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Opinions on auto shift in semi
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JD 9400
Posted 12/11/2018 09:26 (#7163808 - in reply to #7163713)
Subject: RE: Opinions on auto shift in semi


Southern Pa.
Steve - 12/11/2018 09:42

JD 9400 - 12/11/2018 00:30

wade garrett - 12/10/2018 23:38

I have a mack with the mdrive auto and its sweet. Skips gears when empty. Shift smooth and better than any driver ever could


Want to bet on that?? ( I do have a million plus miles of commercial driving under my belt, for whatever that's worth!) Plus whatever miles I have driving our own trucks.But I'm willing to put my shifting up against any autoshift or ultrashift I've ever driven. I can see where there is a place for them in some operations, but I don't have any need or desire for them at the moment.

But my son and I are the only ones in the seats of our trucks. Makes a difference, no doubt.


Then there must have been something wrong with the autoshifts you have driven because a good one will outshift any human. There are times I don't care for them either but they are smooth shifting overall.


Dunno. Used to drive an ultrashift every day. Most of the time it did ok. But it would always shift unnecessarily back and forth between the two top gears on small interstate grades unless you put it in manual mode. Slowing down, turning a corner it would always drop to the same gear at a given speed. Didn't matter if it was uphill, downhill, level, empty or loaded. Many times to an unnecessarily low gear for the situation. Then it would have to shift back up through all those gears for nothing. Just seemed like unnecessary wear and tear to me. It also was tricky to back into a dock the last foot or two without banging into it.

That was a brand new 2016 Cascadia. Another thing that probably soured me on them is because the first trip out something went wrong, and I had to be towed home. Not exactly a good first impression. Numerous times in the first 100k miles it went back to the dealer to get reprogrammed, trying to take care of it's glitches.

I like the challenge of learning to shift silky smooth, with no grinding of gears. It's part of knowing how to drive a big rig, and in my old fashioned way of thinking, if you can't do that, you aren't much of a driver. Sorry if that's offensive. I don't mean it that way.

When my 19 yr. old son took his CDL test, the examiner commented on his smooth shifting. Maybe it's just in some peoples blood.

So anyway, give me a Cat, a 13/18 speed, and I'm a happy camper.
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