13 speed downshifting tips?

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4462277]Hi DD, I did that too with 13 speeds on a downshift in a main gear, almost like an automatic. Regarding the 2 sticks, it is cool for a while, but gets pretty tiresome after a while. The 1st heavy duty truck I drove was a IH R-190 tandem dump truck (with no rear springs, just rubber pads) with a 450 cube (not hp) gas motor with a set of sticks, and shifting that thing was a constant chore. Someone said 2 sticks were outlawed in new trucks, not sure if that's true, but you never see them anymore. Regarding the 5 or 6 speed Macks, your boss wasn't being cheap, the "Maxidyne" high torque rise engine, was developed with an operating range of 1200-2100 rpm, and a 5 or 6 speed was standard equipment. I've driven many Macks and never had a problem with the driveline, ever. They were truly the toughest trucks out there.[/QUOTE]

Hi Semi, this is true that 5 speed maxidyne was nearly indestructible. My boss at that job was a cheapskate in other ways, but he definitely got his money's worth out of his trucks, which might have been slow and dirty, but were practically bulletproof. One guy at that job tore a 5 speed up though, and we weren't sure how he did it. He wasn't very experienced, and didn't have an explanation. He was coming around a curve on an off ramp, trying to slow down, and somehow downshifted into the wrong gear, which is hard to do on a 5 speed. We guessed that he must have tried to granny-shift it into 4th, but hit the wrong hole and somehow mashed it into 2nd - it was in gear when they recovered the truck otherwise they might not have believed it. He's coming down a ramp at about 50 mph and gets the trans into a 10mph gear, and it locked his tires and he skidded into a jackknife. I forget what happened to the engine, but it was shot. The driveline was locked up solid and the truck couldn't roll. The driver survived, but didn't have a job when he got out of the hospital. The boss and the shop foreman couldn't believe it, and were pretty upset because it was an expensive wreck to get cleared up and got them some heat from the turnpike authority. They never did figure out what he did, but they towed in the truck, got spare parts out of junked trucks, got the frame back into shape, and had it rebuilt and back out in a few weeks. Couldn't kill those R models.