JK gets a pickup truck

[Aglifter]

Might be hard w.o. a hand brake, and I don't know how steep the hills are, but it can, at times, be considerably easier to use the handbrake to help hold you on a hill, in addition to the clutch -- used to drive a Boxster in Austin -- no torque at idle, and some steep hills.

[drice]

If I'm stopped facing uphill, and someone is fairly close behind me, such that I don't want to risk rolling backwards, I'll put the car in 1st, right foot on brake, and let the clutch out until it starts to pull the engine down a little (like 100 revs). Then I know that it's already trying to move forward, or at least providing some pressure against the hill. This prevents me from rolling backwards on all but the steepest hills.

[Windy Wilson]

I've been told that other things being equal, ie truck weight, engine size, etc, a manual transmission will allow the truck to tow a heavier load than an automatic transmission. A lot of guys in the Kern buy automatics and then go looking to trade for a manual once they learn this.
It'll take a bit of time to get used to a manual transmission. I drove an automatic for the first four years I drove, then drove a manual for 22 years. Give it a little time to develop new habits.

[JKosprey]

I'm getting pretty good with it-I still stall now and again like an idiot, but usually there are no issues at all.

Drice, I've been known t do exactly what you described. The roads are variable and theres a few steep spots that I regularly have to start from-people around here have a habit of nearly tapping your bumper when they get behind you; if I'm really fed up, I'll occasionally roll a bit intentionally as a warning, and people usually back up and leave you a bit more room at the next light.

The truck gun is a Stephens single barrel 12 gauge...woulda gone for the double that I'd found but that shop was more than an hour away, so I don't there often. It's not great for defense, but in NY even having ammo within reach is considered loaded so I wouldnt matter what kind of gun I had. I figure it allows me to have a gun, that's innoculous and not too scary for the sheeple, but providing a powerful round. It's also great for impromteu hunting trips.

[Netpackrat]

something, i do to get use to a clutch in a new vehicle it put it in first, let off the brake and slowly release the clutch, do it on a slight incline and learn to hold the vehicle with out the brake, that way you dont roll back into the vehicle behind you if you have to stop on a hill.

I'm going to disagree with this. The clutch is a relatively fragile component, difficult and/or expensive to replace, and it has a finite life even when given the best of treatment. It should be used for starting, stopping, and shifting, period. The advice given above to keep your left foot on the floor when not using the clutch is excellent, and further in that vein minimizing the use of your clutch will prolong its life. When stopped on an incline, you need to learn to use the brake to hold your vehicle, so you can take your foot off the clutch and prevent it from wearing while you are stationary. This will be easiest with a vehicle that has a hand lever for the parking brake (like my Jeep, although I rarely need to use it this way), but depending on factors (such as foot size, pedal spacing, etc) you should still be able to learn to operate all 3 pedals simultaneously. Off-roaders get serious enough about this that they often install hand throttles in their vehicles.

Engine braking was mentioned above, and it is also an important skill. Lots of people who think they are braking with the engine, are actually using the clutch for a brake, reducing its life significantly. It will take practice, but eventually you will get to where you can match the speed of the transmission input with the engine speed using throttle, as the downshift is made. Once you have let off the clutch completely, you can then back off on the throttle and let the compression of the engine slow you down. The big thing is to have the clutch totally engaged with no slippage before backing off on the RPMs, because the clutch only wears when it is slipping, so anything you can do to minimize that time will prolong the life of the clutch. The other wear point is the release bearing, which wears when the pedal is being depressed, so minimizing the time the clutch is released will help it too.

Traffic sucks.

Yup, few things are worse on the clutch than heavy stop and go traffic. Once you get a little bit of a clue into what it takes to replace a clutch, you'll start thinking about things like do you REALLY need to burn clutch to move the 10 or 15 feet forward as traffic bunches up at a light, vs. just staying where you are. In the wintertime, I shift into 4 low in order to back up my icy driveway, not because I need to, but because I don't need to slip the clutch the whole way up like I would in 4 high. I can take my foot off the clutch and let it crawl the whole way. I can't say that I'm ALWAYS easy on the clutch because I have a bit of a lead foot, but you should always be thinking about how you can best accomplish your goal while extending its life.

[Windy Wilson]

NPR is right about using the clutch to hold the truck on a hill. That's a good way to eat up the clutch pad, which, in order to change it you have to pull the trans or the engine.
The same goes for engine braking, which was necessary 70 years ago when brakes were more delicate. Nowadays even the asbestos free pads will stand up to all but the longest hardest stops, and the clutch pads are harder to replace, making engine braking mostly unnecessary.

[JKosprey]

I tned to use the brakes rather then downshift, except maybe from 5th to fourth on an exit ramp, and *sometimes* from 4th to 3rd. The difference in range between 3rd and 2nd is too great to make engine braking even practical past that point.

I will try not to use the clutch to hold the truck too much on hills though.

[Combat Controller]

Old habits die hard though, I still tend to down shift, even on my motorbikes, to slow down...

[Netpackrat]

Nothing wrong with downshifting, as long as you match speeds with the throttle, and take your foot off the clutch prior to letting off on the throttle. It helps slow you down, and ensures that the selected transmission ratio is appropriate if you need to need to accelerate quickly, such as to avoid a collision.

[Vonz90]

Just remember that a clutch should be all the way in, or all the way out, and be transitioned smoothly between the two, and you will do fine.

I only drive manuals and have never had one last less than 120K+ miles, so don't let it worry you too much. The big point is not to ride the clutch (applying pressure to it while driving normally) as that will burn them up in a few thousand miles.