On The Mechanical Side
Topic 22575 | Page 1
AUTOMATIC? Manual? Your takes on these transmissions? Paccar? Cummins? Other??? Which do u prefer? Pros /cons?
My opinion Manual pref. 13 speed Cummins... JUST MY OPINION
An interesting choice for a newbie. Any particular reason why? Just curious...
Most of the carriers offering Paid CDL Training Programs will teach in either an 8 or 10 speed manual. For those companies that have phased out manuals you'll be in a 12sp auto-shift. Fuller/Eaton manufacture the majority of transmissions in contemporary class 7-8 trucks.
Most of the larger TL carriers are transitioning to 100% auto. In 2-3 years most of the manual transmission trucks will be relegated to spares or training trucks.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
My preference...my perfect truck would have the following...aside from the other items neede to be legal
1. Tires 2. Transmission 3. Engine
Assuming all else was present...it’ll work for me.
Right now I’m in an International 2017, with 193k miles, has a 10 speed Eaton and an engine...lol. It gets me to where I need to go just fine.
See...for a lot of us this is a second or even third career. Most of us sat behind desk for a great deal of our lives. I know NOTHING about the engines.
Reminds me of when I drove a Prostar with the Maxxforce engine...everyone called it a POS...except me. I called it a truck with tires and an engine and a transmission.
Good luck!!
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
The auto-shift on my 2016 Freightliner Cascadia is great...as long as I'm not trying to merge on to the Interstate , climbing, descending, passing. The shift point to upshift is 1450rpm no matter what the position of the accelerator pedal. From a stop or the scales it skips 5th,7th,9th. Climbing it will bog down at 1050 - 1100rpm before stubbornly downshifting. I find myself driving in manual mode a whole lot of the time. Maybe I'm just a manual man at heart.
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
Being a company driver, I drive what I’m given. I’ve driven a 4 wheeler all my life. Everything about this industry is brand spanking new to me, although I did ace my pretrip test due to much repetition & lots of studying.
If you like, there’s a search bar at the top of this page. Type the right keywords & you’ll discover a treasure trove of threads on this subject and much more.
Like I said in your other thread, you do have what it takes to excel in this industry! Shoot, you know more about these beasts than most the 140 students in my PSD class. I do hope & pray you find a company willing to give you a shot despite your driving record. Nice T-shirt on your avatar pic btw!!
PSD:
Prime Student Driver
Prime Inc has a CDL training program and the first phase is referred to as PSD. You'll get your permit and then 10,000 miles of on the road instruction.
The following is from Prime's website:
Prime’s PSD begins with you obtaining your CDL permit. Then you’ll go on the road with a certified CDL instructor for no less than 75 hours of one-on-one behind the wheel training. After training, you’ll return to Prime’s corporate headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, for final CDL state testing and your CDL license.
Obtain CDL Permit / 4 Days
- Enter program, study and test for Missouri CDL permit.
- Start driving/training at Prime Training Center in Springfield, Missouri.
- Work toward 40,000 training dispatched miles (minimum) with food allowance while without CDL (Food allowance is paid back with future earnings).
On-the-Road Instruction / 10,000 Miles
- Train with experienced certified CDL instructor for 3-4 weeks in a real world environment.
- Get 75 hours of behind-the-wheel time with one-on-one student/instructor ratio.
- Earn 10,000 miles toward total 40,000 miles needed.
In my CDL school we drove 10 speed Eaton Fuller transmissions. I’m not sure if I should try to get a manual or an automatic after my training period is over. I will be attending orientation in the beginning of June.
Any advice ?
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Autoshift trucks come in a variety of gear options. I'm with CFI and our Autoshift are 10 speed. I have a friend who just bought a truck and it has a 13 speed Autoshift. In school we trained on a 10 speed manual. That is all my manual experience in a truck. I am happy with my 10 speed Autoshift.
Manual because i like to control the beast in a mechanical way. Im a mechanic and my understanding of a manual transmission is being in the know... when ur driving knowing when to shift .. not have it shift for u. Especially when ur at am upgrade or down grade. So basically to physically BE and tell the motor and trans what i want it to do.. not what it thinks it should do. Just my opinion tho . As far as 13 speed... well honestly i just dont think everyone uses all 18 speeds maybe some but eh. Maybe they do.. Lol my dream truck is a 13 speed kenworth w900 so one day...maybe one day ill buy one..
AUTOMATIC? Manual? Your takes on these transmissions? Paccar? Cummins? Other??? Which do u prefer? Pros /cons?
My opinion Manual pref. 13 speed Cummins... JUST MY OPINION
An interesting choice for a newbie. Any particular reason why? Just curious...
Most of the carriers offering Paid CDL Training Programs will teach in either an 8 or 10 speed manual. For those companies that have phased out manuals you'll be in a 12sp auto-shift. Fuller/Eaton manufacture the majority of transmissions in contemporary class 7-8 trucks.
Most of the larger TL carriers are transitioning to 100% auto. In 2-3 years most of the manual transmission trucks will be relegated to spares or training trucks.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Manual because i like to control the beast in a mechanical way. Im a mechanic and my understanding of a manual transmission is being in the know...
I've been a mechanic myself (Harleys, not big rigs) so I get that, but here's a great article that we just released today:
Do Real Truckers Drive Automatic Transmissions?
I drove standards for almost 10 years before getting on with a company that had automatics, which I drove for 6 years. In the end, standards offer no real advantages and turn out to be nothing more than a huge pain in the ass. There is no real advantage to it. Most of the time it's just a lot of extra work for nothing.
Keep in mind that you do have a manual override option with automatics (or properly auto-shifts) so you can select gears manually if the need arises. But the auto-shifts they have nowadays do an awesome job. Reliability of auto-shifts was the biggest concern back in the day but they seem to be pretty solid now.
Manual because i like to control the beast in a mechanical way.
Once you learn how to effectively operate the autoshift transmission, it's nuances etc., you'll have no less control than with a manual. Worst case most trucks equipped with the auto are programmed to allow the driver to override auto mode and use the stalk to upshift and downshift. I use this feature when driving in snow.
I've driven with both manual and auto; having a slight preference with the auto due to the amount of urban driving I do.
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AUTOMATIC? Manual? Your takes on these transmissions? Paccar? Cummins? Other??? Which do u prefer? Pros /cons?
My opinion Manual pref. 13 speed Cummins... JUST MY OPINION