Crunchy Second Gears

[Bruce Murray <bmurray@domain.elided>]

In my opinion, the reason that the second gear synchromesh fails is because
a) it is the hardest worked of all the gears in normal driving and hence
the first to fail and b) because most drivers do not shift "sympathetically".

As regards the latter, people seem to just force the gear in either on the
upshift or the downshift without sensitivity. A new car will stand this
treatment for a while without complaining until the synchro sleeve grooves
wear out which in turn leads to poor synchro action and gear crunching. So
the real cure is for people to learn how to shift gears properly and if
possible also double declutch on downshift. This will reduce the wear
substantially.

A good driver can of course operate even a crunchy gearbox smoothly, so it
may be cheaper when considering buying a car to learn how to shift rather
than get a gearbox overhaul.  As we old "F**Ts know the old boxes didn't
even have synchro and were a challenge to learn, however once mastered you
could make really smooth (if unhurried) shifts.

I have witnessed several ALFA's with over 100,000 miles on them without 2nd
gear crunching being evident and I am sure it's because they were shifted
"correctly".

Bruce Murray

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