10 to 13 or 18?

Nailed it.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4367918]IDK about you, but I shifted like 8 billion times in my career, and the less I shift the better( I'll be in the cold, cold ground before I drive a truck with an automatic) Years ago, the 13 speed was designed for those worthless 2 cycle Detroit's, where a drop of a hundred RPM's meant grab another gear to keep the "needle against the pin". I've had great luck with 10 speeds, and most of my company jobs, the trucks had 10 speeds and were very dependable ( had trouble on occasion with the splitter not working on some 13's) and with today's high horse motors, splitting gears is really not necessary. If it's top speed your after, you could go to big rubber, but have fun trying to find those. Besides, 70@ 1600 is just fine nowadays.[/QUOTE]

I loved the 2 stroke Detroit when I drove it,.. of course I was 23 at the time. Loud,.. sounded like it was screaming 9000 RPM at anything over 1300. Absolutely loved the jake. Sounded like an old fire truck.

The one I drove ended up blowing itself up in the yard by another driver who didnt watch the oil. Used to suck down 1 - 2 gallons of oil a day. It came in and the rpms wouldnt go down. Turn the key off and it stayed running. RPM's just climbed and climbed for about 3 hours before it finally just locked up.

The one we had used a 21 spd spicer with the 3 position splitter on a dial at the top of the shifter. 71 or 72 International.

Hurst:smt111

 

Yeah, you had to drive them like you were mad at it. I drove a dump truck with a 238 and an air 4x4, and I tell you what, THAT kept you busy. I've seen Detroit's "run away", like you said, I've seen Detroit's running backwards, and another truck I drove (238 also) threw a rod through the side of the block in the yard, after I came in from a long one. That could have happened anywhere. That IH 3 speed was a goofy unit. You could tell someone didn't know what they were doing when they shifted it like a RoadRanger.

 

Unless you haul a lot of heavy loads, 18 speed is useless for you. More shifting. You will never split the bottom half. 13 is an easy simple tranny.

 

Just because you have an 18 does not mean that you will be shifting more. You don't have to hit every gear on the way up or down. But with that said, with some of the hills I have gone up from a dead stop, I was glad to be able to split the lower gears, even empty, to get up the hill. I would not go any less than a 13 though but I prefer the 18. You will not need all the gears most of the time but it is nice when they are there.

Heck, they even sell beer in 18 packs now

 

True. You don't need to hit them all. I think that 13 will be a big upgrade from a 10. It is nice have all 18 if you need them.

 

We just purchased a rebuilt 18 speed for $4700 from Weller I think. If the 13 is close to that then go with the 18. They were putting it into the truck today. Good thing too, it was really hard to shift when you hit the dash with the stick... LOL

 

Hi cnsper, "split the low side going up a hill empty", what, are you climbing Mt.Everest? I'm sorry, like I say, I jammed a lot of gears in my life, and like others said, unless you are going off road a lot, a 10 or a 13 is fine. I drove this Freightliner Century with a 500 detroit, 13, 3.55's, and there was no need to split any gears, that motor had so much power (for me). Kind of like an 11 speed, just split the last gear, and even that was 70 mph @ 1550, almost lugging the motor.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4371969]Hi cnsper, "split the low side going up a hill empty", what, are you climbing Mt.Everest? I'm sorry, like I say, I jammed a lot of gears in my life, and like others said, unless you are going off road a lot, a 10 or a 13 is fine. I drove this Freightliner Century with a 500 detroit, 13, 3.55's, and there was no need to split any gears, that motor had so much power (for me). Kind of like an 11 speed, just split the last gear, and even that was 70 mph @ 1550, almost lugging the motor.[/QUOTE]

Yeah it seemed like it. We were crawling up a hill to a pit they were digging cobble out of. Difficult to keep from spinning on that one. If it rained at all we could not make the hill. It was off road and I will never go back to anything but an 18 if it is my choice. Most of the time I do not split the lower end and even half the top side but I have noticed a choice of 1800 rpm or 1200 rpm almost lugging that half a gear can make a difference of 2-300 rpm hundred RPM. Had to stop once on McDonald pass with a belly dump grossing 96k because of high temp, it was nice to have the lower splits to get rolling again. Yeah most of the time you do not need them but they are nice to have when you need them. You also don't have to run the RPMs up as high to get that 1/2 a gear vs a full gear in a 10 or 13 on the low side. My motor does not like 1200 rpm. It runs best in the 1400 to 1600 range.

I would still be happy with a 13 but not ever a 10. Like I said, if there is little price difference then get the 18. If I had a choice of a rebuilt trans at $4500 for a 13 or $4700 for an 18, I would fork over the extra $200. Heck, I would fork over more than that but that was an example as I do not know what the 13 goes for.

 

Brought my T800 to local KW for range selector problem (10 over) was told I had broken sync springs in the back box, and after light rust was found inside the housing they wanted to drop the whole tranny and flush it. (They called me over to show me the rust, it was there, still scratching my head) I told them to drop the ten and put in a 13. Reman from Weller, new clutch, resurface pp, heat exchanger, rear yoke, lot of extra stuff, little more than I wanted to spend (almost $13k). But never did like that 10. Even with a strong 550 Cat, it was hard to keep it in the motor's sweet spot.
Now very satisfied, although two small complaints so far:
(1) Can't seem to get the speedo sensor adjusted. Bout every 4-5 time you flip the high / low selector, the People net screen will show a "sudden deceleration event". It will do this even when at a stop, motor not running.
(2) Transmission is TIGHT! Approx 10k mi, and still not close to broke in.