BD69: The Owner Operator Chronicles

As long as the foot is on the go pedal the transmission will keep on upshifting. If you let your foot off it downshifts and slows the truck too much. I run mine in manual mode about 3rd or 4th gear through lots to maintain an even steady safe speed. Otherwise it will buck up to 7th gear, then left off go pedal it will downshift to 5th and below bucking the truck crazy.

 

That depends on which auto you have .
Not all are the same.

 

Sounds like your system has a problem. Maybe it is not programed correctly. Never had any act like that. Always controllable and predictable in auto or manual modes.

 

Well sort of. If it was an eaton. Then it was an eaton.
Most US trucks with automated, it,was an eaton unit.
The difference between truck manufacturers was the transmission interface device. Volvo being the one outside of the eatom monopoly.

For a sort time, you could get a freighrliner columbia with a mercedes engine and a ZF 12 speed. I never did get to drive one, but the company had some. People who did have them absolutly raved about them. Fule MPG was high and it pulled solid according to the people who had them.

Eaton sued ZF and basicly put them out of the market.

 

These systems (like I-Shift) are programmed for maximum efficiency. I used to tell guys where I worked who were transitioning into the I-Shift for the first time to let the computer do the shifting and stay off the manual mode.

In other words, don't mash down on the pedal and watch the tach for where, when & what it sounds like when the computer shifts the truck. Torque disbursement along with proper rear end gear ratio is another important component these trucks are engineered with.

My truck's D13 motor with 455 H.P. and I-Shift 12 speed loaded at 78,000 lbs climbing a 6% grade is programmed to downshift at right around 1050 rpm. My instinct is to reach over and override it. However, I know that when I do, I'm losing the efficiency the truck was engineered to have, it does me no good to run the rpm out of the green range.

So part of what I'm saying is that a lot of times a driver hasn't been properly trained by the company when they put drivers into these automated trucks.

 

Have a friend, former co worker out on the east coast, has an I-shift. After about six months i asked about how he liked it. All he said was “ why have I been shifting gears for so long”.

I really liked having an automated in heavy traffic like L.A.
Or Houston.

 

I know several old school drivers and owner operators who have told me the same thing.

I will never go back to shifting gears, unless I'm forced to

 

In heavy traffic i can see the appeal. Howevet i can't see how they are more efficient than a good driver. Unless the programming is a lot more advanced than im aware of. I just don't see how they can program it to know the perfect shift point in every situation.

Besides that, when i buy a truck i expect it to last 15+ years, by design an automatic had to have a lot of wiring and sensors to allow corrosion to set in over the years and we all know corrosion won't rear its ugly head in a convenient spot.

For a big fleet that hires guys with limited experience and on strict trade in cycles they make sense but not for guys like me.

 

Please don’t I love reading it you are doing good for your self

 

Having your foot in does that mean 75mph or a hair over 65?