Personal opinion if you can't ride I mean drive stick your not a real trucker

The problem isn't on the uphill, as the governor will keep you from blowing up the motor, but downhill is where the problem is.

Some of the autos would upshift a few hundred RPM below redline going down hill, losing almost all engine braking. As Jakes work best at higher RPM, poorly programmed transmissions will force drivers to try to sit lower in the RPMs and use more brakes, which heats them up.

While not ideal, a few 100 RPM over the redline in a manual truck when you mess up once or twice won't destroy an engine, but an unexpected upshift will heat up your brakes significantly.

Less of a problem when the transmission upshifts at the redline bs above it but still a puckering experience if you don't expect it.

I make no judgements on which is better, but I prefer manual because I don't have the option of disengaging from paying attention to the grade ahead.

Fighting complacency is one of the hardest parts of this job, and I appreciate anything that forces me to stay engaged like a manual transmission.

I do think that there is a problem with modern trucks with modern ratio axles making reverse way too fast.

Having deep reduction in a 15/18/8LL makes all the difference in backing up in tight spaces.

 

A better question might be..."Is the implementation of the Autoshift Transmission, as the STANDARD benchmark to operate a truck, allowed people to enter the industry that would not make the cut, if they had to operate a Manual Transmission"? The answer to that question is resounding YES.

 

Oh, and BTW... For all the people saying there's no difference between driving an Autoshift and a Manual, even the government has enough sense to put a RESTRICTION on the license if you can't do both...

 

You need to drive a Truck with Ishift. They are almost to a tee of an auto trans feeling from a 4 wheeler.

 

Never had any problems going up or down a mountain in my VNL 860 with a 12 Spd I Shift trans. I can ride my truck down almost every mountain and hardly ever use the brakes. Just need to understand how to drive them.

 

I said the same thing to myself, when I read his post.

An I-Shift, put into the appropriate gear at the top of the grade, will hold the speed/load all the way to the bottom. I’ve run 76K-79K into Bullhead City, several times, with only a handful of brake applications for the curves. By far, it’s the gnarliest grade I’ve driven. The D13/I-Shift combo is perfection.

 

NO. Even an Ishift isn't like an automatic trans. I see these guys with ANY autoshift LUNGING in reverse all the time. Ishift is better by all means, but it still isn't like an automatic trans. Now the Ishift with the 2 crawler gears is as about as close as you will ever get.

 

Do you ever think that maybe good drivers are good drivers no matter the transmission and poor drivers are poor drivers no matter the transmission? My truck has the 12 speed Paccar and it doesn’t lunge in either direction. But I also own it so there’s a chance I may drive it and treat it differently than a fleet hack.

 

I'll stick with the stick.