Road test with different transmission than im used to

18 are very common and popular in the western US where there are ALOT of tank or hopper A-Trains and bull haulers.

18 speeds are the easiest trannies to shift in my opinion... And if you happen to miss a gear, there are usually 2 gears that you could grab, for any given speed, without damaging anything.

 

So I drove a GMC General at a previous company... It was a 15 speed... Boss called it a "Box" pattern...

So using a 10 speed as a reference...

10 SPEED Lo Range pattern:

R1 - 1 - 3
NEUTRAL
LO - 2 - 4

10 SPEED Hi Range pattern:

R2 - 6 - 8
NEUTRAL
5 - 7 - 9

This "Box" pattern shifted in a different order... See below.

The Lo Range "Box" pattern:

R1 - 1 - 4
NEUTRAL
LO1 - 2 - 3

Hi Range "Box" pattern:

R2 - 5 - 8
NEUTRAL
LO2 - 6 - 7

There was also the deep reduction gears as well... But the above should give you the idea of the pattern.

Anyway have you ever driven a truck with this pattern and what is that pattern actually called and any ideas of what transmission it may have been????

 

Anyone remember the old corny IH 15 speed? "Lo, direct, OD on the shift knob?

 

Yes the box trans is a 15 sp over. The last 2 gears are reversed to gain higher speeds. But you need hp too. Twin sticks are typical of reversed shift positions. Both in the main box and brownie. I hope that answers your question @ Cattleman84.

 

Doesn't sound right semi. There was a 13 sp with the gear selector on the the head. Under,direct & over. 15 sp is deep reduction, low and high range and it is like a 10 sp with a thumb button for DR lol. That's my experience.

 

My 1980 W9 has the OD against the dash. RTO15615

 

Right as it should be.

 

Well its actually an RTX15615 that was converted over to an RTO. Found that out when the RTX shift forks I ordered weren't even close to what came out.

 

Nah, this was an old Transtar or it might have been an old 4000 CO. A 5 speed and lo-dir-hi( not OD, sorry) on the knob. It was 1st, ldh, 2nd, ldh,, and so on. Like a set of sticks, only the aux. was air shifted. You could tell right away if someone thought it was a 13. The other setup that didn't make a lick of sense to me, was an air 4x4, or the Mack air "over and under" 10 speed. Years ago, with small motors ( or Detroits) you needed all those gears to keep the "needle against the pin", but with todays motors, I feel those 13, 15, 18, 27 speeds ( I made that last one up) are unnecessary. Gimme the old tried and true 10 speed RoadRanger any day.

 

Driven a few conversion trans. This old COE freightliner had a 9 sp DOD. How? Reversed shift pattern for the OD and a air switch on the dash for the DOD.