Autoshift Questions

I ran one for a day pulling a smooth bore tanker and it really sucked for that kind of work. It didn't shift smooth enough and it would miss gears and get confused and as a result, I would get tossed over the steering wheel and yanked back into the seat from all the tanker slap it caused. I can shift better with a stick. I'm sure it would shift fine with a van but theres a bit more going on with a loaded tanker.

 

okay, I can admit when I might be partially wrong. Had a discussion with my boss today about our daycabs. 7 of 9 daycabs have had their clutches replaced between 400K and 500K, except one that failed prematurely at 325K. By comparison, one of our competitor's has Int'l and Freightshaker daycabs with 10spd manuals, all have had to replace their clutches between 300K and 400K. The 2 of our daycabs that have not had the clutches done are used more for regional 5 hrs out 5 hrs back runs, both have 450K+, one needs a new clutch brake and they will do the clutch at the sametime, the other one is still running excellent.

 

if your talking daycabs then that means local or regional pretty close to home, which in turn would mean the clutch gets used ALOT more than an OTR application. My second generation eaton autoshift (3 pedal) clutch was just replaced at 930k mile. One disk was just fine, the other? Well the pads were in great shape, but the inner part was shredded like incriminating evidence.

On one of those truck shows on XM, a Volvo rep was on and they got to discussing autoshifts. The verdict: autoshifts are NOT for smooth bore tankin.

On another note, the "converter" in the full autos is not like a converter in a car. In fact, it is a centrifical clutch, just like on a go-kart.

 

so with that centrifical clutch, does it have a way to still engine brake? I know i hads a honda ATC200S threewheeler (which was recently STOLEN from me....), and it had a semi-automatic transmission...which was really just an automatic clutch on a manual transmission...and it had a centrifical clutch just like a gokart, except it had a one way set up in it, so if you turned it backwards (such as when the driveline is turning the engine, instead of the other way around), it locks up to allow engine braking....pretty neat setup. I honestly dont understand how it idled with that one way in there!

 

yep, we're talking daycabs, my regional tractor that I used to drive got 670K out of the clutch brake, they replaced the clutch as well to save time in the future, but it should have gone at least 750K.

 

My first one had this issue intermittent from brand new. Mack and Eaton could never duplicate it and it apparentlynever caused a problem as the trans was never rebuilt and the guy that bought it from Mack a week after we traded it in has not had the trans worked on yet.

 

Test drove an '04 T600 with the Eaton Auto Shift last week. Got some paperwork on the truck for repairs the previous owner did to it.

From the invoice I have for it, MHC in KSC. MO. replaced the ECU, harness & XY shifter. Total with labor was in the $3900 neighborhood. Mileage according to the invoice was around 730k. Just something to keep in mind.

 

Just FYI you can buy a brand new 18 speed autoshift for $4500

 

and it will probably never need this work again, although, I would recommend that you keep a set of XY with you in case they do fail. You'll know when they do, and it's about a 30 to 40 minute repair that you can do roadside if you have basic handtools.

 

Im going to see if ican clear a bunch of this up for you guys, i was a truck mechanic for a few years. First thing, stay away from the meritor with the paddle shift on the column, nothing but problems, and yes there clutches on our trucks are starting to go between 400 and 500k. not to mention the system malfunctions that make you start and stop the truck 10 times or unhook the batteries to reset the shifter just to get the truck in gear. The eatons are another story, they have much better success with our equipment. These two kinds both have clutches, the older models have pedals the new ones do not. as for the shifter, the x-y shifter they call it is air operated and as stated before, can give you trouble if your having an air issue. but, with these, if you wanted it is not that expensive to pull the x-y shifter out, and put a stick in its spot and put a pedal in, and you have a manual trans again. As for the Allisons i do not have much knowledge with these except these are true automatics like a car or pickup. My advice would be take into consideration your operation before getting any automatics at all, they do handle ok on the grades, but it is really hard on them afterwhile. Hope i helped alittle.