Trainer says don't pay attention to 18 speed shift pattern #'s

Yep. Just like @LameMule stated. I good sounding exhaust tone or note tells you when its time. No need for a tach half the time.

 

Every year I find myself further into the "Pull the warning labels and let Darwin do his thing" camp.

 

Yessir but its getting harder when they put warning labels on how to open the box to get to the thing that has the label on it!

 

Me too. Gets down to around 1450 and either spit it or move the stick. I go by sound too @SmallPackage . 1450 is the lowest I'll take it on a pull. 1350 sounds a lot different than 1450. Down below 14 it starts sounding like it doesn't like it

 

I have always used high and lo to refer to range, direct and over to refer to splits. Last few years I guess cause of a younger crowd being more common I just use the numbered sequence calling low 1st. The one exception to that is a 15. I refuse to refer to 9th and 10th as 14 and 15. Everyone has their limits I reckon.


I agree one of the best parts of this truckin deal is hearing a set of straights pull off low slow and smooth as butter. The old 15 speeds made one all together different if shifted right. They aren’t repetitive like a 13 and 18. They also are nothing like a 10 speed other than shift pattern just to clear that up lol. Whole different ratio set. What will still stop me dead in my tracks to listen till it’s gone is a set of boxes with a competent operator. Those guys that can make each shift smooth are in a different class in my opinion.

 

Are those "Direct" and "Dash"?

It was easy to be smooth with the old Cats (Bulldogs, too) with the governor-style throttles. Once your foot learned rpm instead of fuel, you could just snick up through the gears like butter. That was still an option with the electronic motors, at least the early ones. Don't know if that continued into the later models, haven't seen anything but Detroit parameters in 15 years.

 

Exactly, I always thought that it should've been called a 16LL, since it seems to be laid out like a 8LL with the splitter added.