Standard Transmission swap to Automated Transmission

This is my first post on this forum. I am an Army veteran with a right leg above the knee amputee.
I drove manual transmission trucks for years before losing my leg mostly Peterbilt 379’s 18 speeds. It kills me not being able to drive manual transmissions anymore due to my amputation. I grew up around a bunch of old school truckers that were mostly die hard Peterbilt truckers. With all that being said I’m not looking for any sympathy. It is what it is. I may not be able to drive standards anymore but I still want to drive the model trucks I grew up riding in and learning how to drive. How hard and how expensive is it to swap a Peterbilt 379 longnose from a standard to an automated transmission? Spare me any negative or BS comments please. I’m looking for help and guidance on this journey I’ve decided to embark on. Any price points or shops that I could contact to do the work would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time and help.

 

My plan is to get a glider so I can pick which motor would work with what’s best for my situation. The motors that I would really like to be able to run are listed below.
Caterpillar 3406E, C15
Detroit Diesel Series 60, DD15
I have a prosthetic leg a very high end one. The only issue with being an above the knee amputee is you have no knee or ankle to be able to really use any kind of pedal safely. So I am limited to my two arms and my left leg. I am looking into possibly getting some push pull hand controls for the gas/brake and using my left leg for the clutch. I’m not sure yet if the FMCSA will allow that kind of set up. If they do I will just run a standard transmission. Just in case they don’t allow such a set up I’m trying to figure out my options ahead of time. I’m trying to go otr, regional, and local whatever pays the best. I’m not familiar with an air assist or air actuated clutch how does that work? As far as the older automatics that require a clutch that is also a possible option as well as the modern 2 pedal automated set up. I’m really just trying to figure out which options I have as far as transmissions go with the above stated engines. Thanks for taking the time to try and give me some info and guidance with this.

 

I’m not really interested in getting the newer style trucks. I definitely am looking for an old school mechanical truck. I will have to do some research on the Allison 5 speed transmissions. That sounds very interesting.

 

I’m looking into possibly being able to run hand controls for my throttle and brake. Not sure if that’s an option or not yet. It’s very hard to find any info on amputee truckers and there setups.

 

I have a SPE certificate. At the time I did there evaluation I just used an automatic truck. So I have an SPE certificate with a manual restriction on it until I test again with a standard transmission truck which I do not have access to one to be able to install hand controls and see if they will accept that sort of set up. I’m in the process of trying to figure out what my options are with the FMCSA as well as the SPE evaluation with a standard truck.