Re-learning to shift a 13-speed EF

When I was new to the 13 speed I split all of the high-range gears when upshifting and when downshifting. When downshifting it is easy to forget about the splitter which will prevent you from getting into the next lower gear and it will sound like putting a body through a woodchipper. I recommend you also split all high-range gears and split and downshift all high-range gears until you get the feel for it. You ARE GOING to make mistakes, and it will sound awful, just don't force it. Change something and try again. I did have to stop, and restart from a standstill once or twice. Sometime it's hard to be perfekt.

If you want to maximize practice split all high and low-range gears accelerating and decelerating. Upshift through every gear and splitter. Downshift through every gear and splitter position.

 

No throttle when shifting.
No shifting when turning.
No shifting on RR crossing.
No neutral on downhills.
A bunch of NO NO's.
But if you understand and gets familiar with the 13 speed you can
drive all day without touching the clutch whatsoever.
It's call floating the gears. Not recommended, though.
I was always double clutching, until one night the clutch link just broke.
While under load I had to learn how to drive without a clutch.
Using Low position to start from stops.
And break pedal and throttle to help with the shifting up and down.
From Great Falls to Billings Volvo dealer.
In the middle of the night. Oh, well...
Fun memories.

 

No, don't do it.

 

Sorry, I completely forgot to address this while ago. You don't need to split every gear all the time. Just drive it like a 9-speed, and use the splitter to help you keep the engine at the right RPM for the speed you're running or the grade you're pulling.

When I've had a 13 speed I usually drove it with the splitter back and pushed it forward whenever I needed to drop a few RPMs, like if I was on a lease road, in town, on the highway and was in top gear (both 13 speed trucks I drove had 3.55 rears and were governed at 70).

 

B

Best setup.

 

Hopefully the DPF is long gone by now. If not there's guys on here that can point you in the right direction on who to tune it if you decide to go that route getting rid of that and the vgt if you choose.

Just can't talk openly about it Lol.

Those 14L tuned right are animals. The early ones pre EGR you could get 575 from the factory