What I learned two days ago

Whew..y'all are ####### crazy! 10 speeds, 13 speeds,18 speeds, automatics, manuals.

You know there was a time when a 5 speed was plenty????

 

There was a time when hand drawn carts were plenty. The world has moved on.

 

Don’t miss my 7 spd or the 238 Detroit either. How about the new cars 7 or more spd autos. Better mpg but $$$$$ to repair I bet.

 

I digress. I happen to like my 10 speed.

I drove a 2008 IH 9200 for two years. That had an Autoshift, with a clutch pedal. I was told I'd love it in traffic. Traffic became the reason I hated it. I was up on the Cross Bronx one afternoon rush hour.

Normally I'll sit in neutral when I'm not moving, but with that thing, that didn't work. So there I was, riding the clutch for an eternity. My leg never hurt so bad. But I confess, it did work well on the highway when there was no traffic.

I know they've gotten a lot better since then, and I wouldn't mind trying the Dt12, but the owner of this company wont hear about it. He's reluctant to change what works

 

I think you and I do two very different kinds of driving. I can see where an automatic would work fine if you're a highway driver but we need more versatility.
Like I said we tried an automatic and it fried itself the second day. It was on a job with our other trucks and they had no problems at all. It was in the heat of August and we were pulling three loads a day, 80 grand and sometimes a little more, out of the bottom of a canyon with an 8% pull from a standing start and lasting almost ten miles of switchbacks 'til we got to the pavement. The twin sticls and the 18 speeds did just fine. The automatic was toasted by noon on the second day. The salesman who let us try the truck told us to go ahead and run it hard. We did. It went home on a wrecker.
And...on the subject of being pushed, our semi bottom dumps have a very beefy stinger on the back especially for being pushed.
The logging trucks get pushed too but the loader usually pushes on the logs themselves. If the loader knows the load will need a little push to get started he'll usually hang a good sized bunk log out past the trailer bunk just for a push point.
Highway trucks dont have to go through all that.

 

It's what I learned to drive on...with armstrong steering

 

It'll go lower than that. I've taken mine down to 6mph with engine brake alone. The standard guys just like to play with their sticks.

 

They haven't invented one yet that won't break.