Automatic trucks

[Missouri Mule]

How gutless are the older era dt466 trucks, just say a s1700 with automatics? Are that vintage transmissions decent? Looking for an inexpensive single axle grain truck anyone can drive. Speed isnt important as being able to make it up hills

[td9inidaho]

I have two almost identical L8000, Brazilian 6 cyl motors, not IH, or 466.  For what it's worth, 1 is a 5-2, the other automatic.  Auto might be a hair faster off the start, but once hitting highway speed, I dislike the last shift, I find it too early, seems to me it bogs the motor, maybe I'm wrong, my opinion. It is nice though that anyone can drive it. I prefer shifting 

Mark 

[Lazy WP]

1 minute ago, td9inidaho said:

is nice though that anyone can drive it.

That is the reason I HATE automatics. If you can’t drive a manual transmission, you probably don’t understand that you need more stopping distance or that you are slower, bigger than your average Mini Cooper!! 

[SONNY]

I quit driving semis when the company went to all automatics! GUTLESS POS ever made! You have NO control when your brakes go out going down a hill either so keep that in mind when you put a loved one in one !

 

[mader656]

3 minutes ago, Lazy WP said:

That is the reason I HATE automatics. If you can’t drive a manual transmission, you probably don’t understand that you need more stopping distance or that you are slower, bigger than your average Mini Cooper!! 

I love the auto plow trucks... one less thing to have to do when your already distracted enough. My guess is it's 10% faster than the autos and no missed shifts.

[Drysleeves]

Just now, mader656 said:

I love the auto plow trucks... one less thing to have to do when your already distracted enough. My guess is it's 10% faster than the autos and no missed shifts.

That's a good application for a heavy truck. Plow can be used to halt proceedings when something breaks unlike in a semi.

[TroyDairy]

We have 2 silage trucks.  Fl80 Cat Allison

T800 M11 9sp

T800 alot nicer unit.  Fliner so handy.  Sip your coffee and let it go.  250hp iirc.  Gets up and goes pretty quick really.  Always feels to be in right gear to me.  Use the trans to brake a little but we keep things steady and kinda slow.  Not using it on actual hills.  Both have place.  You really need to drive that combo.  Buddy has a c500 400bc with ally and prefer it vs the 377 425bc 18sp for spreading manure and silage duty. 

 I think a 466 allison will feel slow but be fine.  Rear gears are big thing.  

Fwiw...locally the readymix/gravel co went to all allison trucks 5 6 years ago.  Every driver i have chatted with loves them.  The guy I know quite well says it is very nice to have the automatic shift for you because people on the road are so stupid versus 10-15 years ago that he needs every ounce of energy to pay attention to the morons so it's nice to have one less thing to think about🤷🏼‍♂️

There is alot of science saying running a auto youbhave alot less fatigue at end of day

[Chester5732]

I have driven an auto enough to conclude that whoever thought it was a good idea to put an automatic in a semi should be castrated.  If ya can’t drive a manual, stay out. Just like a trailer, if ya can’t make it go backwards you have no business making it go forward. 

[stronger800]

Had to drag a loaded semi through 2” of mud once for about 500’.  It was an auto.
My tractor was chewing and sinking and working much harder than I thought it should be. My buddy was there helping, he pointed out that the truck “driver” wasn’t even spinning his wheels. Truck was an auto and obviously he could feel it didn’t have the feel for what he should have been doing.  I was pissed. 

[jass1660]

33 minutes ago, Chester5732 said:

I have driven an auto enough to conclude that whoever thought it was a good idea to put an automatic in a semi should be castrated.  If ya can’t drive a manual, stay out. Just like a trailer, if ya can’t make it go backwards you have no business making it go forward. 

Then you haven’t driven one too much. Allison is the only automatic available the rest are just a manual transmission with computer controlling the shifts. We probably don’t need ta’s, powershifts, power steering, or power brakes on tractors along with cabs and air conditioning….

[Chester5732]

Just now, jass1660 said:

Then you haven’t driven one too much. Allison is the only automatic available the rest are just a manual transmission with computer controlling the shifts. We probably don’t need ta’s, powershifts, power steering, or power brakes on tractors along with cabs and air conditioning….

I have driven both more miles than I care to remember. From a single axle hauling fuel to a semi hauling milk.  Give me a manual any day. 

[jass1660]

3 minutes ago, Chester5732 said:

I have driven both more miles than I care to remember. From a single axle hauling fuel to a semi hauling milk.  Give me a manual any day. 

I did my first 2.5 million on manuals, the next 1 million I’ve done on automated manuals I will take one any day over a manual.

[ThirdGenRed]

I don't know about an auto in a grain truck of that era, always ran manuals, but our school's late 80's S1900 DT466 66 passenger school buses were not doggy. Fully loaded with about 10,000 lbs of HS football players and equipment, they seemed okay. I can't remember if they were four or five speeds, but they always seemed to be in the right gear. One snowy morning while in high school, the bus had dropped off all the elementary and junior high kids so all that was left was us high school kids in the very back of the bus. Without saying anything, our bus driver pulled into our snow covered high school parking lot, whipped the wheel, and floored it, round and round we went, you get to moving pretty good at the back of the bus. What a blast, I remember hearing the bus shift up a gear, so the auto worked fine then. He pulled up to the front of the school and as we got off he said, "Don't tell anybody." We told him, "We don't know anything.", as we left the bus laughing.

 

[Shell1066]

I won't drive a auto except in a plow truck and that's only because my old manual truck rusted out and wasn't road worthy.  In the city streets and culdasac's it's very nice.  This is also why I haven't upgraded  my pickup. I WANT GEARS!! Not some stupid computer between me and the gear I want to stay in going down the mountain. This isn't a slam to anyone that's a good truck driver ,but you can put any dumb butt in a auto, it takes a man with knowledge and  intuition to drive a stick !!

[F-301066460puller]

The job I do I have to have an auto shift. Daycab+stop and go+clutch+6'5" tall= knee pain. Do I LIKE the auto shifts... no not at all. 

[Lazy WP]

7 minutes ago, jass1660 said:

I did my first 2.5 million on manuals, the next 1 million I’ve done on automated manuals I will take one any day over a manual.

How much weight do you carry on average? I would be very interested to know how the brakes last with an auto shift versus a true manual. 

[Mark (EC,IN)]

I have put a lot of miles on an Allison auto in a single axle.

At first I didn't like it,  but after I got used to it it was fine.

Much of it was in my head at first,   it's a wonder there wasn't a hole in the floorboard where a clutch should be...I hit it every time I stopped for a while.

One thing I will warn you about an auto though is if there is snow on the road and it is slick,  many times you will have to throw it into netural or it will not turn...it will just push the front end straight ahead.

[Takn4aFool]

6 minutes ago, jass1660 said:

I did my first 2.5 million on manuals, the next 1 million I’ve done on automated manuals I will take one any day over a manual.

same here , drove almost 2 million miles split about 50/50 between manual and automatic. the biggest problem with a lot of company automatics is the way the company wants the transmission shift points set up and the gearing in the rear end so they achieve better MPG. last truck i drove had a 12 speed auto with 2.23 gears in the read end, was real dog taking of and only ran 1100 rpm at 65 mph

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

How long do these auto transmissions last and how does replacement cost compare to a manual? We put a reman 10 speed in an old Freightliner and I almost thought it was cheap. I have seen a lot of farm trucks with auto-shift hooked to tow trucks because of irritating minor problems. They might exist, but I have never personally seen a good driver who couldn’t drive a manual. I have met plenty who could drive a manual, but preferred an auto. 

[Takn4aFool]

9 minutes ago, Lazy WP said:

How much weight do you carry on average? I would be very interested to know how the brakes last with an auto shift versus a true manual. 

hardly had to use the brakes  going down hills like Fancy Gap in Virginia which is 7% downhill grade for 7 miles weighing 78 to 80,000 , truck was auto with 465hp Cummins X-15 and 3 setting Jake brake, would hold speed to 55- 60 mph. same with Monteagle in TN.

[jass1660]

19 minutes ago, Lazy WP said:

How much weight do you carry on average? I would be very interested to know how the brakes last with an auto shift versus a true manual. 

We get into the mid 70,000’s occasionally, the triples guys get close to 80. Disc brakes on the truck and majority of the trailers and dolly’s have disc brakes now too. 3 position engine brakes. They changed my pads out at 800,000 miles didn’t see them but that’s company policy to change. I tap the brake, shuts cruise off engine brake comes on and downshifts to where it needs to be. The I shift and Mdrive along with the Detroit trans are light years ahead of the junk Eatons.

[M35A2]

My previous employer went to all automatic delivery trucks, (and most semi tractors well over 20 years ago).  Several reasons, they went to leased trucks at 5 year lease, then moved truck out of the fleet, or to lower use facilities.  The bean counters crunched the numbers and found the cost of that automatics were cheaper than the maintenance on clutches.  Considering each driver learns to shift their truck , and when you shuffle trucks in the fleet regularly, the next drivers might shift a tad differently (2105 rpm, next driver 2123, third driver 2187 rpm)  plus lots of inter-city stop and go, etc..  Our experienced drivers who came from the manual days liked the conversion to autos,  and now the fleet management company will only spec out automatics to nearly all of their customers.  When I went to drive for them, it was a tough transition for me as I was in the first gen of going automatic.  The truck I had was a frieghtshaker with a non-turbo mercedes engine and simple allison auto.  Doggy and gutless.  By the time they came into paddle shift, and the other powershift style tranny's, I was in management.  One of my drivers who was OTR before, loved the one that had 6 or 7 speed manual/auto paddle shift.   

Caterpillar had a powershift style they put into the M916  series military tractor trailers.   Couple of people I know who drove them in the military said they worked great and would have loved to seen them in other trucks.   

[Jacka]

I plow interstates with tri axel and tandems.I rather have manual when backing up or down a grade or anytime you don’t want to use the brakes.I found the 6sp Allison's are too fast in that for good control if you have to go slow.You end up using the brakes and loosing steering. They should have a 2sd reverse or something. Manual is fine and the only drawback is plowing ramps and exits when there is a lot of back and forth.Get it up to speed,set it on cruise and go.

 

[jeeper61]

It’s to bad those M916 CAT semi automatics came out a couple of decades before the trend to automatics got popular.
CAT would have sold a bunch.

 

[Matt Kirsch]

My 22 year old Chevy Silverado 3500's Allison 1000 automatic has automatic grade braking in tow/haul mode. Downshifts and locks the torque converter to maintain speed, automatically. I hardly ever have to touch the brakes on downhill grades with the empty truck if I activate tow/haul mode.

You mean to tell me that the automatics in the Class 5-6-7-8 trucks don't have that? I find that hard to believe. Sounds more like a preconceived notion based on someone's experience with a Powerglide back in the 1950's.

One thing on the medium-duty trucks with the 466's and automatics is, you have to drive them like they have Screamin' Jimmys. Slam your shifting hand in the door so you're pi$$ed AND you're not tempted to use it. Then use the skinny pedal like an on-off switch. Flat to the floor or completely off it. That's how they tell you to drive the school buses when they're training you for your CDL.