Big Truck Transmissions


And when they jam up, be ready with a steel rod to slip under the truck and wiggle them back into neutral so you can start over again.

Not that that ever happened to me of course. No freakin' way.
 
Wow, hard to believe only 5 people on this forum drive a standard or automatic truck.What are the rest driving?

I drive a 13 speed, and would prefer an 18 speed. The Ultra shift and Auto shift trannies suck (in my own humble opinion, and it always pisses me off how the uninformed call them "automatics"). I have driven trucks with true automatics, that have torque converters, valve bodies and hydraulic fluid, and unless I was running strictly local delivery, I would not want one. I have driven multi stick equipped rigs, although it was long ago and far away, so the experience really doesn't have any validity for me today.

Manual shifted trucks (and even cars and pickups) are for real drivers, auto shifts (a 10 speed gearbox that is shifted but an automated process) and true automatics are for girls and others who aren't coordinated enough to manipulate three pedals and a shift lever or two.

The only real use for an automatic is so when you are cruisin' the boulevard with yer girl, you can have her sittin' right next to ya with yer arm around her and her hand on yer thigh.

I kinda wish the poll was multiple choice, because I was glad to see that it was not what I thought it was about.

Just call me a standerd shiftin' basterd!
 
I understand Racer,I know they are not true automatics. but I chose to use and continue to use the term because it is used and understood by the lay person.
 
i drove an old 18 speed quadraplex for a while. damn thing would work you to death in town. havent driven anything with the new automatics so i dont know about them. i think i would prefer a standard.
 
i drove an old 18 speed quadraplex for a while. damn thing would work you to death in town. havent driven anything with the new automatics so i dont know about them. i think i would prefer a standard.

Is that like one of them multi sticks?I remember seeing them when i was a young lad, but never drove one and I wouldn't even know where to begin I would be clueless.
 
I understand Racer,I know they are not true automatics. but I chose to use and continue to use the term because it is used and understood by the lay person.

It's all good, it is just a pet peeve of mine, and since Zoe is gone I need a pet.
 
I drive an automatic and have no desire to go back to a standard, even though they are not perfect.

The worst part of an automatic is backing up, especially in a tight spot. I think the issues I have though are due to backing up an unbaffled tank. Other than that, I love the automatic. Drove one pulling a reefer a few years ago and loved it as well.

I see no point in having to manually shift a transmission if I don't have to. It's like refusing to let the receiver unload my freight because I want to do it myself (just extra work that does me no good)
 
I drive automatics and standards at my company I just recently had 2 automatics strand me,But normally they are OK.The only things I don't like about automatics is when they decide not to go into gear there are only a few things you can do and when they get stuck in the snow same thing.
 
I notice that people who drive automatics seem to drive too fast in areas where it's not a good idea to do so.

I said that once when I was dispatching, and a guy said "Bullshit!" Then immediately went into a story about how he was driving an automatic, and got to his off ramp, and was still going way too fast way close to the end of the ramp.

I really wonder sometimes if people like that are aware of what they're saying when they say it.

I'm sure these idiots would be driving just as fast with a regular transmission, but I don't think automatics have helped alleviate this particular problem...
 
I could get behind that post Sinister,I know myself I am aware of what gear and around what speed I'm at In a manual, But i sometimes space in the automatic.It could be a matter of experience with the auto's but I have driven them for a few years and tend to go into corners allot hotter than I would in a manual.I hadn't really thought about it until you brought it up
 
The worst part of an automatic is backing up, especially in a tight spot. I think the issues I have though are due to backing up an unbaffled tank.

When the Autoshift transmissions first came out "creeping" slowly, such as when backing up was a big problem, especially with the ones that have centrifical clutches, because you have to rev the engine enough to get the clutch engaged enough to make the truck move, and then the vehicle speed was higher that really needed to roll up to a dock. There were a lot of damaged ICC bumpers and docks then. I can imagine it was hard on the kingpin and fifth wheel assemblies too.

I like my automatic in the snow, especially with the Traction Control :)

My rig has a 13 speed manual and it has traction control.

If the "autos" behave anything like automotive automatics in snow and other slippery conditions, I would rather keep my stick shift. It is kind of hard to force the autos to start in anything other than the lowest gear. I learned to use 2nd or 3rd to help get rolling in slick conditions. Also, an auto will shift up or down at the most undesirable times, where a manual only shifts when I decide to shift it.
 

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