Need some advice on backing an automatic 17 international pro star

My first time in an automatic. Was in a 2016 Cascadia. Pulling a flatbed. Picked it up at Ryder. Boss said "Go hook to FT56". I agree about what was said about the clutch not being able to imitate human feel. I smacked into the trailer so hard it scooted back about 2 feet

 

LMAO

1.5 million miles on Eaton Fuller Autoshifts, 260,000 on Mack M-Drive pushbuttons. I've been stuck once, and it was driver stupidity, didn't pay attention to where I was turning. in deep snow.


To the OP, learn to feather the throttle. I back up my truck probably 6 to 8 times per day, 5 days per week, some days it's closer to a dozen times a day. I've not yet had a problem backing, actually, for the two days I had an issue. Then I learned to be smarter than the computer. I put the truck in reverse, take my foot off the brake and let it roll, if it doesn't, I give it a soft touch until it starts to roll and then I let it do it on it's on, only time I give it fuel is if it tries to come to a stop, or I need to back up faster. I've never given myself whiplash, that I'm aware of, none of our other automatic trucks (between 30,000 and 250,000 miles) have given anyone whiplash.

I've driven autoshifts in rain, snow, sleet, ice, wind, on the plains, in the mountains, in the mountains in snow and ice, off-road. I drove a first gen. variant that ate shift motors once a year, I drove a 10 th generation that ate two sets of shift motors in 600K miles. Our other sleeper is still an autoshift, driver has more than 30 yrs exp.. I've never heard him complain about it getting stuck, losing traction, or other issues, once he learned how to drive it. It's been 6 yrs he's driven that truck, over 600K miles.

Autoshifts are also being phased out, everyone is either going to an automatic like M-Drive or I-shift, Paccar's version, or some other. Yes, they do go into neutral when slowing to a stop, I've never yet had an issue with mashing the throttle and taking off, and often times, if I'm judging traffic correctly, I'll hit the manual button and let it hold a gear.

 

My left knee will disagree with you

 

Automatic transmissions in trucks is the absolute worst idea ever. The ONLY reason (don't give me that "better on fuel" bologna) they were ever introduced to the industry, is so companies can hire people that don't know how to drive.
See it on these boards all the time---"Failed my road test because I couldn't down shift", "Failed my road test because I couldn't double clutch", "Failed my road test because I was grinding too many gears". Well...now all those folks can 'pass' their tests if they know the difference between D and R.

 

For all those that say automatics are unsafe, dangerous, can't run the mountains, whatever your excuse. The above, rolls of plastic sheeting, came from China in a container, we transloaded it to the flatbed. I ran it Thursday, Denver to Boise Cascade in Grand Junction, Colorado. My total gross weight, with full tanks, 84,500 lbs, ran I-70, left our yard in Commerce City at 2:50 am, arrived at Boise Cascade at 7:50 for an 8 am appt.. Never once smoked a brake, not the slightest hint of an issue. Dropped off Floyd Hill in 9th gear, hill descent set at 45 mph, used the foot brakes exactly once, and that was the final curve at the bottom of the hill. Dropped off Eisenhower with the hill descent set at 34 mph, 8th gear hold, used the foot brake exactly 3 times, once to get the speed down to 34, once at the mid point when the RPM's climbed a little too high, and just before the last runaway ramp when FedEx decided to pull off the shoulder without looking. Dropped off Vail with the hill descent set at 45 mph, in 9th, never touched the brakes.

When I got to Boise Cascade, there was a Metrie drive in a '17 Prostar automatic, pulling a covered wagon. He backed it into a loading stall and never once bucked it or appeared to have any issue. We stood there comparing the two setups, he had just come out of a Mack automatic into the Int'l. He hated to see it go, but they took it to a different yard. BTW, he wasn't a rookie, 45 yr exp., had only been driving automatics for 2 yrs, said if the company tried to give him a manual again, he'd quit.

 

You're letting the clutch out too fast. Its an automatic so how much throttle you give it determines how fast it can engage the engine without stalling it. Just let off the brake and you will just sit there. You have to give it throttle to engage the engine. You'll feel it start pulling. Once you do if it isnt moving fast enough give it more throttle. The most common mistake, the biggest reason people hate automatics, is they keep giving it more throttle until something happens. You only have indirect control of the clutch.

 

I'm driving one. No issues with jumping. You just can't get in a hurry, and use light pressure.

What idiot put the headlight interrupt right above the cruise set? These #### things over speed going downhill and you have to hit the brake to make the engine brake work. Of course when you do that it knocks the cruise off. Now you have to fumble around and try to set the cruise again. I must have cut the lights 6 times last night. Idiots.

 

2017 POS! My exhaust filter icon is on and the engine is overheating. I looked in the manual and not a word about the icon. Great work International! Been broken down an hour waiting for help. Up since 2 am. I love trucking.

 

Please provide verifiable proof of this , along with your actual tenure in years and miles of driving same vehicle

 

I put about 70 or 80K miles on that same truck, '16 CascadiaEvo, DD13/DT12.
Once I learned to turn off traction control and stability control when backing, things got real smooth for me.

Also drove it all over the west and Northwest all winter, in pretty much every variation of "holy cow slick winter roads" and had zero traction problems with it. Snow shoes 3 times, once only because a Prime and a FedEx spun out and partial blocked lanes on the last curve before Lookout Pass Summit EB. That was just before Halloween.

Now I'm driving 15 and 18 speed manuals (heavy haul in 20 year old day cab Pete's and KWs).

I like manuals, now that I've finally learned to shift them correctly. (And for that, my thanks to 3 very patient driver trainers...)

For what I'm doing now an automated wouldn't really make much sense, but for mega OTR dry vans stuff, yes, I liked it just fine.