Handle most 10 speeds pretty well....but not this 2008 Freightliner; Why is this?

Super 10 has the left thumb button. Straight 10 is on the front of the shifter. What you describe is you're probably use to puppy dog motors you have to wind out. Now that you have some power you should be upshifting around 1600 and brake down to 1000 for a single downshift and around 700 for a double downshift. That's just to get you going. You'll tighten up after you get use to it. Newer trucks you're peak torquing around 1200 depending on your engine. No need to wind her out unless you like buying fuel.

 

It happens sometimes. Back in 95 the co I was working for started replacing our early 90s 9400s with 365 Cummins /15 spds with new 9200 pro sleepers with Spicer 10 spds and 3176's. No one liked the trans always seemed liked they bound up coming out of gear really easy. We pulled tanks so it was a pain. I kept my 1990 until they kicked me out of it. A few years ago I drove a mid 90's 9200 with a Detroit and a 13. It did the same thing.

 

Oh yeah you just have to adjust until you find what the truck likes. You can't let that stuff get to you.I learned how to drive working for a guy that had all kinds of trucks so you had to learn to adapt.

 

I haven't driven a 10 speed since CDL school but I seem to remember on those newer 10 speeds that I had trouble shifting that you couldn't just pull straight through neutral. More like you had to pull it out of gear then move the lever ever so slightly to the right and then pull it into the next higher gear.

Than again maybe I am remembering it all wrong, I know my 15 is a straight shot through N and it's sort of like a 10.

 

1800-1900 rpm is waaay too high for that truck. You should up shift at 1500 and downshift at 1100. If you get out of that 1100-1500 range, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

i'm wondering if he isn't driving one of them 10's that shift in a U pattern. i drove one of them once. and the gears are very widely spaced. 1800 and when you grabbed the next gear. you was down to 1200.

only other trans that was a pain. was the super 10. it was just flat out junk. took an act of congress to change gears. and it didn't matter if you were climbing or dropping.

BTW, i never turn my jake off. unless i'm on ice or rain. it don't kick in unless that pedal is fully released on top. and i don't let the pedal go that high when i'm shifting. so i never hit the jake. till i got into the FL. now i have to actually turn the switch off and on and off again. just one of it's many electrical glitches it has.

 

I'm just completly baffled by this. I drove an 8 speed Pete that wanted to shift at 1500 but the truck won't shift until it's 1800 that's just down right not cracking in my head. I drove 2 freight liners so far both shifted smooth at 12-1300 and down shifting at 1100. The only thing I didn't like was how tight the pattern was for the gears.

was the truck ever used for heavy loads? Cause shifting Rpms that high I would think your going to blow the engine up after a certain amount of time.

 

I had similar issues moving from 13 speed to 8 speed. When I tested out at Swift the testing truck in particular had a transmission that was sticky as Hades. Initially double clutching helped get my comfort level up and now I'm floating gears quite nicely.

As others have noted, I think the best rpm for shifting is 1500-1600, dropping to 1000-1100. If I want to wind it up on a grade I'll shift at 1700 dropping to 1200.

TIMING is EVERYTHING. Really need to slow it down with these new trucks. "One potato (out of gear) two potato (drop into gear)".

I also had to get used to being much more subdued with how much throttle movement I let up when upshifting. If I let up too much I'm out of timing and miss the gear.