Automated Tranny Pros and Cons

Thank you I try.

Well I agree and disagree. For most of us that drive for a living, the facts do matter. The fact is manual truck transmissions do get better fuel milage, shift quicker, accelerate faster, are less likely to get stuck, are safer, are more convenient, are more reliable, are easier to repair, are quicker to repair, and have a larger parts selection available. In the proper hands they are always in the right gear, shift smoother, and never have computer problems.

The emotion comes in when someone without a stick shift has to come here to try and convince the rest of us they are truckers and they deserve respect too. They need to overcompensate and make outrageous claims. They even get emotional when those claims are confronted. I understand you guys are the emotional types. I am OK with that. I say live and let live.

So, you cannot get fuel milage without an automatic? You know the only claim the automatic has to better fuel milage, is by raising the fuel mileage of the worse drivers in the fleet. Kind of a marketing gimmick. The contention is, if you are able to factor out the worst drivers in the fleet that cannot shift, with an automated manual, the fleet economy on the whole will improve. An average or quality driver will at best see no improvement with a automated manual; In fact milage will likely be worse. But if you got a fleet of nuckle dragging steering wheel holders, you better off with the automatic.

No need to get emotional. Just stating the facts.

 

I will not lie, I'm a liiiitle bit of a hot rodder with a stick. Auto kind of got rid of it. But it only brought it up from 8.5-8.8 to 10ish. Until I figured out how to use the paddle shifter. I bet you now it'll get worse because it spends more time shifting than accelerating! I was only in it for a week too so I can't really say long term. Truck had 17.7k

 

I didn't care for it in stop and go traffic. As soon as I'd let off the go pedal the truck begins to slow down. So I'd have to keep my foot on it all the time feathering it. So a person goes from relaxing their left clutch foot to overworking their right go pedal foot.

In my manual, set it in Lo gear and relax both feet and just power along nice and easy. It is too easy to just float Lo to 1st to 2nd and back down in slow traffic.

 

Hmm, considering UPS is going almost exclusively automatics and CNG, I guess there are a lot of drivers sitting down to pee................along with all those heavy haul European drivers, I wonder how many 150,000 lb loads you've hauled?

 

I'm just busting balls man

 

Nice boots you have there, does the heal help you rock your foot forward on the clutch...

 

No, it's because of how the truck was spec'd, apparently your manual mode and Perf. mode were locked out. At 80,000 lbs I routinely start off in 2nd or 3rd gear on the flats, 3,4,5,7,9,11,12 is the normal shift. If I feel I need it, I hit Perf button, start is 1st and hits every gear until 12th, the downside, 2nd becomes redundant. Could be your company didn't think you were smart enough to figure it out, could've been they didn't want people abusing or damaging them because they didn't want to learn, or they wanted to save a little more money. Don't blame the truck, blame the company.

 

That's fine, but don't bust without full knowledge. I've driven sticks, I've driven autoshifts, I now drive a push button auto, my boss pays me quite well to drive what he gives me the keys too. I don't bad mouth drivers who only want to drive sticks, it's their choice, but I will badmouth drivers who are ignorant about equipment based on one exp.. At breakfast this morning I chatted a UPS line haul driver, he has one the first automatic CNG trucks at UPS Denver, over 200K on it, 30 yrs exp., they have to pry the keys from him. The only thing he hates about it is a horrible rattle inside the dash. 3 hrs later I encountered him on 70 heading to Kansas, the other thing he hates, the truck is gov. at 72 mph, I will say that that CNG automatic had no problem pulling triples.

 

Like I said it's an emotional topic, drive an AMT and you're not a real driver lol.

Since you asked no I also maxed my mpg's in the man 10 spd too, it's just easier in the AMT but my money is important to me and I don't like to leave anything on the table.

You also missed the part where I said I'd spec out an 18 spd if I could (man) and I'm cool with whatever anyone wants to drive and I really don't care what someone who doesn't know me thinks because I drive an AMT.

The thread is entertaining though and some people have actual questions so here I be. Oh yeah, don't forget all Eaton's AMT's start off as std manual transmissions so repairing then does not necessarily mean parts that are not in the system.

It's horses for courses and for the time being both will exist, and for Owner Op's hopefully they will always have the choice.

 

If I recall correctly, you were the one that started tossing "Supertrucker" around, which is the pat insult from every AMT driver every time someone challenges the party line their company spews. I fully respect any professional driver regardless of trans because I understand he drives what he is given. Where I have a problem, is when some claim that the auto is superior when in fact it is not. All it does is allow a below average driver to become average. But hey, it matters little, because most auto drivers that post on here will be out of the industry soon anyway.....if they are even in the industry.

As usual, @Toomanybikes nailed it.