I saw a few trucks to day that were automatic. I have never driven one but the sales person told me that they are much better overall. My major concern is the maintenance on a automatic. Wouldn't the automatic be more expensive in the long run when it came to repairs?

All advice is greatly appreciated

 

It depends on what you're going to do with the truck. OTR, regional, local, dump truck?

Some may say I'm "old school", but my contention is that a properly spec'ed manual transmission in the hands of an experienced, skilled driver is much better than an automatic.

One of my other thoughts on this matter is that if a driver trainee cannot or will not master the art of shifting an unsynchronized transmission, then chances are greater that he or she does not have the aptitude for handling a truck in other ways either.

Sort of a "litmus test" I guess.

 

The BEST system would be one similar to the system in the Toyota Prius. It's quite the ingenius system. The simplest way to explain it is there is a "differential" attached to the engine, one end of the diff is attached to the drive wheels, the other to an electric engine. You vary the RPMS of the gas/diesel engine by varying the load on the electric motor. The electricity from the electric motor goes directly to another electric motor that is attached to the drive wheels.

You could have a STRONGER setup then any transmission in a truck now, and it would be lighter. You could also have it "lock up" so that there are no electrical losses. During acceleration, these losses would be negligable because you wouldn't need to shift 8-10 times. Every time you need to spool that turbo, you're wasting fuel.

 

both clutches and automatics have thier pros and cons.

the pro to a clutch is better fuel milage if u know how to drive efficiently. and more power when and where u need it.

automatics have the power option by allowing u to downshift if need be,

the big pro's to having a automatic in a truck is, fewer dropped clutch's, fewer repairs, more of the news only know how to drive automatics, (i'm proud of toyoto thou i seen a comercial the other day where a stick was standard and not a option.... i remember the good old days where that was always the case),

so as i see it, both have thier pros and cons, for otr companies i would suggest automatics to keep thier repair costs lower and dead time from when the truck is getting repaired since qualified and experienced drivers are still hard to find and getting harder as the days go by.

but for the o/o i would suggest a a stick.

 

The auto shift trucks have a clutch as well... The earlier types of auto shift trucks are nothing more than a manual transmission tied into the computer and shifted with electric/air solenoids. The newer trucks even though they do not have a clutch pedal ... are in fact still equipped with a clutch , it just engages and disengages in a different way. The class 8 truck is getting close to a true auto transmission. I have owned 3 autoshift trucks, and they have done better on fuel and have in the long run cost me less on repairs.

 

If you drive in heavy traffic a lot, the auto's are great. As long as the truck is moving at least 3 mph, you don't need the clutch. I didn't seem to get as good a fuel mileage with the auto as the straight shift. I also don't care how they shift in mountains, up or down. I still prefer the straight shift to the auto.

 

If buying a used truck, I would not buy an auto without the clutch. I dont know the inner workings of these but I know they are trouble with a capital t. I have owned and driven Eaton autos which were 10 speeds shifted by the computer and air solenoids, great in traffic areas, you dont hurt so bad at the end of the day. As someone put it, you still need that "litmus test" Manual shifting.

 

I know 3 guys who have automatics and all three of them LOVE them.

Go figure.

The only people I know who bad mouth automatics are people who don't have them.

 

I couldnt imagine driving an auto. Seems like,you would use the brakes quite a bit.

 

For my 2 cents..... I drove trucks in the late 70 and early 80's that were fully automaic. One style truck had the 6 speed allison automatic that had an air shift control unit, behind the 8V77 detroit, and the other style truck had a 5-speed allison, behind the 3208 Cat. Back then, there was not a Jake that would work with the transmissions set up like that...no computer. However..one time I was lucky enough to pick up a brand new unit from the truck plant...which had the clutch retarder working on it..that was ok...but once it hit the terminal shop..that retarder was disconnected.

Now....the company I used to work for in Seattle has in the last 2 years switched over from 10-speed road rangers to fully automatic 13 speed allisons....behind the 600 horse Signature Cummins. The units there are GVW'd at 105,000#

A dump truck company in Buckley WA has a fleet of 38 T-800's and 25 w-900's that are also equipped with allisons. Majystic runs Cats and Cummins both.....600 hundred HP. They also are GVW'd to 105,000#

I do not have enough experience with the Meritor and Eaton tranny's to say either way ...but the allison of today is about 2/3 the size of the allisson's I operated back in the Day..and they are just as durable now as they were then.


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