autoshift transmission

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by 6wheeler, Sep 20, 2013.

  1. deming807

    deming807 Medium Load Member

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    Jul 31, 2013
    Summit IL
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    1. While in a heavy LA traffic did you get 'CA' sign (Clutch Abuse) and how often?

    2. Did you ever replace the clutch on Autoshift/Ultrashift(+)?

    3. Did you ever 'Customize' (fine tune) the Ultrashift within dealer and/or Roadranger(Eaton) representative?

    Thanks.
     
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  3. striker

    striker Road Train Member

    5,906
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    Aug 8, 2009
    Denver, Co
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    I've been driving autoshift equipped trucks since 2000, close to 1.4 million miles driving them in the Rockies. All this complaint about lack of control, comes down to lack of driver brains. They have a D and a H (or M) mode. In general, especially in the mountains, mine is always in Hold mode so I have control over it on snow/ice or grades. Same thing as with a manual, select a gear and keep it there. I've never given myself whiplash backing into a dock, and on a few occasions, usually when I get rushed will hit the kingpin too hard. Backing an autoshift is just like backing a manual, feather the clutch and brakes just as you would a manual. Hell, even the new I-shift and M-drive (Volvo/Mack proprietary trans) you can feather the brake and throttle and never have an issue (yes, I have exp. with the M-drive as well).

    As badmotorfinger said, Eaton had a real problem with bad X/Y shifters, beginning in about 2000 thru about 2002, it was the ol "lowest common bidder" issue. They were made on the cheap in Mexico and prone to failure. We were getting 6 to 9 months out of a set at the time because of this. My current '09 Mack has 463K on it, shift motors were replaced at 360K. As the driver, you can tell when the motors are going, it's something you will learn over time. Yes, it is very possible t accidently park it in gear and bind the driveline, sometimes, you can get lucky and release your brakes, let it roll a hair, put it in neutral you'll be fine, other times not so much. It's called torque locking, mine has done it twice where it was parked in Nuetral, but the computer didn't get the correct message and thought it was torque locked. The one time, just releasing the brakes cured it, the other time, the boss hooked the shop truck to the truck and gave it a couple of tugs then it worked.

    They wiring issue is something that still happens, seems to be most common in the cold or wet. Mine has had an issue, after driving in a lot of rain, that when placed in neutral, it will not recognize that it's in neutral and the computer still thinks it's in gear. Taking the plugs apart and coating everything in dielectric did seem to help.

    One other thought, this is random and not all trucks exp. it, if you've been sitting (10hrs +) in temps below say 10 deg., where everything has been allowed to get super cold, some of the autoshifts don't like to upshift beyond 4th or 5th. When this happens, we pull over, stop, make sure it's in neutral and shut the truck off for about 2 minutes. Then restart it, and all is good. It's related to the cold and the sensors. Within our fleet of 13 autoshifts, only 3 have this issue.
     
  4. striker

    striker Road Train Member

    5,906
    6,186
    Aug 8, 2009
    Denver, Co
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    1. Have never gotten any type of CA lights or notice with the autoshift, I have with the M-drive a couple of times.

    2. Yes, my first truck, 2000 Mack CH613, clutch was replaced at 670K. The clutch brake had failed totally and need replaced, since it was apart, they went ahead and put a clutch in it, but they said it probably could have gone another 100 to 150K.

    3. Yes, it helped. The 1st and 2nd gen. autoshifts had several software updates to them, even my current one has had a software update. Usually takes about 20 minutes for them to do it.
     
    deming807 Thanks this.
  5. JohnP3

    JohnP3 Road Train Member

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    Feb 21, 2010
    Rock Creek B.C. Canada
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    Many time it is the engine that is to slow, stupid, to make the transmision work properly, we sold the very first one in our area, an 18 speed, three pedal with a sixty series, it was unbelievable, it learned what the load was on the first pull and selected the gears acordingly, jaked on the down shifts, made an idiot look like a pro.
    I personally do not like the centrifical cluth BS. You do want to try them with different engines, we had one came in with a Cat and a 10 speed in a class 7 it took 4 seconds to go to neutral then it shifted and 4 seconds to get back on the power, it was used on the railway, it was the most usless thing I ever drove. It went into every gear, the power pulse, when I drove it onto the freeway was about 2 seconds, I refused to drive it after that, except at night or very early in the morning. I was only driving it to find the power problems.
    Just a thought!
     
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  6. russellkanning

    russellkanning Medium Load Member

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    Jan 22, 2012
    Frost, TX
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    the newer Auto Trans work better than what I have
     
  7. badmotorfinger

    badmotorfinger Bobtail Member

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    Oct 11, 2013
    Redlands, CA
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    deming807 Thanks this.
  8. badmotorfinger

    badmotorfinger Bobtail Member

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    Oct 11, 2013
    Redlands, CA
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    You hit the nail right on the head man. Sometimes all it takes is a little no BS "truck driver" input to make one of these things work really well.
     
    deming807 Thanks this.
  9. deming807

    deming807 Medium Load Member

    359
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    Jul 31, 2013
    Summit IL
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    I got it, thanks. So there is no 'CA' sign even on enormous LA traffic. Good news.

    Very useful info, thanks.

    oops, that's interesting. What software? Does it allow you (without Eaton guy) change the shift point?
    Thank you.
     
  10. badmotorfinger

    badmotorfinger Bobtail Member

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    Oct 11, 2013
    Redlands, CA
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    oops, that's interesting. What software? Does it allow you (without Eaton guy) change the shift point?
    Thank you.[/QUOTE]

    You can use Eaton's Service ranger3 software to change some of the parameters like default start gear, auto neutral gear, and some choices of shift point calibrations (among a few other things). They usually have a few choices of generic shift point calibrations along with a few calibrations that are optimized for certain engines. Funny how none of my Cummins powered stuff came from the factory with the trans computer set to the Cummins calibration. In addition, the ultrashift plus transmissions (and only the ultrashifts) give you 3 different settings for "vocational shift speed": slow, medium, and fast. Slow is pathetic (and irritating). Medium is an improvement (but the 9-10 shift in the 10 speeds is still too lazy), and fast makes me think that there is some fresh-outta-school whistle stick behind the wheel.

    Service ranger is free to download off eaton's website, but you'll need to either take a class to get the pass key (yawn) or find an "alternative" method to gettting a key. Service ranger also has an "engineering level" portion to the software that's can be used (or so I'm told) to alter your own shift points but the engineering level user requires an addition pass key. I haven't looked into that much since most all of my stuff is under warranty and will be for quite some time. I don't want to do anything to jepopardize my warranty, and considering I have to fight with Eaton to get them to pay freight on warranty parts shipped in for a repair job, I'm sure they are itching for a reason to tell me kick rocks if I go messing with their stuff.

    If you have an Inline 5 adapter for Cummins, it will work just fine with Serviceranger for diagnostics, and for changing customer parameters that are available in your transmissions currently installed software. However, if you have to reflash the trans ecm, you will need a nexiq communication adapter, and I'm pretty sure you will need that to start getting into making your own programs. Other comm adapters may work, but I don't have the stones to find out if they work or not (Eaton says Nexiq is the only one that will work)
     
    deming807 Thanks this.
  11. pusherman

    pusherman Medium Load Member

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    Jun 23, 2013
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    i'm looking @ purchasing a truck with an auto shift in it & am wondering on what can I do to tell if the transmission is going to last for a while or not? any & all detailed info is greatly appreciated
     
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