Maybe this is more well suited to a general area, or a driving techniques section, but I know it'll get some traffic here, sooo...

Some of you may have heard that due to an unfortunate incident while hiking in Death Valley a while back, I lost my left leg. I've since had a replacement, but I was wondering, does anyone have any advice for how to better control the clutch with my new mechanical wonder of a leg?

 

sell your car to me

nah the only thing i can say is practice. its gonna be a whole new learning experience for you. i would find an empty parking lot and re learn. sorry to hear about that man. keep your head up though

 

Jeez man, when did you get that/that happen??

 

practice is the best option,
other than that you could find someone to design you a hand controlled clutch lever. Shouldnt be all that difficult and could be something almost like a handbrake but attached to the slave master. They sell hydraulic hand brakes so all you would need to do is attach that line to the clutch master cyl and you are off to the handicap 500!

 

^^ you're a genius. one had to clutch, one hand to shift, oh **** wait i can't steer.

 

My friend Joey of Island Racing has a right prosthetic leg (Aerospace computerized prototype-aluminum/titanium).

He drives a 1971 Toyota Corolla 3TC with Nitrous. On the stick shift is a thumb throttle (activated with his right thumb). The nitrous system has two switches that must be activated, the first is activated when the clutch pedal is fully released, the second is a button on the steering wheel (activated with his left thumb).

As often as he beats the car in the next lane you wouldn't classify him as handicapped.

His only hardship is when staging as it can take a little more time to get the staging lights lit. But you wouldn't know it if you saw him racing.

Vid: 12 second run beating a Pro Bracket Nova:

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/1...-v8_111449.htm

 

Good point, didnt really think of that hahaha.

Well the button on the shifter makes sense but he wont be any better off in regards to feeling than he is now. Thats why I figured if you cant get the sense of touch from your leg why not get it from your hand, but now since it is clear you cant get it from your hand unless it was a hoop behind the steering wheel like in some rally cars then you may just have to resort to you last limb. Your love muscle (thats not really a muscle at all).

Might be time to look into a sequential mission!

 

a lever attached to the left hand side of the steering wheel sounds like the best option to me, its not hard to always have a hand there, with the other hand for shifting.

where is your leg amputated, knee down? If it was up at the hip, that would be near impossible to operated a clutch, but I can see you learning how just by lifting your knee

 

yeah my father lost his left leg in a bad motorcyle accident a few years back too. sinch then he has givin up stick shift and solumly drives automatics. if you fingure out a decent way to attack this please let me know. i would think the easiest way would be a rod attatched to the clutch but that could cause a number of other problems due to one hand shiftin and the other depressing the clutch what are you usin to hold the wheel strait? I have given this a great deal of thought also but have not come to a realistic conclusion. my father still has a knee but has been moved further up causing limited bending and a rather long prostisis. well you could always shell out the lut and get a cluchless trans
james

 

I wonder if it's worth building a "socket" onto the pedal with captures the foot until you get used to the leg? My assumption being that with a ridged "ankle" joint the foot may be more prone to slipping?

 

hand clutch like an F1 car... and if you could maybe get a paddle shift system that we could all take advantage of and put it on our cars.... my advice go to your local university engineering dept and tell them of your problem and the young geniuses can help you figure it out for one of there projects, I remember a group doing something along those lines during our senior projects. And the University will gladly fund it.

 

The above system should be able to work if the clutch pedal and brake pedal were moved to the right so it will be in line with his right leg (weld extensions on the clutch and brake arms to move pedal location over).

Joey has 100's of runs with his current sytem and he speed shifts between gears (no throttle lift)

 

Well I found this on another forum.


Found these guys who do retro fits to sports cars. http://www.rediautosport.com/


I remember this article in Super street as well. Weld Racing built a drift car for a guy in a wheel chair. If I remember correctly he had no use of both his legs.

The inner mechanics of gears and clutch control come from Italian manufacturer, Guidosimplex. Installed by Ito-san, they allow Yoshi to direct everything with his hands. Controlling the works is a major feat for regular driving, but throw in the fast response required for drifting and you get an idea of how well-attuned Yoshi has become to his car. A Nardi Gara leather steering wheel was refitted to include an inner-circular accelerator control and the brakes are now handled by a pull **** left of the steering wheel. While the original hand brake is still in place, a new one was installed on the left side that sits higher to give Yoshi more pulling leverage during turns while he holds the steering wheel with his right hand. Clutching is controlled with a push lever which sits beside the shift ****, altered slightly from Guidosimplex's original.





Hope that helps man. Good luck with your build.

 

^Thats pretty badass.

I was about to say, rig up some sort of motorcycle clutch system (hand clutch) on the shifter.

 

I'd go with the hand clutch on the shifter too. Everytime you want to change gear you'll have to reach for it anyway and it'll allow you to keep your left hand busy with steering only.

 

What that big red handle he got in there to the left of the E-brake


maybe I shuld have just read it well the first time.


Thats still alot of levers to control... for drifting they should have gave him a clutchless paddle shift system with accelarator & braking triggers on the e brake.

 

His e-brake.

 

That'd be his naws, dawg!

 

Word! Of course, how could I forget the NAAAAUUUUS!

 

^ agreed, my buddy has a shifter hand clutch in his rock crawler. lets him brake and feather the gas and clutch at the same time

 

My friend Joey owner/driver of the above Corolla suggested that a Harley Davidson hydraulic clutch lever system can be used on the shifter, keeping the install easy/simple and cost effective. Factory brakes and clutch pedal won't need any modifications.

 

just mount a hydro lever like on a bike or 4 wheeler to your shifter kinda like the way some rachet shifters are setup that way u could squeeze it as you grip the shifter i had as shifter cart with that setup worked awsome

 

Collin, Sorry to hear that.

A few details might help. . .

Where does the prosthetic begin?; Do you still have a knee?

Using the picture provided; Which muscles would you be using to move the prosthetic?