Volvo 10 speed manual transmission

Side note ~
My 2003 Volvo w/ 10 speed Meritor transmission about 1.3 million miles when I took it off the road in December 2014
My 2007 International 9200i w/ 12 speed Meritor auto shift about 1.3 million or so as of October 2018 but I heard the transmission was replaced before I bought it by the original Trucking company that bought it new, so roughly 600,000 or so miles on it ( just don't shut it off in reverse ...ask me how I know

 

Revs drop fast but I never driven a Cat. I did have a Cummins powered Volvo with Ultrashift. But 8years ago..... hated that engine/trans combo.

 

@Traumakid

What type of work will you be doing? Are you looking for something more fuel efficient?

Most would never think of going W9 to a Volvo with a D13. Or maybe I am wrong.

 

I do not enjoy some 10's If the engine is a slow tired revver. Get up there and stomp it when shes at temp at idle and see if she is tired or spirited and revs fast.

Match your gear hopping to that particular engine. DOn't forget to add a heartbeat or two between them gears. You will get ahold of them soon enough, I think sometimes they made those transmissions to be simple enough for anyone.

God knows I don't enjoy them. I preferred the short rockwell 9's if you had a engine that was ungoverned. Other than the 13's and Mack 15's that one is the one I do best.

 

I drive a 2016 D13 455 hp with an I-shift and here's what I've found........
The D-13 will rev past 2000 rpms but keep it under 1800 or you're just making a lot of useless noise! If it has a good HP rating you will find it will pull quite nicely.
Performance mode on the I-shift will tend to keep it in a lower gear a little too long, IMO, but hit the + button at about 1750 and it picks up the next gear quite nicely.

Your results may vary...........

JD

 

The 10 speed manuals I drove for years were easy to shift. They may have been Rockwell or Eaton 10 speeds, I can't recall. The only thing I remember is they had no problems I could remember. The 10 speed manual was what I drove for at least 15 years. What I remember is when entering or in high-range, you upshift at 1600 RPMs. In low-range you upshift at 1300 RPMs.

Every truck besides Freightliner always had a green band on the tach. Keep the RPMs in the green and shifting was easy enough I never had to think about it.

 

Some of the old iron in the past would shift at around 1700 to 2000. But keep in mind they wind to 2300 and wake up at 1400 back then. So the band was 300 or so rpm.

Thinking back to my younger days which I do often I would wind that thing out, pull the gear all the way down until just above lug and make the shift. Fuel economy was the last thing I was worried about. Got about 5 or so out of a 60 gallon tank. ugh.

Todays big horse engines really are wonders on earth, they hardly wind out and have a useful band down around 1250 to 1650.