Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Don't know which is better. I know my diesel ZF6 kicks butt towing because I can choose gears and stay in the gear where a auto will shift. My diesel with a auto sucked. As soon as it got going send pulling it wanted to shift. Power band was all over the place.
All I know is the autos in the coca-cola trucks sound like wolves howlinv at the moon. I would probably want to drive a semi if they would just make a syncronized manual, I don't want to double clutch anything.
More and more companies are switching over to automatic transmissions. Why? Because the true truck driver is getting to be hard to find. The young bunch on the roads today are pretty much clueless and they tear up equipment like there's no tomorrow. The automatics takes control of the operations while Jr tries to keep it shiny side up. In most cases, maintenance and break downs are diminished by a lot which more than covers the slight decrease in fuel mileage. Besides saving the company money, it also reduces driver fatigue which means fewer accidents and mishaps. As the Gov't implements its demands on the trucking industry for a smaller carbon footprint, you're going to see automatics only in the near future, just like you see with pickups. Everything will be computer controlled for best power and emissions.
To answer the question, I prefer a 13 speed. Its a good variety of gear ranges. Manual transmissions are great in a big truck so you can stay in a lower gear going down a mountain.
Depends on the application and who's driving it. And what sort of automatic we're talking about.
Manual with a clutch is fine for experienced drivers. And it's the cheapest, lowest maintenance option.
Auto-shift with a clutch pedal is good for less experienced drivers. Costs more... more stuff to maintain.
Auto-shift without a clutch pedal is great if you want to hire burger-flippers to drive your equipment. Personally I think that's a bad idea... but accountants who make corporate decisions these days obviously disagree with me.
For applications that spend time in an off-road environment (say dump trucks or oilfield trucks)- you can't beat an Allison.
Automatics or some variation if I have a large fleet of inexperienced drivers.
Depends on what I'm running. Most of the time a 13 speed is alright. If I was running heavy haul or more than 80,000 pounds I'd want an 18 speed. Straight truck a 10 speed would be dandy.
Transit busses, schoole busses, and road coaches have had automatics for years now. What's the differences between an auto rig, and say, an auto Setra road coach, or Gillig Lowfloor, I'm sure those have more than five/six speeds(hard to find transmission stats on busses, I know Gillig uses, or used Allisons), aside from wieght carrying, or pulling, because a rig bobtailing, and maybe even with an empty trailer doesn't wiegh too much more than an empty bus, non-hybrid Gillig Lowfloor has a gvwr of 17K lbs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
