2008 Dodge Dakota Owner Manual - Page 231

STARTING AND OPERATING 231 Fully depress the clutch pedal before shifting gears. As you release the clutch pedal, lightly depress the accelerator pedal. When launching a stationary vehicle, keep the engine speed low until the clutch is fully engaged. NOTE: Always launch in first gear. Damage to the clutch can result from launching in 2nd gear or 3rd gear. Use each gear in numerical order, do not skip a gear. When shifting from 5th to 6th gear, do not apply excessive knob load toward the Reverse gear gate, as you may overpower Reverse crash-through load and unintentionally clash into Reverse gear. Also, when shifting from 6th to 5th gear, excessive knob load toward the Reverse gear gate will result in blocking of the shift. To shift into Reverse, come to a complete stop. Depress the clutch and pause briefly to allow the gear train to stop. Reverse has a Љcrash-throughЉ lockout feature. In order to get into the reverse gate you should start in neutral 3/4 and move rapidly into the reverse gate in one swift motion. If you move slowly toward reverse you will encounter a very high load which makes it difficult to enter the gate. Never drive with your foot resting on the clutch pedal, or attempt to hold the vehicle on a hill with the clutch pedal partially engaged, as this will cause abnormal wear on the clutch. Recommended Shift Speeds To use your manual transmission for fuel economy it should be upshifted as listed below. Shift at the vehicle speeds listed for acceleration. Earlier upshifts during cruise conditions (relatively steady speeds) will result in increased fuel economy, and may be used as indicated. Higher upshift speeds may be used to obtain a desired acceleration rate. 5