R420:
Unlike our resident A66 Chipboard Champion Expert on the overnight Lockerbie ExpressI don’t claim to be a Driving God and like picking up new tips and tricks along the way
So I have the manual boxes down to a tee now. The problem is the trucks with auto boxes
. As good as auto boxes are, they don’t work well with liquid (Scania auto 3 pedal opticruise), especially not when you’re 3/4 full.
Any tips from the seasoned artic milk tanker drivers here, or is this just how it is with the auto boxes and you rock your way down the roads and just put up with it? I refuse to be defeated!
I’ve also done plenty of milk tankers with auto boxes driving on an Arla contract hauling condensed milk and various creams from Meadow Foods in Holme Moor. Certainly with the Volvos there wasn’t really any issue due to it being an auto. As with anything when you’re doing that kind of work it’s about the general smoothness of your driving, how well you control your right foot. Accelerate smoothly, anticipate what others are likely to do and act accordingly. If you’re planting your left foot to the floor when setting off or accelerating away from a lower speed then you’re going to get a more jerking gear change. When you’re going up a hill slowly feed in more throttle. You’ve figured it out with manual boxes, it’s just learning to achieve the same using the right foot that you were doing with the left on the manual.