What's with all these training schools training with auto transmissions?

The driver probably didn't know how to drive in the mts., grades %, how to use the jake, correct gear going up or down. I remember the time when i went down Mount Eagle in a 5 sp mack, no jake, smoked all the tires half way down, & i was in 3rd gear. Drove a 10 sp from Ia to salt lake city through the mts with out any problems.

 

The school I am going to gives you minimum time (5hrs) in a truck with Auto trans, you take the CDL road test in that truck, and then get 35 +/- hours training in larger trucks with 7,9, and 10 speed manual trans. I think this approach works well for the majority of the students who go through the program. Some people may require additional time with the Auto trans before they are able to pass their road test...

 

I learned on a Super 10. I have driven automatics and straight 10 speeds. Automatics are nice but once I learned a straight 10 speed, it was so easy to go through the gears. Does not really matter to me. I can drive either.

 

one of the construction outfits i worked for had auto's in their trucks and no jake's. scared the crap out of me the first time i dropped off of black mountian in one.took some getting use to

 

wait a minute...."some people may require ADDITIONAL TIME with the automatic BEFORE they ARE ABLE to PASS thier road TEST".....?????

how freaking HARD is it to fail a road test on an automatic then...???

christ sakes almighty.....they got NO UP shifting OR DOWN shifting to worry about.....!!!!

seems to me, "some people" in YOUR SCHOOL ought to be going to BALLET school instead......for crying out loud........

 

The continual dumbing down of the industry. Automated transmissions (they aren't automatic unless they have a torque convertor) are loved by the big fleets because it keeps the dumb and unqualified newer drivers captive. They can't go to a fleet with manuals transmissions because they can't operate them.

Pretty limiting or restricting isn't it!

 

A company I worked for about 3 years ago had a 2004 CH Model mack with an autoshift/460 and it was a gigantic piece of crap. It only had about 250,000 miles on it and ran locally 80% of the time but it was constantly broke down. It had a lot of problems on down shifts, would lock into a gear and wouldn't come out until you got stopped and shut the truck off. Heard they had the tranny rebuilt on it last year so maybe it's doing alright now but the driver hated it.

 

That there is FUNNY!
I agree with you 100% Rerun. Some people are NOT cut out to be drivers.

 

I also agree with Rerun, we didn't have auto's in the school that i went to. I herd pro & con about them.

 

well, based on the idjit with 23 yrs OTR exp. who road test with my company this morning it's very easy to fail a road test. guy is 54 yrs old, claimed 23 yrs OTR (last 10 were with Arrow) and 30 total yrs driving, he was living in Tx. and moved here to Colo. to be with his family and been driving for a temp. driving company. Boss road tested him first in one of the 9 spd Freightshaker sleepers and he stalled it 4 times before they were out the gate. After 4 or 5 miles he was sort of okay. Then roadtested him in one of the autoshift day cabs that he would normally drive, couldn't get the hang of it, stalled it multiple times before out the gate as well, and several times taking off from a traffic light. He won't be hired.

Well, you answered your own problem. The '04/'05 CH/CX models have numerous problems especially with the engine/tranny combo your referring to. It's related to problems with the computer and the emissions programs. We had two '04 CX models with that same setup, company dumped them in the Mack dealers lot after 16 mos. because they were junk. Constant communication errors, EGR issues, engine computer/trans issues. It's a known issue, Mack and Volvo had the worst of it, supposedly it was fixed by '06 model year. My '09 has zero issues in this area, 212K on it as of today, it's been in the shop once for trans issues and that was Monday night when the 2-piece clutch brake seperated and dropped out. First trans. problem I've had with it in 2 yrs, they put a new clutch brake in Monday night, drove it today and it ran like brand new.