autoshift companies

So far so good, I love my auto shift. Personally, I have had 3 knee surgeries on my right knee, and 2 on my left. I do mostly short haul stuff these days, and I LOVE having the auto shift.

Too bad some of these guys are so short sighted than cant see out of their own little boxes to see the advantages to be gained. I will list a few.

That auto shift is a whole lot more safe in an emergency braking situation than ANY manual ever was. Hit the "low" button, and she will grab a gear down every time the tach drops low enough. I concentrate only on braking/steering, the trans is doing the rest of the work. The guy with the manual may have down shifted "maybe" twice if they were lucky. The auto shift truck has down shifted 5 or 6 gears by now at the push of one button. Im on the low side of the trans, where the manual is on the high side, with the clutch pushed in. In essence you're in neutral (even though its in gear) and your engine isn't helping you stop any more. I know somebody will holler BS on this, but if you can be honest you know its true!

One of the guys I run with hollered at me the other day on the CB. He had asked me if my brakes lights were out as we went around a 25 mph curve/ramp from a 60mph zone loaded in rush hour traffic. Nope, I said, I never needed to touch my brakes. Turned on the jake, and hit low on the trans. She went down down down to the proper gear/speed I never needed to tap the brakes. Guess what? I Just added to the service life of those brakes, most importantly I kept them nice and cool in case of an emergency braking situation. I own my truck, those brake cost me money out of my own pocket, big money $$$. You guys dropping one or two gears on an exit ramp are cutting your brake life in half, and don't even know it.

I do miss the split on a 13, but that's about it. Now if I can just teach myself to quit reaching for that gear shifter.

 

No but having cool fresh fruit, and water within easy reach is nice on occasion.

 

Yeah, that post was pretty obnoxious, whether you agree with it or not. I'm a relative newbie myself, and I nearly spat coke all over my screen when I read it.

And after reading Kansas' post, I'm beginning to wonder where I can pick up an automatic, now.

If I had a nickel for every time I stumbled, half-asleep, over that stick shift in my haste to turn the truck on on a cold morning, I'd be a lot richer.

 

I really enjoyed my autoshift the other morning.

 

You all have it wrong. REAL trucks have twin sticks. I don't need no air operated splitter! Splitting gears the old fashioned way puts hair on your chest!

(This was, no doubt, the conversation 40 years ago.)


Eh, due to my lack of experience, I really haven't formulated opinions on truck transmissions. My school bus is an auto, which is nice. Less to think about while supervising youngsters, driving, looking out for 4 wheelers and bus stops at the same time. Today is my last day of school-bussing though, I start a new job on Monday.

My pickup is a stick, and hopefully I can afford to order a new one before Detroit kills the option entirely. I prefer them with cars and pickups.

If you've got a bum leg, I'm sure an auto can't be beat. The automatic downshifting during braking is a huge plus as well.

Totalpkg67: thanks for your service and good luck with your search. Ignore the ignorant fools you encounter, trucking seems to be full of them. As much as some of them deserve it, they are seldom worth the boot to the rear.

 

I began doing this last week and it's awesome. Especially with a heavy load.
Press the low button as I hit the right blinker. I was barely brushing the brake pedal, and only on the sharpest ramps.

 

And this is the story of how a large car driver became a large truck driver!

 

What I figured out was in the "low mode" the truck allows itself to downshift approximately 200 rpm earlier/higher than I am allowed to manually.

I just gotta remember to turn off the "manual mode" if I aint gonna use it. Once or twice I thought it was gonna twist the drive line right out of the truck about 20mph in 10 gear Holy Smokes she will bounce in a bad way.

 

Something else to remember, a minimum amount of voltage is required for the transmission to work properly, as with everything else on modern trucks it seems.
A friend of mine was having alternator problems and was trying to nurse it home. He should have known it would never make it another 250 miles, but he was always trying to save a buck.
He was climbing the steep bridge over the bay in Jacksonville Fl when his battery level dropped below the critical point.
He approached the bridge in high gear but had to let off due to traffic and it refused to downshift.
Left him no choice but to stop on the bridge. So he ended up buying the alternator,which he was going to have to do anyway, along with a wrecker bill.

 

Still fighting off that large belly though.