how so?

 

Try pushing the shifter a little in any direction while cruising! You'll see what he means.

You certainly can have your hand on it without hurting anything but it's not a good idea to "ride the shifter" either.

 

didn't know that, what i do know is my sychros are already shot! ha, oh well, don't wanna make em any worse thats for sure, no more restin the hand for me

why is that exactly?

 

it was an old warning my driving instructor gave me way back when...but transmisions are a box of mystery fopr me...so i dont know exactly

 

Now that I think about it, my Uncle told me that when I was learning. He said:
"If you keep your hand on the shifter, or your foot on the clutch, I'll have to kick your *** and make you buy me a new tranny."
Hmmm, wonder why I'm so messed up. . . .
Anyway, maybe I'll call him and ask him if he knows exactly why.

 

Hmmm. well FYI, your shifter controls the shift rods which control the shift forks, which move the synchro assemblies which are splined to the output shaft and use a "cone style" "clutch to slow the input gears down to match the speed of the output shaft when up shifting or vice versa when down shifting. The synchro assembly is "locked in" by inverted teeth on the input gear and in the synchro assembly. Resting your hand will slowly cause these parts to wear a little and soon you will have to hold the car in gear by holding the shift lever in place.
Technically Leif is slightly incorrect. It is jamming the shifter into gear too hard (I mean forcing here) will wear out the synchro cone surfaces and they will not match the gear speeds and then you will have to double clutch to shift gears. Unless you can float the gears in which case you don't use a clutch anyways but that is usually only done in tractor trailers.........
WOW, I finally posted about something. Only took me about 2 years browsing this forum as a guest.... I guess I am official now .... at least on the board.

Later,
Bill

 

Bill's the man