Company removing manual gear selection override on automatic trucks?

Back when I ran water in the oilfield they got 4-5 Volvo's with automatics. They lasted a couple months out in the mess of an oil patch before they pulled them all and sent them back to the highways. Could have been that drivers didn't understand how to use them correctly, or that autos 5-6 years ago just weren't good, or that auto's weren't designed for slick, steep dugways and deep sand.

 

Yup, I could be totally wrong too. But I don't understand how you are supposed to drive an auto with the manual mode disabled and no engine brake. The auto our company has doesn't have a jake, but it does have a manual mode so you can get just a little bit of engine compression to help you down hills...without that, I don't see how you could possibly hold that truck back with just service brakes.

 

They really are terrible for stuff like that.

My Pete and freightliner would both upshift even in manual mode. Like I'd be crawling up a hill with the cross lock on and the #### things would still upshift. Then I'd be going back down the hill backwards.

Same thing going down a hill. Engine brake on got it in a low gear and the #### thing just starts up shifting and I got to lay on the brakes.

 

Cruise control going down hill goes against everything my brain can handle. The autos seem so complicated and dangerous if you can't use manual mode. I watched your video and I must say I would have been puckered up if you were on snow and ice with those high rpms and all the shifting it was doing. . Much easier in my manual. Select proper gear Select engine braking use foot brake as nessasary to bring down rpm -repeat.

 

I got a cruise control Jake in my Volvo 10 speed but I can do it the old fashioned way too for big hills. It's more for the medium grades I think so you don't get rolling at 85 by the bottom without realizing it.

I keep it on level 3 and drop gears on the steep stuff.

 

OK here is episode 2, I went down the steep grade in cruise control, also goes against everything I have ever been taught about trucking. So here goes, appreciate everyone's good advice!

 

My Jake brakes come on automatically at 6MPH over cruise control set speed. Then at 7 or 8 mph over it will downshift a gear and crank up the engine RPMs to 2200 and turn stage three Jake brake on. Maybe it's an option that is turn on in my truck. Anytime I set the cruise control the green dash light for Jake brake is always on. Maybe I have to try make a video but mine works. If you set cruise at 55 it should hold your truck at 61-63 but I see it did not work. The Jake brakes should have at least come on and tried to hold you back even if it was to much weight. Then you could have just used snubbing brakes to hold the truck back and keep from going 65+ downhill.

 

He probably thought he was being insightful too. The guy evidently views his drivers in a really dim light, because the only real-world scenario in which his argument could ever make sense is if a driver chooses to run in manual mode constantly, which no sane driver would ever do. Also, as you well explain, there's a specific important reason those transmissions come with a manual mode.

If I decide to contact QL about a job posting of theirs that caught my attention I'll be sure to ask them about this because I hate stupid. It ran rampant at my last employer, so I'm very much on the lookout this time around.

 

This is old Post but their is a special Downhill Mode on the DT-12 trasnmision. You can set it for any speed you want down to 30MPH and it will hilh that speed. You can go down like 8% grade and it will hold the speed. Not that 6 MPH over. Their is a specal downhill mode !