That's downright dangerous , u need to be able to hold gears and select a gear when you see dangerous terrain coming up.

Originally Posted by aiwiron

I know you guys know what you are talking about, myself have never driven an auto.

Well sometimes you could see a steep hill ahead and you'd need to be in the correct gear before you head down also when you drive in slippery conditions it's safer be in manual mode so it doesn't try change gear at the 'wrong time' sometimes these autos have to be driven in manual cos the truck can't 'see' what's ahead of it.

We now run ALL "auto's" everyone drives differently, some of my guys shift them almost as driving a manual (which I really can't see) others claim to NEVER shift into manual. On my Pete, I do use the manual feature for selecting and holding a gear downhill, but my Pete has a ridiculously high rear gear, in overdrive my final drive ratio is in the 2.20 range. So I have to gear down to get the jakes to work.

However keep in mind we are ALWAYS light, never over 54,000 gross, with that being said I would NEVER lockout the manual override, also those trannies are designed to be able to be slapped into low in an emergency stop situation, it raises the allowed down shift points and speeds up the gear drop to get you slowed quicker.

As far as I know, YES you are suppose to be able hold a gear over a RR crossing. First you need to find out if this is something that is "company policy" or just an over efficient shop manager? I see no reason why they would do this as it is (in my opinion anyway) pretty tough to abuse an auto-shift, unless you are really trying.

If you are in the 80,000 range, I WOULD NOT want drive a truck setup like that, IMO it could be dangerous.

Stan

Seriously, I wonder why they would do that to start with? What was their thought & reason behind it? Have you asked them why they would do that? I am interested to know what their reasoning was?

If you dont mind saying, what company is it &/or what do you haul, generally?

Originally Posted by KANSAS TRANSIT

We now run ALL "auto's" everyone drives differently, some of my guys shift them almost as driving a manual (which I really can't see) others claim to NEVER shift into manual. On my Pete, I do use the manual feature for selecting and holding a gear downhill, but my Pete has a ridiculously high rear gear, in overdrive my final drive ratio is in the 2.20 range. So I have to gear down to get the jakes to work.

However keep in mind we are ALWAYS light, never over 54,000 gross, with that being said I would NEVER lockout the manual override, also those trannies are designed to be able to be slapped into low in an emergency stop situation, it raises the allowed down shift points and speeds up the gear drop to get you slowed quicker.

As far as I know, YES you are suppose to be able hold a gear over a RR crossing. First you need to find out if this is something that is "company policy" or just an over efficient shop manager? I see no reason why they would do this as it is (in my opinion anyway) pretty tough to abuse an auto-shift, unless you are really trying.

If you are in the 80,000 range, I WOULD NOT want drive a truck setup like that, IMO it could be dangerous.

Stan

Refreshing to see someone that understands an auto and how to use it. Yes I agree absolutely dangerous when you got weight on

Their reasoning was apparently some drivers were manually shifting and keeping the truck in a gear, which burned up the transmissions. I have never driven an auto shift before, so when they were telling new drivers about them blocking out the shifting options....I wasnt too sure what they were talking about. Now that I know, I cant believe that drivers are putting up with this. 15 years of driving, I have never smoked my brakes. First trip out in this truck, I thought I was going to need the runaway ramp. I started out heading down the "hill" south of Flagstaff at 35 mph, but I couldnt hold it there. In the end I had my fire extinguisher out