18 gears. WTF Chuck?

I used to run one of those and I loved it, although none of the other guys wanted anything to do with it. Shifts needed to be much faster between gears, which made it a little awkward until you got used to it, but once you were it just felt like it just wanted to be run hard. Shift pattern also seemed to throw everyone off, as they were used to an H pattern and not the U that this one used.

Never needed to split, unless I was over 100K, but it was nice to have it when I did. Might have used it more if'n I was somewhere other than Florida and had hills to deal with.

I wish they made one of these where you could split the top side as well, or even just a 15 where you were splitting the top instead of the bottom. Those trannys built off a 9 speed have always bothered me, as it just feels odd to me to use a hole on the low side but not not on the high side. I do have a pretty low opinion of 13 speeds, but that's all based on the worn out ones I used in worn out trucks, so I'd really like to try one out in decent condition to give them a fair shot and see what I really think.

 

Jake shifting is acceptable so as is progressive shifting, it comes down to what you feel most comfortable doing. both do work as well as each other! 6 of 1 / half dozen of the other

 

Shifting with the jake on flat black top, I would have to agree with you. No sense in it. But, I have had to on a road that was so steep on take off that it's either quick shift with the jake or take a chance on the truck slowing down to where I miss a gear and have to start all over which isn't fun.

 

Just as the Iceman said... Starting on the hills, or off road in mud etc Jake makes shifting possible when truck doesnt have enough momentum to shift "regularly".

 

That's all? I'm in 9th gear turning nearly 1550 RPM before I hit 15 mph

 

What rear gear are you running?

 

Low low with an 18 is also lower than a 13 a10 or a 9(18 14.40, 13 12.31, 10 12.69 or 12.94, old 9s are 12.32, new 9s are onlt 10.somthing) They actually have a deep reduction without having the blue botton to select it. Just for comparison the deep reduction transmissions are the 8LL, 9LL, and 15 speed. Their raitos are ( 8LL 14.56, 15 13.31). So the 18 is actually lower than the 15. The 9LL is a specialty tranny made for concrete mixer so the can litterly crawl will a curb machine. Its raito is a super low 26.08. You actually split low and 1st like an 18 then shift whole gears like an 8 or 9 to get 11 gears. Ive also seen these in dump trucks and heavy haul tractors.

 

In a Mack, the 13 in the low range is the same as an 18 in the low split in the low range, and a 13 is no different from an 18 in ANY gear in the high range.

Also, Low gear has 2 options based upon the transmission. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 are all the same, without any difference. That option exists for both the 13 and the 18. 13.44 (2180B/T318 & 2130B/T313) vs. 16.42 (2180/T318LR & 2130/T313LR) for a low gear.

I have the 2180B, which is the same gearing as the current T318. The 2180 is the same as the T318LR. The 2180B/318 has a faster Low and Reverse gear...not much different shifting from Low to 1 than from making any other shift...just a 30% step compared to the 18 to 19% step required for all of the other shifts. The 2180/318LR, however, has a lower Low and a slower Reverse. It'll crawl in either direction, but you really have to wind it up to shift from Low into 1, as it is a 59% step instead of just an 18 to 19% step like in every other shift. To put that into perspective, 9 and 10 speed transmissions will have a roughly 40% step, and an 8 speed will be up around 60%.

Sure, sometimes the lower low would be nice...but not at the expense of having to STAY in the low hole because you can't shift to 1st when working your way up a hill.

 

The rears are stamped 4.17...

 

I didnt get in to the mack trannys cause I figured most were talkin Roadrangers. Your right the Mack 13 and 18 are actually the same trans. with the differance only being in the shift knob it self. The splitter is locked out when the range selector is down on the 13. Raito are the same. When Mack went to the 300 series trans. they made two different raito 13/18 speeds. The 313/318 has higher 13.31 of the 213/218 for road trucks and a 313L /318L with a 16.42 low hole for heavy haul, dump, ond other off road uses. This is just my oppinion but I like the Mack shift knob/splitter better then the road ranger. Just seems more comfy to me.