Automatic transmission

Probably going to ruffle some feathers here but driving an auto takes minimal skill. Its literally like driving a car except you're dragging 48-53 feet of trailer behind you.

 

spoken like someone that thinks everything is going to be jim dandy and -dory for ever and ever.

ok, you go with that.

 

driving an automatic is for people with no skill level, and no brain level....you know..."steering wheel holders"....brainless richard craniums that cannot think their way out of a paper bag with huge holes in it.

 

I hadn't driven a truck in about a decade but ran a few loads locally last winter in an auto truck. Literally after a block I was already back in the groove. First time ever in an auto on the streets.

 

Automatics are more easy to learn vs manual. You will have that automatic transmission only restriction on CDL. I'm driving automatic now and most bigger companies are all automatic today or the are switching over. I can't see them going back to manual transmission unless it's something more heavy hauling or off road trucking.

The truck automatics are still truck transmission that are computer controlled. They have stuff like load senors so it can tell how much load transmission has pulling on it. They have mapping software of were the bigger hills are. That way the transmission can change the shift point depending on hill and load your pulling.

 

well...duh... you put the shift lever in the "D" groove.....

 

by "bigger companies", you are referring to the mega-carriers.

smaller operations may (or may not) make any such switch, at least for several more years, as the crew they got, still want a manual.

i know i never wanted an automatic at my last job, and i didn't.

 

Hardest part of that first day was trying to figure out how to turn the jake on. Dang button on the steering wheel that the picture was worn off of lol.

 

you know, that is so stupid...air horn button, cruise control, jake brake, even AM/FM radio controls...

very expensive repair/replacement, as all that is, is that printed circuit film....

 

I'm driving freightliner with Detroit Diesel DT-12 it's what I would call new generation automatic transmission because the engine and transmission work together as one. Volvo has the same setup called I-Shift.

Eaton transmissions have very good manual transmission but when they first tried to make automatic transmission it was very bad. You will see lots of drivers not happy with that automatic. It did not have stuff like mapping software of the hills and load sensing. So when pulling a hill it would up shift and down shift gear like crazy and not pull trailer up hills very good.