Every camera company is a bad company.

I'm not going to call you a liar. I'm simply going to say that our experiences...vary wildly.

 

Perhaps its a different maintenance schedule, or perhaps its that we trade in our trucks by 450k most of the time?

 

Calling BS. And I enjoy most of what you post but as a experienced driver I call double BS.

 

We're actually having more electrical problems than anything. The 2021 that had a failed transmission was towed in for electrical. Another 2021 had the exact same electrical failure last week. Add in all the crazy ABS sensor and radar issues, and that's the main problem, not the transmissions.

We have a few manuals in our local fleet that shag trailers around town. Lost a rear end in one of them at 165,000 miles 3 weeks ago. Doesn't mean these are bad units, either... that was a young guy with bad shifting habits on night shift who blew it. He had a "drive it like you stole it" mentality, and it couldn't take the abuse. He's been put back in the spotter trucks now where that can't happen again.

Anyway, I'm rambling. The point is how they are maintained and driven determine longevity more than anything.

 

OK first off these new automatic transmissions are sealed units. No way to even check a level let alone add fluid. One sensor failure begets another. What's to maintain?
We have the same w the abs,radar, lane departure etc.
Heavy duty trucks today are just simply throw away units. Not worth the expense of repair. And since today we don't really repair units, as we did back when we had real mechanics, we just bolt/throw new parts on it.
A auto will be replaced w a new or remanufactured unit. No mechanic will rebuild a auto today. Too costly and time consuming.

With all due respect in regards to your loaded fleet average of 8-9 mpg, I leave my plant daily at 80K w a tanker and have only one time with one particular unit achieved a 8+ loaded average.
From the twin cities over to IN with prevailing winds. We are spec'ed for mileage and governed.
If McFarland? is averaging near 9 for the fleet they should be positioned nicely for profit during this next economic downturn.

 

Fluid doesn't last a lifetime, however, and needs changing periodically, just like in an actual manual transmission truck. No, the drivers won't be checking the levels, but the mechanics are checking the level and condition via software and handling that accordingly. The shop supervisor is on vacation, otherwise I'd ask him exactly what their transmission protocol is because its working.

And yes, we're indeed in a good position. It took years of practice and working with various dealers to figure out the winning combination. This is why we traded off all our Volvo and Paccar products and strictly run this spec of Cascadias. The mechanics still have one Volvo day cab for moving trailers into the shop (never hits the road, not even DOT'd) and one backup in-town shag truck is an old Volvo day cab (both pre-emissions). The other two shag trucks are Freightliner Columbia gliders with 60-series and 10-speeds. Every other day cab and sleeper truck is now a Cascadia.

Here's a sampling from the weekly mpg report of a couple 2022s in the last 4 weeks:
9.00 8.82 8.71 9.01
8.94 9.07 9.71 8.83

Driving styles can vary widely, however. Here's a pair of 2021s in our fleet, one unit number apart, showing how widely it can differ based upon unit and driver:
9.24 10.30 9.85 8.88
8.27 8.62 8.36 8.47

From the looks of it, one of those drivers deserves a bonus for saving fuel...

 

I think our units are run a bit harder than your fleet. We no longer post company wide monthly mileage, broken down by region but iirc we have never been over 6.3.
Can't really compare to other operations since ours are run 24/7/365 and with a hot or clutch shift PTO our transmissions see more hours than a OTR unit. Especially if doing local work.
We tried the first iteration of automatics over a dozen yrs ago but went back manual till just a few years ago because it just didn't hold up for our applications. The newest ones are even better. We had a 2 hr mandatory class on how to operate a auto transmission...lol
Still have a few manuals left but they will be gone soon. It will make it easier to hire folks w manual restricted CDLs which is challenging anyway due to the company's requirements.

 

False

 

That explains a LOT.

I worked at a place in ND with first-generation i-Shift Volvos in their new VHD vocational models. The company had some sweetheart deal with RDO to get them cheap for field testing. Boy did those things have problems with all the PTO use and oilfield operations on gravel/dirt roads. Always getting stuck in the mud/snow, etc.. I avoided those trucks and stuck with the old FLDs until I got assigned a Western Star that I loved. Didn't let go of that truck until I took my toys and went home from playing oil field.

And yeah, those VHDs got 6 on a good day.

 

We are self insured and run 5 cameras on the truck and trailers so doesn't matter but they will try every and any technology that's developed, even before it's tested and proven. We hate that.