Mark Gregush, with a 1924 Superior, encouraged me to make a post on my experiences of changing gears on my 1922 490. See
his thread on the 1912-1928 forum.
All 490 models and the 1923-1924-Superior models have the same cone clutch, and practically the same transmission. On the 1912-1928 or 1916-1922 forums you can find a number of threads on the clutch and transmission. For instance, search for “cone clutch”. But I have not seen many posts on experiences of changing gears on these cars.
Therefore I decided to open a new thread, on both these forums, hoping that it will inspire others to make comments on their experiences. I am really interested, because I am not sure if I have got it all right.
I have owned my 490 ten years, during these years I have been driving 12 000 kilometers (7 600 miles).
If you don’t know the construction or function of the cone clutch and the transmission you can take a look in the “Instructions for the operation and care of Chevrolet Motor cars, Four Ninety and Superior Models”, Issued July 1 1923, which you can find
here , pages 43-46. In the instructions for 1924 Superior, which you can find
here , you can find them on pages 44-47.
I usually start on the first gear, and shift to second gear at a very low speed, one or two mph, and the motor still idling or with just a little revving. So usually I change after just a few meters or feet. I make the shift passing the neutral quite fast, or say resolute, after releasing the clutch. Why? Because as soon as the gear shifting lever reaches the neutral position, the main shaft going into the transmission (ingoing shaft), the counter shaft and the idler shaft retards and stops very quickly. Why? I think that the main reason is that the main shaft gear, the three gears on the counter shaft and the two gears on the idler shaft works in a very heavy oil, either you use the often recommended 600W Steam Cylinder Oil or the similar modern 250W straight transmission oil which I use. VERY heavy just as you have started the car, especially if it is a little chilly. Another reason is that as the clutch is released, the clutch yoke is pressed against of the rear part of the clutch hub. As the cone is not very heavy, the main, counter and idler shafts can retard and stop quite quickly. You can easily check how quick the cone and the ingoing shaft stops if you remove the floor, start the motor and press and let up the clutch pedal.
If the ingoing, counter and idler shafts has stopped and the car is still rolling slowly, I just let the clutch pedal up, immediately press it down and make a resolute shift from neutral to second gear. The idling motor mostly makes the ingoing and counter shafts revolve enough to make the “second speed counter shaft gear” match the speed on the “high and second speed sliding gear” on the main shaft going out from the transmission (outgoing shaft).
If the ingoing, counter and idler shafts has stopped and the car is rolling faster, it is necessary to rev up the motor before shifting from neutral to second gear. This situation happens to me every time I leave our house, because the drive is a quite steep slope. I drive down the slope on the first gear, letting the motor make the braking job. When I have left the slope the speed is maybe five mph or more. I release the clutch, shift from first gear to neutral, let up the clutch pedal, rev the motor quite a lot, immediately release the clutch and make a resolute shift from neutral to second gear.
I use to shift from second to third gear at 15-20 mph. After releasing the clutch, I move the lever from second to third position without a paus in the neutral position, or with just a very very short paus. Why such a hurry? Because if I make a longer paus, of the same length that I do on my 1931 Opel, my 1964 Volvo 121, and that I did on the 1925 Superior with the new flat clutch that I owned for two years, the ingoing, counter and idler shafts retards and stops, as described above. This happens to me now and then, and then I have to let the clutch pedal up, rev up the motor, immediately press the pedal down and make a resolute shift to the third gear.
So I do not quite agree with the advice in the “Instructions…” that I mentioned above. There you can read this: “Be deliberate: It is well to pause a moment or two after disengaging the gears before moving into the next speed. The fundamental requirements in every case are that the gears to be meshed shall be revolving at as nearly the same speed as possible (this is of course correct). By waiting a moment, time is given for this to take place.”
Can it be that the reason my experiences differ from the “Instructions…” is that the gears in my transmission are excessively worn? Or can there be other reasons?