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.
autoshift transmission
Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by 6wheeler, Sep 20, 2013.
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Sorry, Ive been away for awhile! Ive 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 wouldnt 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 wont pay tow bills. (I had $1000 in tow bills on the first two).
They have a problem with these things, but I cant 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 POd 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 someones 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 doesnt 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?
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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.
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I agree with heavyd Regards David
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my friend works for hirschbach and their drivers have issues that the truck stalls because of those ultra****.
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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.
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