Manual Or Automatic?

In regards to AutoShift Transmissions...

Swift stopped ordering manual transmission equipped trucks starting with model year 2016. As they begin to replace the 2016s, model year 2020 will be their second generation of autoshift transmissions. Most carriers are either in the process or have already totally converted.

Not familiar with the acronym and/or abbreviation “AMT” as it applies to class 7-8 truck transmissions.

These transmissions have an electronically controlled clutch that is air actuated. Not the same as an automatic transmission found in lighter vehicles.

Manuals are a dying breed sniff sniff.

Prime lease purchase ops can order one for a substantial fee but my friend was discouraged and told "the resale value will be terrible. why would you waste your money".

i have not seen any significant benefits to the autos. My mpg in my cascadia manuals were 9.2 loaded, and up to 13 mpg empty. my possessed auto maxed at 8.3 mpg empty. this brand new one is 7.75 loaded and 8.2 empty. My fuel bonus in the manual reached $250 a week on several occassions!!! But im not getting that fuel mileage now so the bonus is nothing near that...maybe $50 a week. that is a huge difference to be going down like that.

in addition, my clutch and clutch actuary were replaced twice in the last truck and needed software updates every month. of course it could just have been a lemon of a truck and those were the dealer's excuses. that truck was in a bad wreck before i got it, and i was the guinea pig in deciding to keep it on the fleet or not.

Both of my autos take hills much better than i expected. and the jake is much stronger in this new one. i can downshift and it holds the gear, unlike the complaints i heard from others in the past, but im guessing they dont understand the speed/rpm correlation to hold the jakes. This 2020 backs soooo much better than the 2017. I had no control whatsoever and was terrified backing. it would buck and slam then roll forward. this does none of that.

overall... its taken me a few days to get used to this new truck. i hate change. Im liking this truck way more than the last one.

What i despise now is the build up of trans air pressure. i cant just turn it on and go. if i start and stop a few times at a customer it loses trans air and i have to wait to be able to shift it.

i got stuck in both the wash bay and a customer gate cause i didnt understand this.

so yes even experienced drivers look like rookies and get fingers pointed at them. lol i chopped off a couple fingers and made a stew.

heh heh huh my pretty.... what lovely fingers they had.

yeah im in a weird mood. sorry

"AMT" is automated manual trans.

that is how many trucking publications refer to them

Yeah, I think the AutoShift and the AMT are two terms for the same thing.

Never heard it before...

Never heard it before...

I never did either, and to be honest it would be better if you would use the word "automatic" or "auto shift" so people can find these conversations in searches.

Never heard it before...

I never did either, and to be honest it would be better if you would use the word "automatic" or "auto shift" so people can find these conversations in searches.

No problem, that's the term they use at Schneider. It just became automatic for me.

I currently deliver new tractors right from the factory (Volvo, International, and Mack). All the new ones except for three were Auto-shift. The manuals were all Eaton Fuller 13 speed.

Dynamic transit is all manual. They are a smaller carrier with only about 250 trucks.

My automatic is ok but I would drop it for a manual in heartbeat if they offered me one at Swift.

I was a tad freaked out the one time the shop said they had to do tranny work on my truck and then never got up from a computer.