muckles:
I-shift, I reckon it’s been round long enough for classic status and by the sounds of it better with the Dual Clutch which is available on the 13 litre engine and on some very special Dutch 16 litre models.
I concur, the ishift is a classic at this stage. It was better the day it launched all those years ago than autos some manufacturers manage to create now
muckles:
I-shift, I reckon it’s been round long enough for classic status and by the sounds of it better with the Dual Clutch which is available on the 13 litre engine and on some very special Dutch 16 litre models.
Diablo!
Juddian:
Eaton Twin Splitter, 3 speed box, 3 equal splits, hated by many and i like most others played all sorts of tunes on the thing for the first month, but once you got used to it, and so long as you had a good garage who knew to keep the clutch/gear brake working properly there has not been a faster box put in any lorry i’ve driven, you could make almost uninterrupted constant progress with one of these because as fast as you could shift the gears the box would take it.
I covered several years with these in MAN F90’s, which i think was one of the best combinations, MAN engines revved up quickly and the revs dropped quickly so the box could take advantage of this.
99% of the time you used ETS without touching the clutch except for starting and stopping, just blipped or lifted off the throttle to allow the next gear shift, whether combined with a pre selected range split or not, to engage.
Where the clutch/gear brake helped was on really steep hills where in the low gears you wanted fast gearchanges, fast as you could ram the clutch pedal to the floor and release it the next gear was engaged.
Pulling away from junctions if you had a decent engine the vehicle would romp away in a fashion those who have only driven modern lorries can only imagine.
I had one of those, back in the day. It’s so long ago that I’m not even 100% sure what the truck was- maybe a Sudden Accident? But I loved it. Like you say, they took a bit of getting used to but once you had they were virtually effortless to use.
I would love to try a few of the manual boxes Juddian mentions ,Sadly i have only ever driven 4 over 4 or Auto in trucks 
So i cannot help …
Beetlejuice:
I would love to try a few of the manual boxes Juddian mentions ,Sadly i have only ever driven 4 over 4 or Auto in trucks
So i cannot help …
Which did you prefer or maybe even enjoy though?
Juddian:
Beetlejuice:
I would love to try a few of the manual boxes Juddian mentions ,Sadly i have only ever driven 4 over 4 or Auto in trucks
So i cannot help …Which did you prefer or maybe even enjoy though?
The 4 over 4 was definately more enjoyable but the truck was a wreck ,But some(not all ) Autos are ok ,If you can use them in manual .
Beetlejuice:
Juddian:
Beetlejuice:
I would love to try a few of the manual boxes Juddian mentions ,Sadly i have only ever driven 4 over 4 or Auto in trucks
So i cannot help …Which did you prefer or maybe even enjoy though?
The 4 over 4 was definately more enjoyable but the truck was a wreck ,But some(not all ) Autos are ok ,If you can use them in manual .
I’d agree with that, though IMHO Volvo’s i shift and now Scanias latest box modified (apparently a layshaft brake) for the new gen vehicle almost never need any manual input, so good are they.
Regardless i’d always plump for a pleasant to use manual if given the choice, not because you can make any better progress than these two competent boxes but simply for the pleasure of pure lorry driving, i’m not given the choice unfortunately, and my era is soon to be past anyway and it’s you younger bloke’s future.
One thing the autos have going for them is they stop non drivers abusing clutches and breaking gear wheels, which is a double edged sword because up to a point the more shall we say demanding boxes tended to keep the more incompetent out of lorries altogether (though the job was entirely different anyway), water under the bridge anyway, all change 
Foden had their own anti abuse system back on S39’s, sintered iron clutch facings, meant the thing was either in or out, try and slip it the juddering would shake your fillings out 
Juddian:
Beetlejuice:
Juddian:
Beetlejuice:
I would love to try a few of the manual boxes Juddian mentions ,Sadly i have only ever driven 4 over 4 or Auto in trucks
So i cannot help …Which did you prefer or maybe even enjoy though?
The 4 over 4 was definately more enjoyable but the truck was a wreck ,But some(not all ) Autos are ok ,If you can use them in manual .
I’d agree with that, though IMHO Volvo’s i shift and now Scanias latest box modified (apparently a layshaft brake) for the new gen vehicle almost never need any manual input, so good are they.
Regardless i’d always plump for a pleasant to use manual if given the choice, not because you can make any better progress than these two competent boxes but simply for the pleasure of pure lorry driving, i’m not given the choice unfortunately, and my era is soon to be past anyway and it’s you younger bloke’s future.
One thing the autos have going for them is they stop non drivers abusing clutches and breaking gear wheels, which is a double edged sword because up to a point the more shall we say demanding boxes tended to keep the more incompetent out of lorries altogether (though the job was entirely different anyway), water under the bridge anyway, all change
Foden had their own anti abuse system back on S39’s, sintered iron clutch facings, meant the thing was either in or out, try and slip it the juddering would shake your fillings out
It is a shame that they are automating everything ,Removing the skill so to speak
This thread was made for you Juddain …As you in a roundabout way ,you are the dinosaur ,I don’t mean that as an insult ,but when speccing a truck now they come as an auto ,and you need to spec manual !!!..So the manuals days are numbered …I find nowdays 99% of roadtests I do are autos ,when I do get a manual I forget and end up stuttering to a halt at lights lol …So as new driver join the industry ,they will be auto only ,the occasional manual will throw a spanner in the works for them…But manuals are beginning to be like analogue tachos they are there but are declining in numbers …Imagine in years to come we will have a juddian bemoaning the box I years to come ,saying how difficult todays box was to drive and how the job has been dumbed down from when they started on AS-TRONIC lol sad but no doubt true
I agree Norb i and others like me are indeed dinosaurs…however if humans last even a fraction of the time the dinosaurs lasted… 
seriously do you think they will 
I have respect for the durability of arsetronic in particular, in my experience its proved more reliable than Scania’s previous auto boxes (even if the clutch thrust bearings crap themselves at 500k 
), and maybe more than a match for i-shift in terms of reliability.
Where Scania’s previous box really scored over arsetronic is in manual override, the scanny box was precise and responsive to driver input, and you had the choice of standard M or MP (or whatever the manual equivalents of A and AH were) in the H or P manual mode the gearchanges were appreciably sharper and faster than in standard M, you had no such choice with arsetronic.
Those two selections of manual has disappeared from the new gen Scanny box and its a simple M, though to be fair its now so good that manual input is simply not needed, not sure even a dyed in the wool old ■■■■ like me would bother now.
Its a new lorry world and old buggers like me (us ) will soon be history, for the best too, there comes a point when you just don’t want any more progress
Foden gearboxes ,as mentioned by Juddian,were a pig because,as he said,you were playing with different levers all the time and the ratios were not necessarily sequential.Nobody ever got used to them because the Foden was a spare and only driven on service days or as punishment.
My favourite was the 13 speed Fuller.My own Daf 3300 had a 16 speed ZF which was stiffish but never gave any problems.Finished up on Volvo and Iveco automated boxes which I quite liked because I was getting old and lazy.
switchlogic:
nomiS36:
Somebody is bound to pipe up with the double clutch thingy as fitted to the new volvos. That I can except although I’ve not tried one but going by previous ishift it’s bound to be great. All other ‘autos’ have absolutely no place in this topic. I liked the telegent box in the early actros’s although I know a lot didn’t. But, my most favourite truck gearbox has to be the comfortshift as fitted to the MAN. To my mind this was the pinnacle of truck transmissions, ZF I think was responsible for it.
Therefore, when my boss said last year I was having the new truck which would probably be a MAN and did I have any requests my first reply was comfortshift jokingly because I didn’t realise they still offered it. Well blow me if it didnt turn out they still do and I’m getting one. One happy mother trucker here [emoji847]
A gear for every occasion (16), a nice smooth change and no stupid delays at roundabouts etc. What’s not to like?
This is becoming one of the most posted pictures on this site! I wouldn’t have mentioned the dual clutch as the good lady is looking for classic boxes
Yeah I know [emoji23] As for classic ‘boxes, fair point.
Gidders:
Foden gearboxes ,as mentioned by Juddian,were a pig because,as he said,you were playing with different levers all the time and the ratios were not necessarily sequential.Nobody ever got used to them because the Foden was a spare and only driven on service days or as punishment.
My favourite was the 13 speed Fuller.My own Daf 3300 had a 16 speed ZF which was stiffish but never gave any problems.Finished up on Volvo and Iveco automated boxes which I quite liked because I was getting old and lazy.
Talking of sequential ratios I still don’t belive that Bewicks claim stands true about the 10 speed box giving 20 USABLE ratios through a 2 speed axle ,does anyone on here have any experience to prove otherwise ?
Other than 4 over 4, the only artic manuals I have driven were the Canute Scania’s 3 over 3 with a hi/lo and 1/2 split jobby.
Didn’t really use the half gear split much unless I was running heavy. Thought they were pretty good in all honesty, far better than the 3 pedal opticruise ■■■■■■■■… “CLUTCH DOWN”, (F Off, it already is down you p o s) 
The first Merc I drove, had an arse about face slapstick.
driven a few over the years, back to front slap across with the collar splitter, 6 speed merc, 16 speed zf, EPS, arsetronic. I shift but my favourite (even through the rose tinted glasses) has to be the eaton twin splitter, had 2 MANs and 3 ERFs with it and once you got over playing tunes with it a faster gearbox for changing you couldn’t get. The 362 MAN with it in I had used to out pull 400 Volvos going up Keele bank with the same load on just due to the speed of the gearbox changes alone
I used to love the Eaton twin splitter and the Merc EPS when I lived in the UK, over here I am made to use this antique box… And this is a brand new truck LOL.
norb:
This thread was made for you Juddain …As you in a roundabout way ,you are the dinosaur ,I don’t mean that as an insult ,but when speccing a truck now they come as an auto ,and you need to spec manual !!!..So the manuals days are numbered …I find nowdays 99% of roadtests I do are autos ,when I do get a manual I forget and end up stuttering to a halt at lights lol …So as new driver join the industry ,they will be auto only ,the occasional manual will throw a spanner in the works for them…But manuals are beginning to be like analogue tachos they are there but are declining in numbers …Imagine in years to come we will have a juddian bemoaning the box I years to come ,saying how difficult todays box was to drive and how the job has been dumbed down from when they started on AS-TRONIC lol sad but no doubt true
not just juddian im afraid . My boss just bought 2 new units 2017s one an 18spd the other an M shift both Mack (the M shift for himself) But in reality the bread n butter motor im on the now is a 99 mack with an 18spd six wheeler rigid (not my usual motor),the boss and the other driver are on 96s one an 18 the other 9 spd fullers on a muckshift in -30cs crosing fields and on gravel roads.Now the point i am making is that the firm we are hauling for had a company with near new freightliners with allison autos/computers doing the job before us lasted two days ,they couldnt take the weather+no paved roads. so new technology didnt win this battle.
muckles:
I-shift, I reckon it’s been round long enough for classic status and by the sounds of it better with the Dual Clutch which is available on the 13 litre engine and on some very special Dutch 16 litre models.
Nothing special about it Muckles, i didnt spec the dual clutch but is fitted as standard on the D16 with the long haul version of the I shift, (no, its not on Volvos pdf sheet)
I know theres ■■■■ taking and disbelief on this forum but i questioned it myself when i specced the truck. I cant help how it came from the factory but fact is its fitted with this particular clutch. The DC is a quick change but tbh wouldnt have bothered me fitted with the standard clutch unit and would certainly be a lot cheaper to replace once ive worn it out…
Favourite box just has to be Volvos 16 speed range change / splitter as on my old F7/10/12 with the oh so ■■■■ sounding air clutch…
