Message text written by "Jim Muller"
>One possibility is that one notices clutch slippage more readily in a
higher
gear. The reasoning is this: If you depress the accelerator more than a
steady-speed throttle position, a low gear will let the car accelerate
easily. Even if slippage happens, you can't see it because both the tach
and speedo are moving upward together. Perhaps they aren't moving quite in
accord with each other, but the difference in their rates can't be judged
easily without a precise numeric comparison. In conrast, depressing the
accelerator while in a higher gear, especially on a hill, may result in
little or no acceleration at all. Tach movement accompanied by no
corresponding speedo movement is all too obvious!
<
I believe this is what I said. This is different than saying that the
clutch doesn't slip in lower gears but does when in higher gears. The
clutch slips because it can not hold against the torque the engine is
producing. Since the clutch is between the engine and the gear box the
gear selected does not affect the torque applied to the clutch. Randall's
point that some of the torque is spent spinning up the flywheel has merit
but even he admits that the effect is miniscule.
As I said, the slippage is not noticed as readily in lower gears or it does
not occur because the driver is not using the full engine torque available.
Dave
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