40 yrs driving sticks, now going into winter with "smart shift"

No words of comfort here. Hate automatics. Be safe out there.

 

Ah the old Freightliner "Smart" shift, my winter nemesis, though to be honest the newer ones aren't much better. Snow is one thing, but black ice, wet ice, wet slick snow, wet roads with enough oil build up, and those transmissions specificly should be outlawed. What you will experience is wheel spin, at least until the traction control kicks in and slows you down enough for the transmission to want to down shift again, then of course the wheels will spin again, I'm sure your starting to see a trend here. Oh yea and up shifting? Same thing shift/spin/shift/spin. I'm like you, feather the clutch, run the rpms up a little higher than normal to avoid shifting when the tires might break traction, all the winter driving skills we were either taught or learned thru experience. With "smart" shift just throw all that out the window, best you can do is flip it into manual mode and chose when those harsh shifts will happen, most of the time, unless the trucks computer in its infinate wisdom decides you really should shift. I drove a day cab for a few years back then, from Oklahoma City, OK or Amarillo, TX, round-trip, 5 nights a week. That stretch of road will give you a solid taste of everything the weather has. 100+° to -10°F, soupy fog, 50 mph winds with gusts over 75, hail a foot deep or more, torrential rain that just comes out of no where, like some angry God just dropped a swimming pool on you, tornadoes, blizzard conditions with a foot or more snow overnight and the worst of all ice, and usually it's black ice, with those high winds. The wind in the Texas Panhandle is something you learn to accept, and cherish the days when it's light, and fear the days when it's calm, because that's when it will be 100°+F!

But I got a lot of time, with very little traffic, to experience that transmission in everything you could think of, and the time to just play with it and see what it would do. I drove a 2014 Cascadia day cab, and for this last year I had a 2015 Cascadia with Eatons shift programming, and a few random trips in some of the 2018 auto shift Cascadias. In my experience as a firm beliver in manual transmission trucks, and leaving the driving to the driver, you can expect it to always upshift too early on an upgrade, and bog down, only down shift again, over and over. It will almost always down shift too early when trying to climb a steep grade. On a moderate grade there will be times when you want to scream at it to "shift already!" On steep down grades instead of using your engine brake 95% of the time you will use the service brake 50% or more of the time. Keep a close watch for those escape ramps! If it's not programmed correctly or not programmed to skip low gears when light ot Bob tail then hope you are first in line at a red light, because when it turns green it will already be turning yellow by the time it gets thru the intersection. Stop and go traffic? When it's time to go traffic will be so far ahead of you by the time you get up some speed 3-5 4-wheelers will have jumped in front of you.

They say the newest auto shifts are better, or that Volvo's iShift is better, I've test driven a few, and I can't see what's better about them, except you don't have to teach drivers anything, and if you live in an area where winter driving isn't a daily thing you can always stop and wait for better conditions. Sadly the days of the truck driver are coming to an end, I've seen oilfield companies make the switch to automatics for no other reason than they couldn't find drivers that could drive a manual.

I finally went a little bit crazy and bought my first truck this year, and I'll stick to my 18 speed manual. I can shift better than the autos with one eye open in the morning before my coffee. And I can control how much torque goes to the wheels and how fast that torque gets there.

 

Used to drive a '13 (maybe earlier) Red 10-wheel Freightshaker Auto Shaft with a Clutch Pedal.
Was formerly a U.S. Express Truck.
It lasted a few years then developed some Electrical Gremlins that were never eliminated.
Went from that Truck to a slightly newer Blue 10-wheel Freightshaker Auto Shaft.
Only difference was the Color and they both were a disaster in Heavy Traffic as well the occasional Winter Ice/Snow Touring.
Backing WITH a clutch was better.
Auto-Shaft W/O a Clutch was SLAM, BANG irritation.

Company had two 26' Straight Trucks with Auto-Shaft and I never became "accustomed" to the Brake-Throttle requirement to avoid SLAMMING Docks (on LEVEL Ground) on the very random times I drove one.

I started on Manual in late '98.
Didn't know about Auto Class-A/B Trucks till after 2010.

"Do The Best As You're Able With What You're Driving!"
"YOU Are More Important Than Any Vehicle!"
ARRIVE ALIVE!!

CHEERS!!

 

I hate automatics but that's what my company uses. You will get used to it driving in the snow. And get reeeeeeeal good at swearing at it. Trust me. Did I mention I hate automatics?

 

I agree 100% I'm in a Volvo with the I-Shift. It is Hands down the best autoshift on the market. I have it in Manual mode nearly all the time so I can control it how I want. Not quite as good as a true manual, but pretty #### close... I wouldnt drive in winter conditions in ANY other auto shift.

 

1. if it's in Auto, every time you put it in D it relearns its shift behavior based on how you drive. If you are aggressive, it will hold gears longer and it will throw the RPMs way up high to grab downshifts as you're decelerating. If you aren't aggressive with it, it will upshift earlier and slower, and downshifts will just fall in place silently, if at all, without it needing to throw the RPMs up high to rev match.

if you aggravate it inadvertently and it starts freaking out, you can put it in manual and it will learn how you shift, after a few shifts in manual you can put it back in auto and it will change gears wherever you did.

2. if you bring the RPMs high enough, you can double tap the paddle to skip shift up. you can double tap down to skip shift down the same way. if the RPMs aren't high enough and you ask for 2 gears up it will just give you 1 and beep at you. if you ask for 2 gears down it just might rev to 2300 RPM to rearrange your cam lobes. I try not to do that.

mine stays in manual, with hazmat tankers no way am i gonna have sensors decide when to shift or how long to hold a gear, especially in the wet/cold/dark/grades or combinations of the same.

you can still get the smooth dynamic of shifting manually, if you ask for an upshift and ease off the throttle by a half inch as the gear falls out, it falls into place perfectly smooth, then you get back on the throttle again once it's in, zero lurch. with downshifts it's even better, you can be steady on the brake and be dropping gears all the way to the corner using two fingers while drinking coffee, instead of rowing away and having to time letting off the brake and knowing exactly what gear you want to stick it in to make the turn. You can't heel-toe downshift a stick shift big rig like that lmao

They are still manual transmissions, just with hydraulically actuated clutch and selectors, the robot mimics your input, if you're jerky and inconsistent it will do that just fine, put it in manual, calm it down, show it where you want to shift and how long to hold a gear, then put it back in auto and it will do what you showed it.