Teaching son to drive a manual transmission

[DixieDoug]

Taught my daughter to drive straight shift years ago. She still only will buy a straight shift car.

Still remember my father teaching me. ...in a 1949 Ford.

I learned to drive in my sister's 48 Ford sedan. Had to pump the brakes and carry 2 gallons of oil in the trunk.

 

[1coolhand]

yep this^^^^^ is how I taught my wife. gotta learn the friction point as to were the clutch catches. So no gas just slow on the clutch pedal till it creeps forward (but just before it bucks).

This^^^

I have been teaching my 11 year old to drive my stick shift truck for the past few weeks. And I have to admit he's been doing good. I just told him to ride the clutch a lil bit till he feels it release. We have now moved on to stopping on a hill, started out like a bronc buster, but I think he's getting the hang of it and I'm doing o.k. too! He's learning to drive and I'm learning patience. Good luck! and be patient!

 

[Swamp Fox]

My dad made me do nothing but start off then stop in a strait line until i got the gas and the clutch down then after that moved on to changing gears. Doing it over several trips may help you out as well. lol

 

[edzackley]

My father put a cup full of water on the dashboard, and told me "When you can drive without spilling any, then we'll talk about you taking your test (for DL)" Some handgunning principles apply to this skill as well - slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

 

[icatchbadguyz]

It's probably been mentioned but the best thing you can do is have him understand the principles behind the clutch. How the friction increases as the pedal is relaeased. Let him practice without the gas where he slowly releases the clutch pedal till the car barley moves. Forget the gears till he can just about get the car going with no gas.

 

[Xcaliber]

ride the clutch until you learn the relationship/equalibrium of the clutch and accelerator.

 

[Laxguy59]

lol I learned how to drive an automatic when i had to drive it home from the person I bought it from. I left a couple of pissed off people at red lights waiting for me to get in gear. after about 24hrs I had it down except for big hills, those took some practice, but it became second nature. I actually think a motorcycle was easier to learn on since it was in my hands, then the car just seemed pretty similar.

 

[Hasselhoss]

Here is a write up from a guy on a Mustang forum I'm on, It sure is lengthy but it's really great. I taught my younger brother how to drive stick with this.
............. edited for length

Excellent write-up. I'm sending this to him to read up on. I'm going to hit it again tomorrow.

 

[Hasselhoss]

It's probably been mentioned but the best thing you can do is have him understand the principles behind the clutch. How the friction increases as the pedal is relaeased. Let him practice without the gas where he slowly releases the clutch pedal till the car barley moves. Forget the gears till he can just about get the car going with no gas.

My father put a cup full of water on the dashboard, and told me "When you can drive without spilling any, then we'll talk about you taking your test (for DL)" Some handgunning principles apply to this skill as well - slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Great suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Hasselhoss]

We spent some time discussing the physics behind it before the lesson. He kind of looked at me like I was making it more complicated then it was. He realized different when he left his foot on the brake and popped the clutch. He actually said "What's wrong with your car?"

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Oh, and remember your son is "your smartest and strongest sperm".

Classic!