What's the deal with Rockwell transmissions?

Nobody wants it.

Rockwells were pretty much in fleet trucks early on. Self explanatory why they're not desired

 

Drove a bunch with a Rockwell.
Never had any trouble out of one.
Bunch of old Freightliner fld120s had them.
Now meritor

 

They shift like crap.

 

My exact feelings. Hard to destroy, but hard to shift.

 

Because they ####ing suck, right up there with a maxi torque

 

The first truck I drove was a 24’ straight truck flatbed with a forklift on the back doing local deliveries. That truck was a son of a gun the shift, the gears were tight tight. But I’ll tell you what, it never gave us any issues. And there were some none driving, gear grinding SOB’s in that truck before me. We basically got no training and went straight from running a forklift to driving a Truck once you got your CDL.

my 60 year old father often had to drive that truck, much against his wishes. He was a sales man but they couldn’t keep drivers. He would just leave it in high range and run it like a five speed. Slipping the clutch for half a block to get started. I don’t think we ever even put a clutch in that truck, it #### sure never had a working clutch brake.

 

Rockwell makes good axles, not so great transmissions. Eaton was kinda the other way around.

 

Funny thing about it is they are nearly an exact copy of an Eaton fuller…. biggest difference that I’ve noticed is they use silicone instead of gaskets and the shift rails and stuff are different. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with them and having been inside of a few they seem to be pretty well made. I do know that there are no parts available for them anymore…. I would probably stick to eaton/fuller but wouldn’t avoid buying a truck if it had a Rockwell (that works)

 

Rockwell just used rocks for gears, rope for gaskets and buttermilk for lubricant. Trouble shifting? Pour in some more rocks, add some more buttermilk and off you go.