Holding gear lever

[sdhog2002]

From page 167 of my GTI Owner's Manual, under Manual Gearbox: "Do not rest your hand on the gear lever when driving. The pressure from your hand is passed onto the selector forks in the gearbox". Very

[Tim]

Thats the case with any manual gearbox. Whats the puzzling bit?

[sdhog2002]

Thanks, Tim, and sorry for my obvious ignorance. I have been driving manual cars for 36 years and rebuilt quite a few cars and motorbikes but have never thought resting my hand on the gear lever transmits any pressure through to the selector forks. I learn something new every day.

[The_Hawk]

I too have read things along those lines for years and wondered what the real impact is of resting your hand on the shifter??

Can anyone who has seen any damage comment or better yet post pictures?

[Big_Dave]

I have my girlfriend hold my stick for me,
much more fun


Drive Hard or Drive Home!

[Ozram]

I too have read things along those lines for years and wondered what the real impact is of resting your hand on the shifter??

Can anyone who has seen any damage comment or better yet post pictures?

I've stripped and repaired some Eaton Roadranger 15 and 18 speed transmissions out of trucks and you can tell a lot from the wear patterns on the internal components. The shift forks can show a groove or witness markings on one side if a driver holds the gear lever constantly. Even a small amount of pressure that you probably don't realize that you are using is enough to push the shift fork (via the gear lever) onto one side of the shifting dog and wear occurs. It looks like a groove in the metal on one side. You can also tell if someone has not been using the clutch as it wears the face of the gears. This rather shaky video shows the forks at around 1min 35sec. (counts backwards??)

Bigger gearbox, similar principle.

[sdhog2002]

Thank you Ozram. Nice to get an authoritative answer.

[pologti18t]

When I did defensive/advanced driving course with Ian Luff he always made comments about people keeping their hands off their knob while driving.

The fact is that you should have both hands on the wheel whilst driving.

[Ozram]

Thank you Ozram. Nice to get an authoritative answer.

sdhog2002,

Its not going to cause an immediate failure but over time it can make the gear lever action loose and eventually lead to gear changing problems. My Dad always used to say that when he was learning to drive the instructer had a wooden ruler and would rap him over the knuckles if he left his hand on the gear lever and also his thigh if he left his foot on the clutch.

In a similar vein, I saw a brand new Holden Cruze being driven the other day and the guy had his foot resting on the brake pedal all the time as his brakelights were blinding me. I see that happening more frequently. Some people must have bottomless pockets for the repair & servicing costs involved with doing that.

[kaanage]

In a similar vein, I saw a brand new Holden Cruze being driven the other day and the guy had his foot resting on the brake pedal all the time as his brakelights were blinding me. I see that happening more frequently. Some people must have bottomless pockets for the repair & servicing costs involved with doing that.

Ford's C6AZ-19542 brake fluid was developed in the early 1960's to prevent some US car owners from boiling their brake fluid when they did this. It turned out to be a fine racing product.

Sometimes, people get too insulated from their own mistakes