Autos vs Manual transmissions

Only if you are trying to maneuver into a dock. In my memory. You had to like pause a few moments to get her into reverse.

However, when spouse and I were into a tractor jackknife on ice west of knoxville that transmission was pretty instant making large shifts to keep power to the drives and potentially saved us.

 

You need to experience newer systems. I don't much care for [newer] autos in stop and go traffic (depending on the weight and the grade) but in normal operation, they shift fine and can get up to speed nearly as quick as any manual truck with the same load, maybe a second or two behind to 60+ mph, if the manual stick guy really romp'd on it. But I understand perception with them can be misleading.

I'm weird I suppose. Everybody claims how great they are in city stop/go traffic. Me? I actually prefer the control of a stick in lengthy stop/go traffic, as opposed to constant up and down-shifting, and the occasional erratic torque application with autos. Clutch operation and shifting has just never been an issue with me.

 

Newer than a 17 Cascadia? Maybe it was because it was locked into economy mode, it was just stupid slow shifting.

 

I only have experience with '18 Freightliner autos (never drove an auto prior to this one) so I don't know if there is any difference from this current generation.

We can select between performance and economy, but I've never fooled with performance mode. After a week, you'll get used to it. But in reality, the "slow shifting" and acceleration is more perception than reality. If that perception is part of saving the boss some money, then okay. I know I'll get some of that cost savings back [in pay/bonus] at some point down the road.

 

It isn't perception at all, it's reality. You could quadruple clutch for giggles and still shift faster than the automated manual.

 

There is no way the brand new pete I drive shifted quicker than me.

The #### thing would leave me hanging in intersections deciding what gear to put itself in. I’ll never forget the time it sent me at light speed into a loading dock either. Not gonna lie I thought it was funny as hell but it’s not ok to have either 100% throttle or nothing for reverse.

 

Had a bobtail big enough for racing on public streets against stock V8s from various makers decades ago, it only needed two gears, 5th high and 9th. Little bit of a smoker once you get her going past 80 and into the top end towards 130 about halfway down the strip. I actually beat a few cars off a light a few times such as the 5.0 mustang both launch and top end. I don't think the shop boss was too happy about them clutch plates though.

 

The automated manuals were never that great, but a lot of local gravel fleets around here are finding much success with the Allison six speed autos. These are trucks that pull around 130,000# of weight through the city, all day.

They work well. I have driven them as a company driver. They shift fast, and they work well on hills and in traffic. My old boss went this route, as it's easy to mess things up pulling that kind of weight, in the city all day long with a manual. Some drivers are good, others are not. Automatics take that variable out of the equation, and he has found that it works for his bottom line.

My own personal truck, however? It's an 18 speed manual, and that's what I prefer. However, don't knock the newer automatics, especially around town, unless you have driven one. Understand that the shifting parameters can be adjusted.

 

I bought this cascadia at the beginning of the year and let the salesman talk me into an auto necause they get such amazing mileage. Dd15 with dt12 trans. Took me about 6 months to really get used to it but still cant say i like it. Ive figured out how to tell when its gonna shift slow (mostly) and switch it to performance or manual. It gets maybe .5 mpg better than i did with a cummins and 9 spd in the old truck. If im super light and dont drive over 60 then it gets a lot better than the old truck unless im in mountains.

Here's my biggest gripe....the jake. Ya it works like crazy but it runs my motor rpm up so high its eatin life. If the jakes on high when ya let your foot of the pedal it drops 2 and sometimes 3 gears and hits the jake runnin the engine up to 24 or 2500. Also cant just let the jake ease ya down a slope in auto cause the computer thinks ya wanna stop. Ive gotten to point i try not to use the jake without switching to manual first.

 

The jake parameters can be adjusted. If you own the truck, the dealership should be able to handle that...