Automatic Manual Transmissions vs Manual Transmissions

Arent they moving to that direction?
I'm hearing that more and more companies are replacing trucks with auto's. I dont know this to be 100% true,.. you know how guys at the counter like to talk BS.

Hurst

 

I think one of the major problems we have is most of the big companies are nothing more than "puppy mills"; get the new drivers in asap to fill the loads for cheap. And the trainers get extra money for each trainee they put through so there's further incentive to turn them out as fast as you can. Same with the trucking schools; they push the students as quick as they can through so they can get someone else in to pay them money. From my personal experience I was given a cursory pre trip inspection course in school but had no idea what half the words I was saying meant or what to look for. We never did post trips. Then neither one of my trainers did a single actual post trip with me. We'd check lights and kick the tires but that was it. And I went into my first truck thinking that this was the way to do the job. Dude, I was so clueless about mechanical things I didn't even know what brakes looked like. I'm ashamed to admit that but it's true.

That all changed after I met another driver a few weeks in who started me down the path of being an actual driver and doing the job! All he had to do was show me videos of tires blowing up and I immediately went out and got an air pressure gauge and have been steadily getting better at my pre and post trips ever since. Now it's to the point where if I don't find something wrong on a trailer that's not brand new I get suspicious and keep looking. There have been a few without issues but there's almost always something to be found and I want to find it before a DOT officer does or before it hurts someone.

The point to all this is that the main problem as I see it is drivers and the companies they work for don't seem to give a #### anymore. If you give a #### and take pride in yourself and your job you're going to be safe instead of putting blinders on to what's happening around you and barreling along disregarding your fellow man and fellow drivers. That's why a lot of drivers don't have CBs anymore, too. They don't care enough about the job and other drivers to keep a line of communication open.

I would agree that automatics make it easier to turn out new, non caring, unsafe drivers, but they're not the cause.

Sorry for the long response.

 

Glad y'all are seeing it my way. I take pride in every single silent, smooth, succulent, shift. Anyone wants an auto makes me want to puke.

I reiterate, with a few rare exceptions, (i.e. really old guys that I won't question and city drivers) anyone who WANTS to drive an auto isn't a truck driver.

 

Anyone, ANY o/o who says they would rather buy a truck with an auto is an idiot. Autos are inferior plain and simple.

 

I don't know if you want an auto, need an auto or have talked yourself into liking/tolerating it for other reasons, but you're working for a company that has dumbed down the job.

 

Wish them luck for breakdowns, maintenance, and $$$$$$$$ of it.

 

I sure hope you have spent some miles driving an auto shift to back up this assumption. Every try driving an auto shift pulling a super B train down a 15% grade in the snow at 110K? Ever taken an auto shift off road to load/unload? Before you make the statement about "dumbed down the job" you need to try it for a while.
I am unfortunate enough to have to drive one. It takes a new perspective and a willingness to re-learn how to drive in most situations. You can't rock back an forth to get unstuck, if the engine brake locks the drives you don't just get a bit of a slide, you also deal with an unexpected shift. Others have said they need control while climbing grades, turning and even stopping. Well to those I say figure it out. There is a manual function that allows the driver to "take control" when he/she wants to. Driving an auto shift in the snow makes a whole new challenge to driving.
So before anybody wants to bash drivers of auto shifts, stop a think about things for a moment. It does not dumb down the job, it does not take any work out of the equation and in fact imposes a whole lot more thinking into things.

 

Last week I road tested a brand new graduate of a truck driving school. He said he was trained on an 18. His driving was passable however, it was apparent that he didn't know how to shift a 13 because he only knew how to split one gear. His routine was 1,2,3,4, high range, 1,2,3,4, split into high gear. As soon as he got out of that routine he was lost.

I told him if he wanted me to I would contact the people that paid for his training and tell them they wasted their $8,000. I told him to go back and demand that they teach him how to split becuse they ripped him off. If he would have fought for himself...if he would have showed some pride I would have went to bat for him. Sadly, he didn't seem interested. I have no time for anyone like that.

Is this guy a truck driver? Should I have bought the poor fella an auto and hired him?

Good grief.

 

According to Freightliner, England and Swift have already been buying them. For a few years now.

 

Thanks for agreeing they are garbage. Your boss is an idiot. Why are you still there?