i had the honor to drive an autoshift truck

I worked at a truck dealership Freightliner and got to drive one of the first auto shifts it had a S60 with an 18 speed it was unbelievably smooth. It sensed the load and would skip gears and burp the Jake's to speed up the shift. Less than a second between shifts up and or down. I personally am not a fan of the two pedal design.
We had a customer with a Cat and a nine or ten speed it took at least 7 seconds to shift, 3 seconds to stabilise the RPM one to shift and three to accelerate, it was the most ignorant truck I ever drove and when ever he brought it in we had to change the road test wrought as it would not speed p fast enough to merge with traffic safely.
There are also different programs available for the transmission to shift and gear holding. I worked in B.C. so they put in the mountain program and when trucks came in from out of region and had problems we would add that to cure it.
As far as Idling and restarting a hundred times a day it not a problem in any way the truck starts in the second revolution, Cats a little longer.
The engine and the transmission have to work together to make it work if the engine is not able to quickly set the rpm to the exact rpm, then the transmission will not shift. and after the shift, if the engine is dumb it will not respond quickly.

 

your not the only one

 

putting it in LOW at speed (any speed) will stop it from up shifting and will change the downshift rpm points, most "autoshift" (autoshift, ultrashift, freedomline) will down shift at around 1100-1200 rpm but if you put it in LOW it will change to 1350-1450 rpm's (for better jake function)

 

I drove a 2006 12 speed unit back in May for three days. It was weird not having a stick or clutch. I wouldnt buy one if you paid me to.

Coming down the hills you have to switch to manual and press the paddle down or you wont get any gear down at all. When they shift there is a wierd lag and you can forget about hitting fast on ramps with these POS units.

 

Does anyone know where I can rent an auto shift for training purposes for a week?? I am in Buford, Ga. area.. Thanks!

 

Mack sells a lot of autoshift trucks, call your local Mack dealer they might be able to refer you to someone or they may have a loaner

 

Autoshifts suck... will never get me to drive one ever again. upshifting, going uphill, when it should hold a gear, or dowhshift... 13/18 speed manual is the only way to go...

 

To each their own but you do realize you were not using it properly if it was shifting when you did not want it to.

I can make my ultra do everything any other ten speed can except skip gears.

 

yes, i was even trying to use the manual shift in it.... It just wasn't for me... I've become custom to a manual shift truck of the years. I drove a autoshift, and felt like I was learning to drive all over again. Like you said to each their own.. They just aren't for me!