Manual vs Autoshift

So assuming your not being sarcastic.The clutch is on a programmed engagement controlled by your left foot- somewhat- mine comes in at a steady rate you can feel it coming in ,with a clutch peddle you can stop the increase by freezing your foot motion - not gona happen with the auto , it starts in and it just keeps coming in ,might be why you get the lurching.
I can get it to slip to the point I have got a clutch temp light.
At stop lights you have to anticipate the change and get the clutch in motion way before you need it ,if you jump on the throttle the truck will do as asked dump in clutch to meet engine speed and a hopping you will go.
Massive pain in the butt to a guy used to doing it himself .
I use the Volvo to haul a RV trailer and need the wife to drive without fear and at 60 I don't care to learn either, so works for us.
The wife is excellent at it because she has no preconception of how the truck should drive ,I explained throttle controls everything and she just got it right away,I let friends drive it and same issues as you had hopped it down the road rockin and rollin
good times

 

I don't even like automatic transmissions in cars and pickups....why would I want one in a big truck? I've driven auto-shifts before. Couldn't stand 'em. One outfit I worked for even had 10 speeds with a 9 speed shift pattern...and the truck would auto-shift between 9 & 10. Didn't care much for that transmission either.

Problem with automatics and auto-shifts is that the transmission is reactive.

It cannot see the hill coming in order to select the next lower gear and get the turbo wound up to hit it with a full head of steam, only react to it once you start up it, which generally involves lugging in the gear you'd been in running down the road until it figures out that you don't have enough power to pull the hill in that gear and drops a gear...but by then, you've lost enough speed that it needs to drop another gear in order to start pulling but it decides to lug a little while longer and lose a little more speed first so that the next gear won't have the power you need to pull either because your RPMs are too low and your turbo isn't providing any boost.

It cannot see that you are nearly to the top, staying in the gear just a little while longer until you start down....only react once you're heading back down, which generally means it downshifts just as you are topping the hill, then searches for the right gear once it figures out it doesn't need to be in the gear it just tried to go into before settling back into the gear that it was in before it decided to downshift one more time.

It cannot see that break in traffic that you are trying to time, either. Now the auto-shift I drove would downshift through the gears until it would switch to the low range of the transmission...then it would float in neutral until you provided some throttle input. So when you were on the brakes slowing down trying to time that break in traffic to make your left without coming to a COMPLETE stop, it would be in neutral until you wanted to go. So you step on the throttle and nothing happens because it isn't in gear. Meanwhile, you've already started your turn and you are watching traffic approach as you HOPE it gets this whole "gear selection" thing figured out. It looks at the speed + throttle input and selects 2nd gear, when I would have been in 4th. Doesn't take long before it realizes that 2nd was a bad choice and goes back to neutral waiting for the RPM's to drop enough to go into 3rd, and even then you aren't clearing the intersection as quickly as you would have if you had control over the gear selection.

Bottom line, the truck cannot read your mind to know what you are going to do. It can't see what the conditions are up ahead of you, either. ALL it can do is react to the inputs given....speed and throttle....and try its best to figure out what is going on. Even when it gets it right, it lags behind due to the nature of being reactive to what has already happened vs. a proactive driver who sees what is up ahead, plans for it, and selects the proper gear based upon the conditions that are soon-to-be encountered.

 

They all have 'manual mode' use your eyes and anticipate a hill and do what you need to do.

 

Your not a real trucker if you don't drive a stick.

 

Granted I am not a trucker -retired autoworker - who has seen the same revolution happen countless times before .
When the first assembly line robots showed up ,they lasted a week boy were they easy to *u*k up,but that dint stop the relentless advance of robotic assembly ,just like it didn't stop any of the thousands of trades that do exist anymore .Shifting a truck is just one more that will go away.
sad because I admire the skil set ,there might always be a need ,but only in the way of something like horseshoeing or buggy whip maker or lead typesetting etc. etc. all gone now.
I mean no disrespect but really it is a skill 99% of people can learn if they want ,be proud of your skill but don't let it be your identity .
Truck driver is a proud profession

 

So, is a spanking in order if we don't get it right?

 

Spanking is for other activities

 

Thx Ahab

Thing drives me nuts.

I would have been in sixth by the time the thing autos up to third. I'll figure the thing out sooner or later.

Give it a couple days playing around.

Mine just has two pedals no clutch and press up+on a lever like a pick up has to put it in park) to manual up doesn't hop when I manual but auto sure as hell does.

 

On my Eaton auto shift:

The clutch starts to engage from stop at a certain RPM = a certain throttle position with truck stopped. Just like the clutch on a manual starts to engage at a certain spot. Same skill other foot. You need to acquire this skill to drive an auto smoothly.

Adding more throttle starts letting the clutch out more. Yes you can ride the clutch till all kinds of alarms go off.

Don't mash the throttle to the floor and hold it there if you don't want to jerk on every shift. Add throttle as you go down the road till you get through the gears and to your chosen road speed. That is the second skill: operating the throttle based on load and conditions.

If the engine is winding out and you want to go up a gear let off the peddle a bit. Or change to manual mode and tell it to up shift.

Manual mode is your friend in foul weather and is a good tool in mountains. Most of us should be able to out think the trans shifting computer.

 

I love our automatic! But OH!!! ... That must make me a fake trucker! Darn.