Eaton smart shift clutch pedal hard?

same as a normal clutch

 

The first generation auto shift trucks had big problems. They would get stuck in gear or not enough computer power and people had unhook the batteries to reset the transmission computers. The X and Y shifter motors would go bad and were not cheap to replace. They would up shift pulling hills then can't pull the and then down shift, basically going up hills they would keep shifting gear up and down. Because they did not know it was on a hill.

The new modern auto shift transmissions have GPS data of hill locations and can turn on engine brake between gears. They are so much more advanced today. They can change the shift point depending on load and hill. When stopped on hill for a red light. They keep the brakes applied until the truck pulls. Then it will release the bakes. So you don't roll back

 

Same as regular clutch. You also will be climbing into and out of the thing as well. You will be pulling that pin or sliding tandems as well. Hopefully you still have a knee.

They can install a new artificial knee but the downtime after that is about a year. And at 5000 a month retail PT for a year it's not cheap. I looked into it myself but frankly the knees are not that bad off. Particularly after several stabbings, penetrations and impact trauma its a wonder I still have a knee at all.

The autos we had in our day, the original rockwell from the 2000 period bricked twice because we were a team truck and never ever shut off. Eventually the transmission blue screened just like a windows computer when it's software overflowed and required a tow twice. Totally wrecking two seriously important JIT loads and their schedules as well as one birthday party of one of our VP's who came out to examine the situation we were in.

It was not all bad. Orders went to dispatch hard in stone to give us a half day off every 7th day. Gives us a chance to do laundry and chores etc. And maybe sit down for a quality proper meal to fill in what we did not get in terms of food intake weekly.

 

If you really want a manual consider switching to something with a hydraulic clutch over manual or cable linkage.

Pedal weights are so light the effort is minimal.

Automatic options with no pedal are abundant.

 

The folks I ask with aluminum housing autos love them. I have asked a lot of questions. Usually the answer is something like " Just like my P/U truck ". Thirty year driver in a Mack told me exactly that.
Autocars used to have a hydraulic over air system. Hydraulic master cylinder with an air cylinder on the side of the Fuller transmission. They worked well and pedal effort was very light.
There is still one running around here. Not sure if you could still order a truck with that set up or get parts to change one over.

 

The NGP Paccar wider cabs use hydraulic clutch control with air assist. Clutch effort is like a passenger car.

 

A lot of Older Drivers Down Here are fitting these to their Trucks with great success..

Air Assist Clutch Servo