Automatic Manual Transmissions vs Manual Transmissions

I have driven a Volvo I shift for the last few months and it rarely starts in 1st gear. Depending on load adn terrain it starts in up to 4th gear and skips gears (if in Economy mode, in power/performance mode it hits every gear) I can also control when it shifts (using manual mode) the only thing it lacks over a manual is the clutch (which is electronically controlled)

When I was assigned the truck I was prepared to hate the I shift but it has convinced me that they have their place, it did take a little getting used to but overall it has its uses. I love it in heavy traffic, not so much when finesse is required but after some learning I can back and maneuver as well as with any other truck.

I would prefer a manual but the AMTs are getting better every year and will probably become the standard in heavy trucks. As of right now the I-shift is the standard transmission in all Volvo heavy trucks which says something about where we are headed.

 

My reasoning for rather having a manual transmission over a automatic, has nothing to do with backing! But controlling what gear I'm in for climbing and going down steep grades, the only automatic I've been in was back in the mid 90's, and I'm sure they've come a long way sense then, but I had nothing but issues on hills, never could get in the right gear for climbing or descending down a hill, for this reason! I'll stick with the gear shifter, I have about 10 years left until I can retire and hopefully I won't have to wonder if the company I drive for will stick me with a automatic?, but I have a friend that works for a rival company here in town that they just got him a brand new W9 with a automatic, no clutch, no stick, just a shifter to go from reverse to foward, at first he complained about it (before he drove the truck), to saying what did they wait so long to give him the automatic! But to each their own

 

I've been an OTR driver for 37 yrs now and I was in the same mindset as a lot on here about automatics have no place in a truck.
Well, a little over 6 years ago I bought my second Volvo and it had an I shift I figured what the hell I'll give it a try.
After 6 years in the ishift I'm looking at buying another Volvo with the ishift .
Yes I've had a few problems with the mechanical side of the tranny, but never have had problems in snow or ice, and I run all 48 plus Canada even in the dead of winter.
It would take a cold day in hell to ever get me to go back to a stick shift.
Now having said that we have company Freightliner trucks with the amt. I know if I had that amt. I would never want a amt. I drove 1 of our company trucks this having to get rpm's up before it'll even engage in gear you can forget that
crap. #### things lurch leap foreward or back. They are a royal pain in the arse.
I'll stick with the Volvo ishift.
All you nay sayers can say what you want, but don't knock them till you spend time in them, and not just driving it around a parking lot.

 

Don't you know driver, that's IMPOSSIBLE I tell you, IMPOSSIBLE

 

Biggest thing I see, the driver was an idiot, he threw you into a situation you weren't prepared for, not a knock on you, but personally, I would have told him to drive and I'll watch the movement. When the boss started buying these trucks back in late '99 (first gen. autoshifts), Eaton sent their rep. around to teach the boss how to drive them, then they came around and did basically road tests with each of us drivers. Several years back, I posted a thread about demoing a Mack Vision with the push button, Mack brought it over, left it with us for 10 days, I drove it for 7 of them. Before I got behind the wheel, my boss spent 45 minutes going over the basics of it in the yard, then we took it out for a spin around the city. Because it was a demo, Mack had the Perf. mode locked out, it was governed at 66 and the Manual mode was locked out. So I had to learn it without Manual mode, although Mack came back a couple days later and unlocked the manual mode.

But, something in your comments that's dumb, companies are buying these trucks to save on wear and tear, but they lock out or spec them without features that drivers can really use. That makes it difficult to properly drive the truck, and get full proper use of it. It'd be akin to giving someone a 13 spd and locking out the top 3 gears.

 

No manual mode would make it difficult, I can honestly tell you, but I rarely use manual mode for climbing hills, 95% of the time the computer is in the right gear, but I do use it, in conjunction with hill descent for downgrades.

One thing I think a lot of people miss with these trucks, and this goes back to Hursts earlier comments, the way they are spec'd. The only issue I have with the way my boss spec'd my truck, and even he now admits it, it's geared wrong, he listened to Mack and geared it more for highway than for pulling hills. If I had one gear lower (numerically higher), my truck would be perfect for every surface we drive.

 

Most of the push button Macks have "Macellerator" basically the equivalent of pushing the gas pedal to the floor on a car and kicking into passing gear.

I-shift and Mack M-Drive are the same transmission, different "brand names" and a different controller. The I-shift uses a joystick like controller, the M-drive uses a push button on the dash

My old auto shift would start off in 1st when loaded (if I chose to), but defaulted to 2nd gear start, bobtail I could start off in 3rd. My current M-drive, the computer decides which gear to start off in based on the weight sensors connected to the airbags. Load I hauled last Friday, left the shipper at 79,890, going from the parking lot to US 385 the computer started me in 1st, then 3rd, then 5th, then 7th, 9th, 10, 11, 12. Bobtail I normally start off in 4th, but can preselect to start off as 6th, when loaded, depending on the weight, the computer will let me start off as high as 4th. Go back to that picture I posted, there's two buttons +/-, that's how I manually select which gear I want to be in.

And getting wheel spin off the line in a semi is hilarious sometimes because the computer selected the wrong gear

 

Do both of these all the time with my M-drive, in fact in the last 2 weeks I've had to rock it multiple times because of getting stuck.

SWIFT....enough said

 

I read... "Because I want to cheat on my paper logs and I don't like to run legal."

 

That Swifty just didn't know how to use the I-shift. I've driven both the mDrive and the I-shift (same transmission/different name) in winter conditions and didn't have any problems. The trick to climbing a slick hill is to find the gear that will allow you to climb in a good RPM range and then flipping it to manual to hold the gear and riding it out until the top.