1. Gang

Hello, I'm going to ask a general question again, I hope that's not a problem!
This refers to any car with a manual transmission.
...On my first car ride (with my mom still), I wanted to shift into first gear while driving uphill at about 20 km/h, but I was told 'you don't do that, only when you're (almost) stopped.' I've followed that advice ever since, and you can also feel that first gear only engages easily when you're almost at a standstill. Since then, I've had discussions with people who shift into first gear at 30 km/h or more, but I don't have any technical arguments to support my position. Maybe someone who understands the inner workings can explain it to me. Perhaps I'm wrong, and it doesn't matter if you 'force' the first gear at 30+ RPM.
Best regards,

Hello Avenga,

Perhaps you have a tachometer, so you can check how fast your engine is spinning in 1st gear at 20 km/h. It might be around 3000 RPM. That's also the speed at which the input shaft in the transmission is rotating. So, when you want to engage 1st gear, the transmission input shaft must inevitably be accelerated to that speed. In the past, people used to give 'blip the throttle,' meaning: press the clutch, take out 2nd gear, release the clutch, rev the engine (accelerate the shaft), press the clutch again, and engage 1st gear. This was necessary for Beetles even in the 1960s because the first gear was not synchronized.
Nowadays, the synchronizer rings in the transmission handle this through friction, which is the (sometimes strong) resistance you feel when shifting gears. However, friction also means wear and tear, so thrifty people try to avoid it. But you don't usually do it that often, so there's a divided opinion on whether it ultimately prevents premature transmission repairs. Of course, you could theoretically blip the throttle to relieve the synchronization. However, this requires skill, otherwise you risk damaging the clutch, which is usually not cheap to fix.
However, the higher the speed, the higher the engine RPM. If you try to shift into first gear at 40 km/h, the shaft needs to be accelerated to 6000 RPM; at some point, this becomes critical, and you should expect potential damage. So, be careful here. The basic rule is: don't force the gear; instead, press gently and wait a bit until the RPMs have adjusted. As the vehicle goes uphill, its speed decreases rapidly, which makes the problem irrelevant anyway.

Hello.
Wolfgang.

Ah, thank you, I think I understand now!

Hi everyone,

I once learned that all the gears are synchronized except for the first gear, and that's why you shouldn't shift into first gear while the car is moving. Am I wrong, or was it like that before, and is the first one also synchronized now?

Regards,

Eike.

Hello Eike,

You are completely wrong with your assumption about the first gear not being synchronized.

All forward gears are synchronized.
Nowadays, high-torque vehicles often also...
Double-conical synchronizing rings are used.
In very expensive transmissions, the reverse gears are sometimes also synchronized.

Sure, here is the translation of the text from German to English:

'cu smith2'