B-2000 4bangers and they were indeed good vehicles; wish they were still available.

Some people are indeed "drivers" and the rest are just "pointers". I have three daughters; they started out as drivers with several sessions in a '68 VW beetle. I had them start in an empty high school parking lot - forward and backward. - They learned to stop and restart - both forward and backward on a moderate slope. I would get them started around the track and then I got out to read a book so they couldn't jerk my neck while they drove - forward and backward, including stops on the slope - for 30-45 minutes a session. My girls never needed a girl's vehicle because they didn't roll onto a public road until they had mastered the vehicle itself in that parking lot.

Then they had to drive a couple of hundred miles on long, straight country roads before they ever had to deal with city traffic. They hated me for all that back then but now, in their 50s, they can still safely drive anything with wheels - forward and backward - better than their husbands and they thank me for their demanding but confidence building start.

Bottom line: Manual transmissions really aren't very hard to use, my little teenage girls could do it.

[Wolfdog91]

Intresting, well as usual it seems I've started learning some.t he hard way yeah so this is one of the hills I've been practicing on for the last month or so. Will go up and down stop dead in the middle cut it off and tray and start and crawl back up with minimal back sliding.
This really has been all I've been doing the last month. That and leaving to shift smoothly found up and down the road to the church. Actually took it out on the highway for the first time today after I got back home from work for a little 10mi drive to my parents and honestly driving on the highway is a piece of cake compared chugging along at 3miles an hour in these pastures.stalled out ones and that was in the drive way but all the way on the highway egh easy peasy even had to deal with some hills and some road work just not half as hard as offroad. Will say though she don't seem to like goin past 55 too much lol

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[MaryB]

Ford was "UAW-Detroit" and in the 1980s they apparently couldn't make a decent small pick-up for less than $200,000. The original Rangers were simply rebranded Jap Mazda B-2000 4bangers and they were indeed good vehicles; wish they were still available.

Some people are indeed "drivers" and the rest are just "pointers". I have three daughters; they started out as drivers with several sessions in a '68 VW beetle. I had them start in an empty high school parking lot - forward and backward. - They learned to stop and restart - both forward and backward on a moderate slope. I would get them started around the track and then I got out to read a book so they couldn't jerk my neck while they drove - forward and backward, including stops on the slope - for 30-45 minutes a session. My girls never needed a girl's vehicle because they didn't roll onto a public road until they had mastered the vehicle itself in that parking lot.

Then they had to drive a couple of hundred miles on long, straight country roads before they ever had to deal with city traffic. They hated me for all that back then but now, in their 50s, they can still safely drive anything with wheels - forward and backward - better than their husbands and they thank me for their demanding but confidence building start.

Bottom line: Manual transmissions really aren't very hard to use, my little teenage girls could do it.

The Ford Mazda built trucks were the Courier. I had a 1970 4 banger 4 speed. Tough little truck. I flogged it commuting 60 miles a day fr 5 years before the rust got so bad it had to be parked. Since I got it used in 1978 it had a good life. Had 178k on it when the cab got so rusted I didn't trust it anymore. Sold it as part only. Guy that bought it decided to put it on the road. He fell asleep leaving the bar and hit a culvert. Cab popped off the frame and tumbled 5 times. Rescue squad said that saved his life, the engine was shoved back where his legs would have been. He tried suing me for selling an unsafe truck. I counter sued for damages. I showed the judge the printed newspaper ad saying "parts only! Not road safe!" and won on the spot. Cost him my 3 days off work, lawyer fees, and I hit him for an extra $1k in hassle fee.

[Mk42gunner]

That doesn't sound right. A 4.0 OHV gets 19-21 mpg on the high way, best case scenario. 17-19 is more common. If a 2.3 isn't getting 24+ mpg highway, something is wrong. They should get 25-30 mpg on an open highway unless there is a strong headwind. At least that's my experience with three 4.0's, and two 2.3's, as well as hearing from friends.

I figured it was gear ratios and available torque. The first 88 and the 91 I bought new, the rest were well used when I got them.

The 2.9 88 had gears in the mid three's not sure if it was 3.42:1 or 3.50. The 2.3L had 3.73:1, the 91 and 92 4.0L had 308:1 gears.

My current Ranger is also an 88, a 4x4 with 2.9/5speed and 4.10 gears, it gets around 17 just knocking around on gravel roads.

Robert

[Milsurp Junkie]

when i was learning to drive standard, my mom made me practice leaving the left foot pushed down, and tilt the right one up...and then push down with the right while tilting the left one up...harder to write than to see...but basically smoothly move from clutch foot down, to clutch foot up, while the accelerator foot moves from up to down.

My first nissan pickup went 185k on the original clutch, and i was a teenage driver (unfortunately, the timing chain stretched, which is just as bad for an interference engine)! It didnt have a tachometer, so I shifted by sound and feel.

[DougGuy]

I used to drive my mom's corvair on the dirt roads around D'Iberville when I was 9. If you can handle a sandy track you can handle the rest of it.

Hahaaaaa jsizemore D'Iberville... I learned to drive on the sandy roads of Gulf Park Estates (Ocean Springs MS) in a 66 Chevy Nova with a cam, headers, 4 speed and 2 4bbls. I drove sideways more than I drove straight. The trick was to go have as much fun as you want but oh boy get stuck in the ditch and then get caught out there oh hell no you won't get caught out there again!

[gwpercle]

Nope, you go to a big empty parking lot. Go forward, stop and back up, repeat till you have it right. Then find a hill(preferably nobody around) and go half up, stop and start again. Use the third foot on the brake pedal. Don't pick a rainy day if the window wipers are vacuum operated.

Almost Forgot about those ... vacuum windshield wipers ... the harder you accelerated the slower they moved ... Getting up onto the new Interstate Highway required you go fast up the the entrance ramp and build up speed fast to merge with traffic ... when it was raining ... the acceleration stopped the wipers ...here you was going full speed up the ramp and couldn't see squat ...foot off gas , flap flap flap , see where you are and back on the gas ...rolling down the interstate flat out and can't see nothing , driving in the rain on the interstate was sure exciting back then !
Gary

[memtb]

Congrats……. Nice ride! You’ll be the envy of many in Amite County.

Obviously we are from a vastly different era…..automatic tranny’s were an expensive option/anomaly when I was young!

If it’s a 4x4, never hesitate to use 4 low when climbing a steep, off-road grade…..much easier on the clutch! memtb

[farmbif]

wolf dog sure is a go getter and a quick study too. Ill bet he will be shifting as good as a race car driver in no time

[MaryB]

I learned to drive a stick in the old farm pickup Grandpa had... old Ford with no hood or doors, a wooden bench where the seat used to be... we used it to run parts to the field or for the short 3/4 mile trip into town to get something. 3 on the tree speed shifting LOL

[Winger Ed.]

A life long friend's wife used to drive one of the 3 school busses in their town.

Naturally: The new person (her) started off in their oldest bus, which had a manual transmission.
When one of the two senior drivers quit, she was supposed to move up to a newer bus with a automatic.
She'd learned to drive in her Dad's old International with a 5-speed, so it wasn't a big deal at the time.

But she didn't move up when one of the other drivers quit........
When she went in and asked why the new driver got a newer bus-- they told her,
"In all the years we've had that bus, you're the only driver that doesn't burn out the clutch at least twice a year".

[GregLaROCHE]

That’s a nice little truck you have there. Having an experienced person riding along with you a few times will improve your learning curve greatly. Be careful with your clutch. Even with an experienced driver clutches do wear out. You said it was a good deal, so I assume it’s got a fair amount of miles on it. Take care of your clutch. Once they start slipping it’s all down hill.

[MaryB]

But the good thing is a clutch replacement is something you can do in the driveway and it is a good learning experience. I remember bench pressing a 4 speed several times while laying under a car or truck... yes I was a gear head!My 1974 Gremlin X tribute car ate clutches but I raced it. 401 V8 and a 4 speed, and he engine was NOT stock. It was pushed to the limits at 750HP and I blew it up a couple of times! Mid 9 second 160mph passes on the 1/4 mile!

[farmerjim]

But the good thing is a clutch replacement is something you can do in the driveway and it is a good learning experience. I remember bench pressing a 4 speed several times while laying under a car or truck... yes I was a gear head!My 1974 Gremlin X tribute car ate clutches but I raced it. 401 V8 and a 4 speed, and he engine was NOT stock. It was pushed to the limits at 750HP and I blew it up a couple of times! Mid 9 second 160mph passes on the 1/4 mile!

MaryB,
I replaced a clutch in my 1969 skylark in a motel parking lot in Pascagoula, MS. I had jack stands and my toolbox in the trunk. The grain elevator was not
working Sunday, so I got it fixed. I did not have a transmission jack, so I bench pressed every transmission back in place. I am too old to do them any more so I had to have a shop do one last year.