Paul John:
neilg14:
Paul John:
Yes the Ultrashift’s are way behind the competition. A while back I was looking after a bunch of 26000lb gvw International rigid flatbeds. All were x Penske rental box vans, the boxes we sold on mostly for storage. All except one we ran had Allison automatic transmissions, the odd one being an Eaton auotmated gearbox. The changes were clunky at best and quite often changed down two gears at a time over revving the engine. Sent that to Atlanta first opportunity I had.Its a pity Eaton got their knickers in a twist and prevented ZF from entering the U.S. market. Iirc there was a time limit to that court order!
I thought once Paccar started manufacturing the MX13 here they would of pushed to mate it with the then Astronic, and now TraXon the latest version of the 12 and 16 speed automated gearboxes.
Don’t hear much negative talk about them from Daf or Iveco, not that I have driven one lately.The only complaint I have with my latest I-Shift is I can not shift up or down manually. Using the engine brake yes, it will drop down but only to decelerate. I miss the opportunity to make it get up and go, and keep the momentum up when necessary.
Probably should read the manual to see if the software will allow it to be operated through the one of the stalks!Paul
That “can not shift up and down manually.” can be sorted with the computer, the company we haul for have 2 Penske rentals, a Cascadia & an International and both of them have the Manual option disabled.
Thanks for the reply Neil.
I thought there probably is a way round it, but can not get our fitter/driver manager to hook the computer up for me. Every time I send it in for service I’m told he pulls up the history to see if anyone else has tampered with the ecu. Its not as if I need it in Florida and Georgia and probably seldom carry more than 15000 kg weight as its priority mail (parcels) that I carry. Now first class or any letter mail is a different story those loads are heavy.
I must admit, I like the I- shift and would prefer not to go back to a manual box.I try to stay away from Volvo dealers, but on occasions when I do business with them they think your’e stupid, and then when you prove to them your’e not, they wont let you into their workshop. [zb]!W—ers
Next time you go to the dealers and it gets hooked up, get your boss to tell them to add the manual option again.
Rental companies don’t want it added so it can’t be over revved.