Manual vs Automatic Transmissions

I have only driven automatics since I started driving. I wanted to be trained on manuals but company paid for my school would not let me. So, for new drivers, learn manuals and DRIVE MANUALS AT LEAST ONE YEAR. If not, your employment prospects will be limited. It is possible to get a job with a company who will train you later but many will not. For the most options, be able to drive both. Now, I like automatics and understand there limitations, like when to take manual control and shift and when to let the automatics do their thing. But I would rather have the manual experience as a foundation and automatics as an option, not mandatory. I also found that from the different automatic transmission I used, the 13 speed (Eaton Ultrashift I think) was the best, mainly because it seemed that 10 or 11 speed just could not find the right gear for pulling hills or more importantly, going down them w/o being too fast or too slow.

In any case, for those in the same boat as myself, mostly automatic companies do exist, not just the large ones like TransAm, Tyson and other well known auto fleets. Do research on this board, post seeking employment with your automatic experience only, email companies, etc. Some may be mostly manuals but might have a few autos around. Near as I can tell, the trend is overall towards automatics but not a fast as many on this board think. Some automatic fleet companies, like deBoer, are buying manual trucks. I think PTL is too but cannot find the reference for that.

Still, smaller automatic companies exist and I will be moving to one which has a mostly automatic fleet. Interesting, when I asked why they were all automatic the answer was that the manuals kept breaking were less reliable than automatics so they switched over to them. This is a family run company with trucking roots going back for three generations and not some new start up run by bean-counters.

As for the debate that only using a manual makes you a "real" trucker, they may be right. A driver who really knows how to shift will have better control, better MPG usually, and less wear and tear on the transmission. Sadly, not every driver out there knows what they are doing, either with a manual transmission or a lot of other things judging from what I have seen. However, I would think that most companies would rather have someone who picks up on time, delivers on time, and does so safely over any "real" truck driver who does not. IMHO, putting on chains during a blizzard on Donner's pass and other places went a long way towards making me a "real" truck driver.

 

I have only driven a manual for one month 20 years ago in a car and stunk at it! I drove automatic for a Bus Company for years...I'm going to a school (that pays tuition) in May. How patient will they be with me to re-learn how to drive stick, and newly learn how to drive a truck?

 

Yeah I could definitely see a lot more problems with an auto. If its a company truck who cares, but if its yours it could get expensive.

 

How much money do you have??

 

Well, one way to look at it is to realize it takes the skill used in shifting and puts it into the actual driving.

These are the most advanced automatic transmission-equipped vehicles made:


They can shift faster than you can think or blink. They can shift all the way up or down the entire gear range (8 speeds in a box the size of a 5-gallon bucket) in just 2 or 3 seconds. You want to make your 4-wheeler's box sound like one of these,you have to drop yours off a building.

They're vicious.

But they developed for one reason, and one reason only: so the driver can keep BOTH hands on the wheel at all times, and concentrate on actual driving. They have no clutch pedals anymore, so the driver can put that foot on the brake and keep it there.

Autos remove splitting attention between driving and shifting. Humans have a tendency to look at what their hands are messing with, which includes the gear shift; and sometimes that moment of diverted attention leads to a disaster.

F1 engineers figured that out a long time ago, and started working towards making autos a reality, and all they've done in improve the driving, the safety, and the performance of the vehicles.

Maybe it's time trucks followed suit.

 

Autos don't cost anymore to repair then a manual. Look it up. Or better yet talk to a head of maintenance at a company that runs both and get their opinion.

 

Not any more: my wife's 2012 Focus with the automanual gets better mileage than the 6-speed manual version; and then newest truck autos will be the same way.

 

With the way the auto technology is processing every year they are passing the manual by leaps and bounds.

 

Don't have to, been there, done that.

Plus, he was asking what it would take to convert a manual to an auto. It CAN be done--most FormulaSAE teams create automanuals out of motorcycle gearboxes with gas cylinders (to actuate the clutch and shift), solenoids, and software--but I'd guess this cost would be prohibitive.

 

B.S. Give me a break. Not even my wife needed to look at her hand when she shifted her Saturn. Where do you guys come up with this crap?

Those cars last what....45 minutes between rebuilds? I want my trans to last two million miles thank you.

How about this: Practice your craft until you can shift a manual better than an automatic. Your brain is the only computer you need...the key is to use it.