Automatics in Class 8 Trucks

[Bullheaded]

I posted this as a reply in another thread, but what's everyone else's take on this?

 

[This is kinda related so I'll say it.......a friend and I had a conversation the other day and we both said we think one of the biggest problems on our highways today is the invention of the automatic transmission in class 8 trucks. They shouldn't even be allowed.

 

Think about it.......back in the day, you had to have at least a sliver of talent or skill to drive a big rig. If you couldn't shift, then everybody knew, maybe this isn't your thing, or at least you MADE yourself a driver.

The ability to upshift and downshift was the first indication of whether you were ever going to catch on or not.

 

Now, hire any new comer to the country that can drive a Toyota Prius, has a pulse and can sit upright in a seat and throw 80,000 plus pounds on and away you go! You're a trucker now! Until it all goes terribly wrong when you realize that big rig doesn't stop or handle like your Toyota.]

 

The last time I drove home from the mine here, I was going to play a game. I started counting every HOLE through a missing section of guard rail where every new Canadian crashed his transport just this winter alone. In just this this under 200 mile stretch of the Tans Canada Hwy 17. 

I had to stop counting in the first 60 miles because I was getting annoyed trying to remember that big of a number. That company that installs the guard rails up here is going to be rich this summer!!

And I am not meaning to be racist here when I say new Canadian. But just search our local news outlets like Sootoday.com and read the names and look at the pics. Or watch the towing shows on Discovery channel. The proof is all right there. I'm not centering anyone out, just repeating know facts.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Bullheaded

[Bullheaded]

Oh no! I said it! The Canadian government is going to come and jail me now. LOL

[tjc transport]

it has more to do with cant find people with brains that want to drive anymore, so you have to hire what is available. 

i have been looking for drivers for over two years now. 

the only thing out there is wanting $40 per hour to start, auto trans, and work 5 hours but get paid for 8. 

another thing about automatic trans. they are the only think keeping the older drivers in the trucks. ya cant drive if ya cant step on the clutch.

i told the boss in 2019 i was done . i could no longer step the clutch down....even AFTER having left knee total replacement. 

he bought me an automatic truck.  after driving mine, he sold the other truck and replaced that with an auto trans too. 

[Mark T]

46 minutes ago, tjc transport said:

it has more to do with cant find people with brains that want to drive anymore, so you have to hire what is available. 

i have been looking for drivers for over two years now. 

the only thing out there is wanting $40 per hour to start, auto trans, and work 5 hours but get paid for 8. 

another thing about automatic trans. they are the only think keeping the older drivers in the trucks. ya cant drive if ya cant step on the clutch.

i told the boss in 2019 i was done . i could no longer step the clutch down....even AFTER having left knee total replacement. 

he bought me an automatic truck.  after driving mine, he sold the other truck and replaced that with an auto trans too. 

I agree with you, not the automatic or automated transmission's fault . It's the generation of consensus and no responsibility . The attitude that "you can't tell me"  this has been coming a long time.  I too would rather a manual transmission ( 6 and a 4 if you could still get them)  at the same time I was happy some of my older friends were able to work longer because trucks became easier to drive.  

[tjc transport]

for over the road/long haul work a manual trans is fine. preferably an 18 speed. the 8 is ok, but it is severely lacking that "half gear" when in hills

but since i do local paving work, the clutch while milling will have my knee the size of a football after 4 hours. 

[mechohaulic]

why was it everyone back then spoke so positive of the "golden years". can't prove it by me now that I'm there. never had much dealing with auto transmissions (can't say trans anymore ) in class 8 units. thinking back to the paving days  with clutches ;  manual transmissions may be out. knees go to double size with just excessive walking/ yard work now. 

[MACKS]

One thing is certain,in dump trucking these new big hp automatic trucks will run rings around any so called old school trucks,hell you can’t even keep up with one if your in a car..lol

[tjc transport]

18 minutes ago, MACKS said:

One thing is certain,in dump trucking these new big hp automatic trucks will run rings around any so called old school trucks,hell you can’t even keep up with one if your in a car..lol

yea buddy!!!

we have a quarry i deal with occasionally about 35 miles south of me.

leaving the quarry to the main north/ south highway. if you go straight across rt1, there is a right turn 300 yards past the light that accesses the local high school. 

people regularly get left lane than fly across intersection and make a right for the school. ther ehave been many accidents there over the past 20 years. 

with the advent of big engine automatic transmissions, we now hang the cars out in the left lane  pissing off all the people behind them because they actually stop in the left lane to wait for all the trucks to pass for an open lane. to make their right turn from the left lane. 

the cops have taken to sitting on the side road and issuing tickets for obstructing traffic and illegal turns to the idiots. 

they do not realize with a 550-600 hp and allison transmission, you can go from 0 to 35 mph in the 120 foot to cross the highway. 

with 4.56 gears my Kenworth T880 is faster than most cars....loaded  at 80,000 lbs.

[mowerman]

Yes, I have also thought of that that’s why we’re stuck with so many dummies out there now to boot they’re all doing 80 miles an hour in my area so now you’ve got complete idiots speeding by every body in the with 40+ tons yeah that makes you feel secure  DOT has become just as stupid … Bob

[Bullheaded]

Valid points for those that have bad knees and health issues.

And yes, there is something absolutely wrong with society now. Ever since I called it quits trucking, I went to work in a mine. We make very good money and it BLOWS MY MIND how many still don't care, have no common sense, no brains and are so lazy. 

I grew up a worker and it KILLS me to see all this stupidity.

 

Also agree on another comment. I once came to a stop light at the bottom of a big hill that once through the intersection merged back into a single lane from a double.

I was beside a Mack Pinnacle/M-Drive pulling a live bottom trailer. I didn't want to get stuck behind it on the hill and thought this will be easy pickings with my 550 Cat.

Well I was shifting like I was in El Rodeo Du Camion race and it left me, LOL Automatics are fast. And again, another problem for newbies with inadequate training.

[tjc transport]

all my trucks shut off at 64 mph. 

can they do 85? hell yea, one we sold last year had the speed limiter removed and has clocked at 85....and he still had more to go. 

the company truck foreman that now owns #8 asked me why i don't max out the speed, and i told then these trucks only have 45 mph brakes when loaded.. why would i want to go any faster than that? 

luckily the owner and his #2 (the construction super) both like me and tell everyone to leave me alone. 

all their project supers like me too except for one. he is always saying i am goofing off because i do at least one load less than everyone else. but i do not go over 50 mph loaded.

so i just do not go on his jobs when i rent out to them.

[Joey Mack]

I have no experience in working a truck with an auto tranny..  But I have transported many of them and test drove many of them..  I will admit when I am in a MackVo with the M-Drive,  I'm kicked back in the seat with all the comfy's turned on and I'm just ridin'...  the problem is... I find myself driving very fast..  Not Good!!..  It's funny,,, I worked to learn how to drive a truck (Manual Tranny), using the gears to go/ pull/ slow down/ etc: Then I get in an Auto truck, and I have to teach myself how to drive this one..  Anyway,,  I'm not a fan, but I am also a lost cause..  I bet the big stick in the middle of the cab floor looks funny to, todays new driver's...    jojo 

[Mark T]

10 minutes ago, Joey Mack said:

I have no experience in working a truck with an auto tranny..  But I have transported many of them and test drove many of them..  I will admit when I am in a MackVo with the M-Drive,  I'm kicked back in the seat with all the comfy's turned on and I'm just ridin'...  the problem is... I find myself driving very fast..  Not Good!!..  It's funny,,, I worked to learn how to drive a truck (Manual Tranny), using the gears to go/ pull/ slow down/ etc: Then I get in an Auto truck, and I have to teach myself how to drive this one..  Anyway,,  I'm not a fan, but I am also a lost cause..  I bet the big stick in the middle of the cab floor looks funny to, todays new driver's...    jojo 

Jo jo...... they call one with that stick a "shifter truck"  and I've heard some interesting conversations about how the guy went home cause they wanted to put him in a shifter truck.   I could tell you a really funny story about my Peterbilt at the dealer and the test drive debacle. 

[Joey Mack]

I bet I already know the story... ( What the hell is this thing,, I cant drive this....   )       (What is the pedal on the left for, is that the parking brake?) ( Where's the start button?)..   

[Mark T]

19 minutes ago, Joey Mack said:

I bet I already know the story... ( What the hell is this thing,, I cant drive this....   )       (What is the pedal on the left for, is that the parking brake?) ( Where's the start button?)..   

Two of them. One didn't know what it was cause it had an acrylic knob and and old 3546.  Then the other on figured the range valve was in the dash. (selector for the two speed rears)  It was there for a shifting issue, guy said that was the problem, should never be that way, or even made with that set up in the first place .  !!!! nothing at all to do with the engine brake staying on !!!!   then he drove it again.... it was going in gear with the same enthusiasm as an 18 year old's pecker in a willing girlfriend. Looks at me and says " I don't see anything wrong "      Then I was the @$$ hole for not let'n him drive it back.   Need less to say, I ended up at another dealer 🤣

[Mark T]

They didn't know what this was on a ten speed.

[Joey Mack]

That looks like a 70's shifter in a newer Plastic truck..  He didnt know that was the range sift knob?  Christ, when I was a baby, my first mack '78 R model had a 9 spd. with that same knob..  the knob doesnt care what it does,,, it just does what it needs to do..  

[tjc transport]

i am sure i told the story here a few dozen or thousand times, but when i went for my road test at 17 i took a 49 international L-190 single axle tractor.. 

BIG 406 CID "Red Diamond" gas engine and a quad box.

inspector would not take me for the road test because he could not drive a truck with "three shifters"    

i bitched to the station manager. he asked what did you bring down. i pointed out the window. he said you drove that here 45 miles? when i said yup, he stamped my permit passed. 

and i did not even have a licensed driver with me. 

the "third shift stick" was the parking brake. but i did not tell the dipstick inspector that.

[Joey Mack]

I would love to be a fly on the wall watching today's driver,,,  drive one with a 12 spd Mack tranny (1070B)  or even an Eaton super 10 Top-2...  I bet they would be pissed that the cell phone hand has to move a lever and flip a switch up+down... So many times..  

[Bullheaded]

5 hours ago, tjc transport said:

all my trucks shut off at 64 mph. 

can they do 85? hell yea, one we sold last year had the speed limiter removed and has clocked at 85....and he still had more to go. 

the company truck foreman that now owns #8 asked me why i don't max out the speed, and i told then these trucks only have 45 mph brakes when loaded.. why would i want to go any faster than that? 

luckily the owner and his #2 (the construction super) both like me and tell everyone to leave me alone. 

all their project supers like me too except for one. he is always saying i am goofing off because i do at least one load less than everyone else. but i do not go over 50 mph loaded.

so i just do not go on his jobs when i rent out to them.

I know all about working with contractors like that with my dump truck. Which is why I am laughing about that post I put up of the big ore truck flipping and all their other mishaps in the mine here. I hired out to that contractor when I had my dump truck and they are a bunch of dicks.

Got some real good employees and foremen on the job sites.......but the upper office staff think everyone is a dime a dozen and you aren't worth a crap. So I am enjoying watching all their fails.

[Bullheaded]

36 minutes ago, Joey Mack said:

I would love to be a fly on the wall watching today's driver,,,  drive one with a 12 spd Mack tranny (1070B)  or even an Eaton super 10 Top-2...  I bet they would be pissed that the cell phone hand has to move a lever and flip a switch up+down... So many times..  

I miss the Mack 12 speed. Used to drive an MH Ultraliner with an E9500/12 speed pulling a 5 axle Raglan Hydra-glide dump trailer and a three axle belly dump. 

That was a fun truck to drive.

[BOBWhite]

All I can say it brand new manual transmissions are 3-7 thousand while automatics are 20+. You can change out a manual transmission and clutch without having to do anything with computers or reprograming anything. 

Although old 70-80s ZF and Allison heavy duty automatic's are kinda fun to drive, not too kind on fuel though. 

[mowerman]

Triplex in my DM same setup I went to DMV with in 1975 I guess they would call this a pass up shifter truck lol

[Mark T]

1 hour ago, Joey Mack said:

That looks like a 70's shifter in a newer Plastic truck..  He didnt know that was the range sift knob?  Christ, when I was a baby, my first mack '78 R model had a 9 spd. with that same knob..  the knob doesnt care what it does,,, it just does what it needs to do..  

Yep. One didn't know, the other one noticed the switch for the rears and assumed it was for the transmission.

[Mark T]

It's over. At this point you couldn't hardly find a guy that can drive a truck with a manual transmission like an 18 speed in something with power who could drive something old with a Big Cam and an old 13 speed and keep it moving.