Autoshift for liquid bulk?

You nailed on how to shift and feather the throttle with the auto. That's exactly how I do it to control the surge. When I want it to shift I'll start backing off the throttle until it shifts then I ease it back up. It's like progressive shifting only you use the throttle to tell it when to shift.

 

I drive a 2014 KW t680 with an 18spd Eaton Ultrashift Plus. And I Love-Love-Love It!!! I was VERY skeptical at first, as my other experiences with autos were, shall we say, less than spectacular. So I wasn't really looking forward to it. But MAN am I in love with this one.

Others in this thread have already written the important stuff and WELL. Good job Guys!

Due to my "load and unload" locations I drive over 1 pass EVERYDAY and 2 passes 3 out of 5 days. The SHORTEST pass is 5200 Ft. And this baby handles them like a "Champ". As far as surge goes, I find it to be minimal if you drive right. It's like before, If you slop it around, Don't be surprised if it slaps you back. Again, I do ALOT of mountain and windy road driving. I deliver to mines. So I also do alot of dirt road driving. I find it to be minimal.

As ALREADY STATED. It's NOT like driving a CAR auto. There IS a learning curve. But once that is accomplished, WOW!!!

MY opinion is, If ALL autos worked like this one, I would never have a reason to switch back to messing with a clutch and shifting again. The "die-hards" can keep them. I LIKE my Ultrashift+ !!!

Just my experience.

 

Lots of great information and auto-shift tips on this thread. I'm curious though; what's the consensus on driving in winter conditions? I've 'heard' that it's much easier to get stuck than with a manual shift. I don't like the tendency to skip shift on the downshift. Pretty much an auto-shift newbie as I was recently assigned an auto-shift (2012 T-800 w/18 spd Eaton AS).

Yes, it does take a different skill set to smoothly shift these machines, but I've had some issues with the steep grades. We pull heavy loads (63.5 ton super b's) which seem to cause problems for the transmission.

I've learned that it's almost mandatory to manually shift in certain circumstances: Starting out loaded on a grade. It will often try to skip shift, then lose momentum, and you're stopped dead again. I've become 'fairly' proficient at manually shifting on hills, but found myself in trouble on one hill when I couldn't drop gears fast enough, and ALMOST was stopped on the hill. I need to get these issues ironed out before the white stuff makes its unwelcome appearance again...