13 speed deep reduction options

ran an 8ll for a few years, and i can count with fingers the number of times i "needed" bull gears.....been in an 18 speed for 2 weeks and praise the ratios and the ability to split just the top 4....never needed to spllit the bottom half, but its only a bulk feed straight truck (gvwr 38,000kg)....hauling a pup i could see the need....

 

I'd have to go look it up, but IIRC, LoLo on an 18 is very close to the bottom ratio of a 15.

 

Depends on your gear ratio. But low low is almost a craw on an 18

 

I drove a 98 with a 15 over. I preferred deep reduction when in reverse as regular reverse I found a bit too fast. If I was grossed out and taking off from a stop on a steep grade I would use deep reduction. I would use the deep five then shift to neutral disengage deep reduction and shift up into 4th, which if you look at the specs is the next higher gear, then 5th and carry on into high range.

 

Obviously........

 

Yeah, an 18 has a 14.40 low, which splits the difference between LoDeep on the direct and overdrive 15's, which are 15.40 and 13.30. Deep basically drops the low side 2 gears, which is why you do it this way----->

 

I recall the ready-mix truck I drove had a 5 speed with a 3 speed brown-lite, backing up in that very low reverse gear would have been great if it had power steering.

And I can say the same thing about the 18 wheelers I drove that had a set of boxes in them.

If my memory serves me right the slower you go backing up the harder it is to turn the steering wheel. Yet that slow backing up made it easier to back into tight places.

For a few weeks once I drove a truck that had a 10 speed with 370 gears and to me it seemed to be running 20 MPH when backing up at idle into a very tight spot especially not having power steering as most have today.

The reason I had to drive that 10 speed was another hand while driving my truck pulled off on the shoulder of a two lane highway here in Arkansas and it had been raining nearly every day for a week, the passenger side tires sunk down and the whole thing, it had a load of lettuce, turned completely upside down in the roadside ditch. It was truly shiny side down!

 

We have a 15 in one of our trucks. I usually pull out in deep 2 or 3 then come out of split it and go right back in the gear I was in. Seems to save a little torque on the driveline when I'm loaded like a freight train

 

I'm not claiming to be old or anything, but all the 15's I ever drove were set up with one of these:

 

I have driven plenty of them like your picture hammer. I was told with them don't monkey with deep while your rolling. I never did try cause I didn't want to have fix it. Our 99 Pete has the blue button on the shifter. I don't get to drive it much