Do I clutch in when shifting into neutral?

[bentjazz]

Hi YWers. I know, this is a driver's ed question, and probably something I should know by now. But I've never been entirely clear on this issue, despite having a couple manual cars before buying my manual Yaris. For all those who drive manual cars out there, do you push the clutch pedal in when you shift into neutral? I always have, but am not really 100% sure if it's even necessary. Thanks in advance for any help on this remedial question.

[kimona]

Yes.

[NYC-SE]

Yes

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Yes, clutch in when you put the shifter in neutral. And something that's very important that I don't see many people doing...release the clutch pedal once you're in neutral. Don't keep it depressed. You're going to cause a lot of premature wear on the TOB.

[mitch9521]

Clutch in whenever you do ANYTHING in a manual. Some people clutchless shift but I'd rather replace a clutch than a transmission, so I use the clutch. Sometimes I subconsciously double clutch, its pointless but doesn't harm anything in a synchronized transmission.

[bentjazz]

You guys are awesome. Thank you!

[malibuguy]

I dont lol. Whem Im causally driving I actually back off the throttle a smidge to reduce the load and pull into into neutral then clutch in then go to next gear. I dont recommend this but I do it in all my manual cars.

[blktiger60]

Sometimes. Most of the time.
But then sometimes I shift from 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th w/o using the clutch. It's possible if you're at the correct RPM.

[bronsin]

Sometimes you don’t have to if you know what you’re doing. In fact it isn’t necessary to use the clutch at all except for starting off from a stop.

Now that you mention it.

[kevinj93]

I learned how to do that when driving my friend's 18 wheeler, which has a 15 speed Road Ranger gearbox. These were a constant mesh gearbox like most motorcycles. It allowed for much faster gear changes than double clutching.

For a bit more information, this is a 5 speed shift with 3 ranges - High, Low and Deep Reduction. Normally, the Deep Reduction range wasn't used on the road unless you needed to do a hill start with a full load.