Passed my test using this box in the Scammel Crusader
Then earned my wings in this beast. Thorneycroft Antar.
the maoster:
Then earned my wings in this beast. Thorneycroft Antar.
Love classic but sod driving that these days … 
Beetlejuice:
the maoster:
Then earned my wings in this beast. Thorneycroft Antar.Love classic but sod driving that these days …
Was thinking of showing that picture to those that complain about modern trucks. 
I assume you need to be an octopus to drive it with all those levers. 
But the engineering on that seat is a work of art. 
muckles:
Beetlejuice:
the maoster:
Then earned my wings in this beast. Thorneycroft Antar.Love classic but sod driving that these days …
Was thinking of showing that picture to those that complain about modern trucks.
But the engineering on that seat is a work of art.
Reminds me of a jcb for some reason
Hard grafters back in the day …
Harry Monk:
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.
Ditto, my first experience of the ETS was in an ERF EC10, I know I upset a few other road users while I got used to it but after that it was a dream! My other favourite was the Scania (ZF?) 5 speed with splitter, a gearbox not to be rushed and IIRC two of the gear ratio’s were really close together which seemed really odd to a lot of drivers.
One for Juddian! I passed my test on one if these, February 1976. Instructor said “Just use as few gears as possible, less chance of missing any then” so I just stuck the lever in direct and left it there! Max speed in 4th direct was only around 35mph so speeding was easily avoided, all manouvering around cones etc was done in low range though.
Pete.
muckles:
Beetlejuice:
the maoster:
Then earned my wings in this beast. Thorneycroft Antar.Love classic but sod driving that these days …
Was thinking of showing that picture to those that complain about modern trucks.
But the engineering on that seat is a work of art.
The dash too was a work of cutting edge technology 
In the eighties the company I was with had both Sed-Atkis and ERFs. Same type of boxes, Fuller range change, four over four plus crawler. But, due to the ERF having a direct linkage, and the S-A having no hole in the floor and a linkage goung around the cab front pivot, the patterns were mirror images. Changing trucks needed concentration.
And selecting gear in the S-A meant throwing the stick across the cab once there was any wear in the links.
Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
no explanations, but been there drove em…moved on…some difficult ones i must admit…it was a case of there ya go mate, its that lorry against the wall over there so you get in it…and look at the top of the gear knob…then the lever on the top…and one on the side…and see if you can work it out…afraid to ask in case they think your stupid…if it got out the yard…you could make as much noise as you liked…ha ha
4 over 4 with overdrive lever on the dash
Scammel handyman gate crash box…as the man said…you couldnt put it in neutral…once you was in top…had to go through the gears one at a time.
twin split
triple split
Column change
pre select
Give me an auto today please…was nice back in the day to have the old gearboxes/changes…but times move on…so does traffic…i dont believe for one minute many drivers would want to go back to them.
I enjoyed driving a Scammell Crusader as a young’un.It had a 280 Rolls engine and a Fuller RTO9509 gearbox.Nobody tells you there is another gear in high range in 1st.gear position.I found out by accident that it saves dropping into low range.The cab did not tip either.It came to a stop one day because no one knew there was a hexagon grease ■■■■■■ on the bell housing for the thrust bearing.It had been painted over by the dealer.
Freight Dog:
Mercedes Benz EPS, or electronic power shift that appeared in the Powerliner 2. Occasionally would have a fit and dump itself in neutral on steep hill starts fully loaded
Agreed well ahead of their time the earlier ones worked best as they used a ZF gearbox, later on they fitted a system that you could pre select where you only had to depress the clutch to change up/down you had to be patient with them but they worked quite well considering the technology available at the time.
The Eton twin split was the daddy no question I had a 1989 MAN 16.332 with one fitted and it was a pleasure to drive, the 16sp ZF was good in the DAF later on, the all time worst was the set of railway points fitted to the pre 2005 Merc Axxor two hands required to go backwards, closely followed by the 3 speed tragedy that Scania fitted.
The best box of recent years for me is the I shift.
AndrewG:
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…
They gave you a £5k + optional extra for free? What dealer is this? I need to get the boss onto the case, I desperately want a dual clutch to call my own
Gidders:
I enjoyed driving a Scammell Crusader as a young’un.It had a 280 Rolls engine and a Fuller RTO9509 gearbox.**Nobody tells you there is another gear in high range in 1st.gear position.I found out by accident that it saves dropping into low range.**The cab did not tip either.It came to a stop one day because no one knew there was a hexagon grease ■■■■■■ on the bell housing for the thrust bearing.It had been painted over by the dealer.
A handy gear that one was, I also used it as a ‘split’ on some steep banks when I had Gardner 201 ‘power’ under the cab! It seemed strange going from high range crawler to low range fourth and actually changing up a half gear but it worked!
Pete.
Pete I think you got that the wrong way round ,don’t you mean under powered Gardner 201
Punchy Dan:
Pete I think you got that the wrong way round ,don’t you mean under powered Gardner 201
It always got there in the end Dan, usually passing those ■■■■■■■ engined things while they were parked up on route refuelling, and also carrying a bigger payload as well. Hare and Tortoise.
Pete.
windrush:
Punchy Dan:
Pete I think you got that the wrong way round ,don’t you mean under powered Gardner 201It always got there in the end Dan, usually passing those ■■■■■■■ engined things while they were parked up on route refuelling, and also carrying a bigger payload as well. Hare and Tortoise.
Pete.
Knickers
windrush:
One for Juddian!0
Pete.
Never seen the instruction ‘manual’ for the Foden box before Pete, it’s chapters long in new vehicle handbooks for automatics
Note the shift from 3rd low to 1st direct in the instructions, that gives one more gear to use going up the box, i thought most drivers shifted 1234 in low and then straight to 2nd direct.
It was ‘‘interesting’’ reversing an artic in high range, bloody thing doing about 20mph , you must have a had a rapid test reverse in direct or did you slip it into low for that
amazed that you actually dared take a HGV test in one, personally i’ve have passed you for having the balls to actually use one on test
This has been an enjoyable thread, everyone admitting to playing all sorts of tunes on the things till they got the hang.
Juddian, we always went from low third to direct first. Never used low fourth at all, even though on the later 9 speed (actually still with twelve useable gears!) the window sticker told us to do otherwise! I did my training with Slaters Transport near Pickering (part of Tilcon back then) and the only rigid they had was a 1968 Foden tilt cab eight legger so that was it! Low range for reversing, I wasn’t THAT good! We ran an all foden fleet anyway, 40+ of the things, so got used to the gearbox and all its quirks!
Pete.
Cracking stuff guys, thankyou so much - do keep it coming! 
I always liked the ZF 16-speed “slap over” I must admit, coming across it in Dafs, Ivecos and, if memory serves me correctly, MANs. The MAN F2000 series I had was one of my favourite lorries of all time in fact, and I’m pretty sure that had a ZF 16-speed in it, though I’m buggered if I can remember whether it was the slapover kind.
The twin splitter definitely needed to be put in the right drive train to show it’s balls. I drove them in both ERFs and Ivecos, and while they were fab in the ERF EC10s with their ■■■■■■■ luggers, the Iveco engine - the predecessor to the Cursor, I’m beggared if I can remember it’s name now - pulled best when you got it spinning, so worked far better teamed with the ZF box, I reckon, having tried both combinations in Eurotechs.
The Spicer box is one I’ve heard of but know nothing about. Can someone expand on that for me please? Also, does anyone know the difference between constant mesh and true “crash” boxes? Could you get a non-synchro box which wasn’t constant mesh? What was the difference mechanically?
Cheers all.