What I learned two days ago

People get what they deserve in life
More than 26,000 Kenworth, Peterbilt, Volvo, Mack trucks recalled over transmission issue

 

he was right about this, even the superload companies are going to autos. kinda sad

 

I'd love an auto trans for doing off road heavy haul. slap on 2 sets and hold it to the rug in the hills. they are so smooth you don't even feel the shifts. no puckering the sphincter on that big two gear drop into the basement.

 

So, here's my opinion if anyone cares.

(If I have a dog in this fight, it's a chihuahua. I honestly don't care about what looks cool; I care about what works in the real world.) So, having said that, here we go...

Autos, for the most part, suck the high hard one.

Now, in my experience, the Volvo autos aren't too bad, and if Volvo could ever make a truck that didn't have constant electrical and emissions issues they'd end up running the world. But the Eaton they've put in this Petercar is horrible to the point of being dangerous.

Yeah, yeah, "Butbutbut you can program them to blah blah blah...!" No you can't, if it's not your truck. All these companies leave them in Stupid Mode and won't even entertain the notion that you, the driver, might have a better idea of how they should work.

Exhibit A: Heading downhill, jakes on. Lift off the hammer. Where the Volvo would kick in immediately, the Eaton has to figure out what gear to be in and whether maybe the jakes would be a good idea. (Leaving it in manual does help, but in auto mode, I've gained 15mph before the stupid thing finally decided to start braking.)

Exhibit B: Steep, muddy, twisty grade uphill. With a 10 speed, I could have climbed something half again as steep, but noooo...between the tranny not holding a gear (even though I had it in manual) and the traction control thinking it could drive better than me, there's one delivery that didn't get done.

Exhibit C: Just about every other time I'm taking off from a standstill. Stomp on it and nothing happens. While the tranny tries to figure out what gear to use, I'm halfway into traffic and receiving an amazing amount of horn honks and interesting hand gestures. AFAIC, if the vehicle will not immediately respond to the commands of the operator, it's defective.

Exhibit D: Don't even try to tell me it's about mileage. Give me an identically-spec'd truck with a 10-speed, and I'll get minimum 1mpg better than this ridiculous thing.

Guarantee, if I weren't in a dang good LTL job, there's no way I'd put up with one of these things. Should I ever go back OTR, an auto would actually be a deal-breaker unless they could prove to my satisfaction that it would actually work properly.

Final grade: D-, needs work, see me after class.

 

5.9 is not a hemi, the hemi was not sold until 2003 and it is a 5.7

 

He's not really wrong.
Sure there were "Hemi" back in the 70's and before. It has no bearing on X1's tale. There was no way to order a custom 5.9 Hemi "around" 2001. Heck there was never a 5.9 Hemi. At least not since before the 70's (if then, I don't care enough to look).
That said there was a 5.9 Magnum in 2001. Likely what he meant.

 

When I was doing local I was 24 and developed knee pain after a year and a half. I didn't know how to float back then so every shift was a double clutch. When I would complain everyone would say that there's no way it was because of clutchin. Well as soon as I started driving autos it went away complete. I'm no doctor but that seems like too big of coincidence for me.


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