A note to the anti-auto crowd

Well dunno, DAF were never too hot on handing parts over to me or any of my countrymen for free, under warranty or even cheaply, DAF are scum and their dealers worse, argue with me all u want but you cannot say I'm lying, bad gearbox, worse engine and the worst backup service of all time, nearly broke me! And havin a DAF off the road for a month or more while you argue your rights over warranty cos of a zf box or an engine gets wearisome especially when you never get paid or get it repaired, the biggest mistake of my career was buying DAF, I'd buy a Iveco , erf or Foden long before I'd buy that rubbish again , and I know Iveco has the same box but iveco stand over their warranty , 5 years of warranty, bumper to bumper no questions asked!

 

You euro truckers have the nicest looking trucks.
About 4'' of nose over here.

 

when you say astronic do you think on astronic 12 or 16

here we have only 12 i dont remember did i ever seen 16 and for 12 you would not have too much trouble to find parts but for 16 yes....

 

All the shims , bearings , gears etc for the Astronic are available only from ZF.
If I buy these parts for a 16s190 or 16s221 I can get away with US$ 3 500-00.
On an Astronic the equivalent basket of parts will cost US$ 10 000-00 more.

 

cant understand why would somebody put new and expensive parts in such old gearbox as 190 is

if some smaller brakedown is inside we fix that for 1000-1500€

complete gearbox is up to 3000€ but you can always find good one for 2000€

 

I have often put much more in to a truck in the workshop then it is worth.
I'm not as bad as I used to be but you start on something then find something else that needs work and it just snowballs.
Before you know you have thrown so much money at an old dog you think I cant stop now that I have so much in it.
The last couple of years I have just bought cheap 2nd hand DAF trucks and been very lucky with them.All their automated ZF's ar 16sp.

We can often patch the problem for about 1000 euro but the workshop will often say , while it is open for another whatever we can do all the wearing parts.
As I said it snowballs from there.
Used parts or a used 190 will cost 4000 euro and then no guarantee .

 

ok i understand we exchange also all wearing parts in that price obviously here are things cheaper....that price of 1000-1500€ of course dont include clutch exchange

if you have 430mm single plate clutch it can cost about 500€(sachs) or more depending where you change

if you dont change clutch than latter you need pay about 200€ for exchange

 

I drove one for about three weeks and hated it. It was slow to accelerate and the breakdown rate was pretty high. They took it back and gave me a ten speed after that.Which was nice. Then they gave the Auto to another guy and it left him stranded as well!! Only then did they go thru it and find it had a bad wiring harness on the trans! I'll never drive one again.

 

Yes the wiring harnesses are the biggest problems we have had.
Once you know what and where the problems are it is no big deal.
Like everything there is a learning curve.
We now have less issues with the automated than the manual boxes and defiantly better fuel consumption.
Give a Mack M Drive a go and then make your mind up.
3 weeks with a problem truck would put anyone off but that is not what they are like I can assure you.

 

OK here is the funny thing about the OPs post. He claims that he auto shifts are stronger and last longer. well if thats the cases it has nothing to do with the tranny itself but the drivers sucking at shifting and sounds like you work for an outfit that will put anyone behind the wheel. Is your boss a former JBhunt driver. The trannies are the same auto or standard. if you take and auto tranny put in the clutch fork and change the top plate you can put it in and truck with a stick. the issue on the autos is and has been the top plate that controls the shifer. it uses electroics air vavles to control 2 cyclinders on the top of the tranny. these systems love to short out or lock up. I have been driving for many years and been around trucks since i was 3. worked on everypart of a truck and built a few custom trucks to include my favorite a 1999 W900 with a 525 cummins and a 6 and 4 tranny setup. I helped a buddy out and drove his on night for him and refuse to drive one again. If they gave me a brand new one the first thing i would do is ditch that itch. I WILL keep my stick or sticks intill i retire.