autoshift transmission

All gearboxes are dinosaurs. UltraShiftPlus is youngest and greatest of them. It took long time for truck parts manufacturers to build great robotic gearboxes. In small car world great gearboxes are famous long time already. VW's DSG (direct shift gear) with countless Japanese and Korean clones are just a part of them.

 

I've tried contacting eaton and no one seems to want ro get involved so they keep giving me a different number to call. I got over 10 numbers in the company by now

 

Sorry, I’ve been away for awhile! I’ve been meaning to give an update on our new 2 pedal ultrashifts.

The first three I bought had the clutch actuator fail which left the truck dead in the water. The first one failed at just over 40k miles. The second one died a few months later at 38k miles, and the most recent one died right in front of our main office at 65k miles.. All 3 of them died from a J1939 fault (the actuator stopped communicating with the trans ecm), and as a result the truck wouldn’t do anything.

The first two trucks sat at the dealer for a few days because nobody but Eaton had the actuator in stock, and I had to eat the red-label freight ($100) to get it here. On top of that, Eaton won’t pay tow bills. (I had $1000 in tow bills on the first two).

They have a problem with these things, but I can’t seem to get any info or answers out of anyone if they are doing something about it. To keep down time to a minimum, avoid irate drivers, and PO’d bosses, I hauled off and bought one of the actuators and kept it on the shelf in the shop (they are about $1400). When the last one died, it only took about 10-15 minutes to pop in the spare and send the truck on its way. I then called the dealer and had them order me another actuator on a regular stock order (no freight), and when it came in they held it at the store. I swapped the bad one back in, limped it 5 miles to the dealer, and had it warranteed. It sucks that I have to keep a $1400 part on the shelf just to cover someone’s poorly designed and tested junk. I have 6 of these transmissions in service now (one of which is the big bosses t-660 toybox puller) and one more on the way…..and $1400 doesn’t pay for a lot of big rig tows. On a side note, the cheap little OTC 3418 HD code reader will clear fault codes on these things, and if you let the actuator cool off for a little while, you can sometimes get them to work again.

 

Wow! What kind of application do you have them in? Is it a lot of constant shifting in high ambient temps? It gets pretty warm in Redlands..... Also, do I understand correctly that the tranny is DOA until the codes get cleared, after which it will function enough to get it to a shop, assuming it has cooled off enough?

 

Yes, I can confirm the "electronic clutch actuator" or ECA is a high failure item. In my personal opinion, Eaton makes some quality products. I am sure they are working on this to improve the design and reliability.

 

I agree with heavyd Regards David

 

my friend works for hirschbach and their drivers have issues that the truck stalls because of those ultra****.

 

Yes, it does get hot out here. One of them died in the dead middle of winter on a 60 degree day though, so I'm not too sure the heat had anything to do with it. It was a tank puller too, and hardly ever sat in any kind of traffic. The clutch heat histogram looked really good (mostly due to the fact that I set the trans to take off no higher than 2nd gear), so I don't think that had a lot to do with it either. The trans is DOA until you clear the codes, or if the ECA cools off enough to start communicating with the trans ECM. The last truck I had to limp over to the dealer with a bad actuator required me to reset all faults several times (basically ever time I came up to a light it would try to actuate the clutch and crap out). If you hit the "reset" button on the OTC scanner a few times the ECA will eventually decide it wants to work.....but it usually only works once. On a side note, the OTC 3418 will clear cummins faults, and were really handy clearing those rotten scr catalyst faults that plagued the CM2250's for awhile (and the 5mph speed derate that went with it).

 

We have replaced the XY Shifter as well as the 3 Speed sensors & are still having issues with the truck locking in 10th gear & won't downshift - would appreciate any advice on what to look for next.

 

Past 3 years we have been upgrading our fleet bought from 2015 to 2017 models 10 speed ultra shift plus and 13 ultra shift plus. Great shifting transmission yet we are having major issues with Clutch Actuators. Very rough engagement after several weeks in operation. Results in this has been clutch failing. ECA failing yoke leaks from rough engagements. We have been trying to work with eaton but having major set backs trying to get a definite solution.