18 Spd Trans / Refrigerated Van Companies Info

In case you didn't know an 18 is based around the old 9 speed and the 18 you can split low range along with high range. With that engine pulling reefers I don't see much of a need to spit low range but in rare cases you may want to split 5th before going into 6th such as pulling a steep hill. The times I drove a 13 in order to get up to speed faster the only times I used the splitter had been with heavy loads and on 8th and 9nth gears only. On pulling hills use the splitter while pulling it realy helps.

 

You can drive it like a straight 9 speed and as far as I know, unless they have it set up in an oddball way, you don't need to split all the gears.

 

The theory of an 18 speed is that you skip up, and split down. You rarely need to use 18 gesars to get going, 9 will do the job just fine. But when you go up a hill at speed, you use the half steps to keep the engine right on the boil, and doing this you can maintain a couple of mph advantage going uphill over a straight 9 speed box. Downside to them is that some people spec them that really have no need for them, and they are heavier and much more expensive than other trans. They usually have a torque rating that matches the needs of really big engines.

 

Your starting to get the idea... this is not brain surgery but is easy once you get the hang of it...

 

Actually. it's best to be a little bit proactive here. Rather than waiting for the engine to lug, you start splitting once you start dropping RPM. To me, if the engine gets to the point where it's lugging, then I should have shifted before that point, un=less the top of the hill is in sight. A large part of making good time with a truck is keeping your momentum up, and the engine RPM in it's sweet spot. Every engine has a specific rpm where it is very happy, and you want to keep it right around that point.

Again, many people that spec an 18 are doing it more for bragging rights than the actual need to have it on the truck. Some times it's a clue that they didn't spec the rear end ratios correctly, nor the ratio / steps between gears as well as they could have. Truck speccing is a wide open area, and not many people are as good at it as they think they are. That includes me, but I'm working hard on it and learning. In about two years, when I buy my own truck, I hope to avoid a lot of common mistakes I see getting made. My 02.

 

There has always been a tendency among small trucking companies, particularly refrigerated outfits, to buy big hp top of the line equipment, and then put new drivers in them. They run you on tighter schedules than you can manage fairly, and you push the pedal down, which amazingly enough doesn't have a speed limiter on it. They run the new guy until their freight is moved, and his license is burned up. I'm not saying that this is the situation here, but keep your eyes open for it. There is no reason you need to go much over 65-67 mph in a truck to get the load where it needs to go. Keep an eye open for this, and if you get pushed into schedules that you can't meet, don't be afraid to walk away from it. You have an easily transportable skill, which is in fairly high demand right now.