2022 Automatic Transmissions

easy to say when you arent the one hiring. there is guys on this forum with small fleets that are having a very difficult time hiring right now and they are paying way above average.

 

Work for a fleet with around fifty trucks as a technician. About thirty tractors pulling dumps and pneumatic tanks and twenty dump trucks. We spec the 10 speed Ultrashift Plus in tractors, Allison 4500RDS in dump trucks. Have one dump truck with an 18 speed Ultrashift Plus and it performs very well in my opinion. Eaton is cheaper to buy and way cheaper to maintain. The Allison seem to go 450,000 to 500,000 before overhaul, which is usually around $10,000. They perform well, just pricey. Most issues are OEM wiring with Allison and random fault code every now and again. Have you seen price difference?

 

Yeah I'm in a 579 spare truck currently and it has the 10 speed Eaton auto. Takes about 6 years to shift gears when loaded. Got it sunk in a little bit of snow and it would barely let me do anything. As soon as a tire slipped it shut off all power. In my Mack I just throw her on the old high side and go back and forth between R and 6th lol

 

If you have to go with an automatic I'd go with the Allison, it's what the military uses and what most mining outfits use as well.

 

Off road is where the Eaton Auto shift takes a big dump.
I worked for years hauling tanker loads of fuel to drilling rigs, miles off the paved road, way back in the sticks, some were 45 minutes of 5-10 mph up and down, thru ditches, etc., bet that Eaton up shifted/down shifted over 100 times in the ten miles.
My ‘inner self’ said, self you can push that manual button to lock it in gear, but I figured, those aholes that ordered these g-dam transmissions can choke on it.
Just beware, your workforce may have the same attitude.

 

I was in a different truck the last few days that had the Eaton 10 speed automated manual instead of the Detroit 12 speed I'm normally driving. I couldn't stand it. Trying to modulate low speed, particularly in reverse was almost impossible. Press the pedal and it was nothing..nothing..nothing..full send. Ended up slamming into trailers so hard sometimes I thought I was going to break something. The one I was driving was a 2020 model.

 

It’s a 12 speed correct? Think it was a proper paccar transmission that communicated better with the engine. Still had its hiccups like when turning into a steep hill the transmission would hang up but it shifts pretty smoothly. Honestly feels like a older automatic on a car you don’t feel the clutch drops.

 

The endurant HD isn't rated for off highway stuff, the XD Pro is.