trux:
Surely the options to select manual mode also includes the facility to hold the vehicle in a lower gear and prevent it from gearchanging up the box to higher gears when either on steep inclines Uphill or paricularly on a steep incline Downhill.
You can do that with it in auto by just careful use of the the loud pedal on an ascent and the pedal and the exhaust brake or engine brake on a descent.
On the ferry thread I posted tonight teher is a picture of the ramp on teh ferry I used today. I went up that with a loaded trailer with the gearbox in auto and I made sure it held the gear all the way up. I didn’t want it to change as that is quite steep, and if it misses the gear you will be bolloxed, but it never occurred to me that it wasn’t possible with auto and I should use manual.
At the beginning of this thread I mentioned my sloppy tanks and your ferry scenario reminds me of it again.
Only once can I remember being stuck with the lorry and to be fair I don’t think it would have gone up in manual either. I was driving onto North Sea Ferries and the roads were wet, so the ships deck is wet. I had to drive up the steep ramp and as 27 tonne of glucose ran backwards, the drive wheels lost traction, the answer to that was to lift the ramp, let me drive off it and onto the deck.
If we used the Liverpool Dublin Ferry, you drove as fast as you dare up the ramp, where it stopped was where they chained you down
looks like a driver i know should have that blanking plate fitted on his old FM9, was said he raced it into the red before changing up , & then used to complain the gearbox was stuffed , volvo couldnt find anything wrong with it , but this went on for a ages , the FM is now at another depot & the regular driver has had no problems with it . the brakes also used to be relined more than the others, even catching fire occasionally , but i think this says more about the driver than the truck
I am surprised Caledonian Dream hasn’t commented on this post yet. His company evaluated a plethora of trucks before settling on Volvo with iShift.
They run a large multinational operation and swap drivers and vehicles regularly. The whole vehicle parc is made up of Volvo and anything after about 2005 is automatic. It would have probably been simpler and cheaper to specify manual boxes to fit the multiple power take off needed for their operations.
I was very sceptical about an automatic gearbox on tank work as my previous experience was in a 1984 Scania 112 with an auto. However after two laps of the yard in Erp. I was convinced and converted, anything to make our life simpler and less tiring
Wheel Nut:
I am surprised Caledonian Dream hasn’t commented on this post yet. His company evaluated a plethora of trucks before settling on Volvo with iShift.
They run a large multinational operation and swap drivers and vehicles regularly. The whole vehicle parc is made up of Volvo and anything after about 2005 is automatic. It would have probably been simpler and cheaper to specify manual boxes to fit the multiple power take off needed for their operations.
I was very sceptical about an automatic gearbox on tank work as my previous experience was in a 1984 Scania 112 with an auto. However after two laps of the yard in Erp. I was convinced and converted, anything to make our life simpler and less tiring
That’s correct Malc. Does anybody here really think they can out drive an Automatic box on every occasion? After using it for a while and willing to understand Auto boxes they do everything you want and much quicker.
We did extensive testing with several auto boxes, and even when it came at a premium, we decided to choose I-shift. I-shift is in fact a normal manual box, with a normal clutch but has taken out the fail factor (read driver)
Do you really think companies like ours, DHL, Hoyer etc. would choose an Auto box if it used only 1% more fuel, than think again.
Yes I agree the first time I drove an I-shift, I was thinking when you entered a crossing/ round about, shift down, shift down, but even with 28ton of liquid chocolate in a 32 cubic meter tank (slosh factor 10) I never decided to go to manual, and the truck never stalled on me, and pulled away without any hesitation.
It’s made for it, or do we all know better, if so why are you not working for Volvo, Daf, etc as truck or gearbox designer■■?
Many companies are reading the Canbus data out on a regular base, and the only reason that I can think off that they blocked the manual option is that the truck has been over revved on a regular base.
Companies make such a decisions for a reason, we disabled the power button on the I-shift for the reason that there where people about who pressed him every time, and the fuel use shot up.
A lot of people drive an automatic car, do you constantly use the manual option, do you constant push it from 1 to 2 and than to D, and down again for every corner etc.■■
By the way even with the box in automatic you can drop a gear down or up if you want, know how the box work and Bob is your Uncle.
trux:
Anyone remember the losses due to `run-aways’ on Blonc + Frasier when EPS 1st came out ?
errrm NO Not on Frejus or Mont Blanc either. Or Fraga or Somosierra or Cleremont or Pamplona or Miguels etc etc
The option is there because the same box is fitted to, for example, Scandinavian 60 ton LHV combos that run on poor road surfaces and might actually NEED it. As opposed to trolley dollying around Englandshire, even up and down the fearsome Corley bank (sorry Birmingham early arrivals slight incline)
My I shift will go through the cogs to top with less changes than it is possible to make in manual option. Every shift burns more fuel
I bow to your superior knowledge but i remember it
… and I will still stand by my statement :
If the manufacturers had not wanted to give the option of selection of manual mode ,
then they wouldnt have fitted it
It`s a tool in the box , not a tool in the seat
What’s your views on this? The Volvo has had a device fitted to block the use of the Manual setting. We have complained about it on Health and Safety grounds but as you would expected been fobbed off!
Its to save fuel by the way ■■?
0
Seems a rather crude device, thought the manufacturer could disable manual gear selection through the engine/gearbox ECU… My MAN TGX is an auto with the “Fleet” gearbox as identified on the rotary selector on centre console, believe it to be same gearbox as (auto with manual override) but has software settings disabling manual gear selection/kickdown… Manual selection only being possible when stationary or on overrun but as soon as the accelerator pedal is depressed reverts back to auto mode again… Was advised by the MAN salesman that a comparison with the same trucks with both gearboxes within the same fleet of a large local haulier showed better overall fuel consumption with the “Fleet” gearbox… As a whole it performs ok but does get caught out as I would expect any autobox to…
trux:
Surely the options to select manual mode also includes the facility to hold the vehicle in a lower gear and prevent it from gearchanging up the box to higher gears when either on steep inclines Uphill or paricularly on a steep incline Downhill.
You can do that with it in auto by just careful use of the the loud pedal on an ascent and the pedal and the exhaust brake or engine brake on a descent.
On the ferry thread I posted tonight teher is a picture of the ramp on teh ferry I used today. I went up that with a loaded trailer with the gearbox in auto and I made sure it held the gear all the way up. I didn’t want it to change as that is quite steep, and if it misses the gear you will be bolloxed, but it never occurred to me that it wasn’t possible with auto and I should use manual.
Neil, for those of us who haven’t driven (truck) autos much, … and I’ve never driven an I-shift, could you please explain how you get it to do that?
Coffeeholic:
In well over 10 years of driving of driving auto Volvo’s I probably could count the number of times I used manual mode on the fingers of only one hand so I don’t see it as being a big issue. Very little need to use manual on an i-shift.
On the couple of occaisions only that I’ve used an I-shift Volvo I’ve been more than impressed. Out of the auto’s that I’ve used, I found that the most responsive and useful. Has to be a market leader
MikeCunn:
Yep, we can’t select manual on our Morrisons DAF CF’s. I think it’s unsafe also but we’ve been fobbed off too.
I regularly run up to Bellshill with double deckers of bread or produce and some of the hills have us down to 35mph, especially Beattock. It’s a joke.
It doesn’t save fuel either cos I took a manual Scania with 40 odd tonne and had a better MPG than ours. We’ve had hire XF’s with the manual selector and they use the same or less fuel. It’s a crock.
Thats it !!! Now I understand why the press refer to these 50 ton Juggernauts on our roads
would have to say if it’s fitted to big fleet supermaket trucks , i cant see why manual would be used much , if at all .
i’m on farm delivery & often find meself in some very tight, steep ,slipery, greasy & awkward surroundings ,usually all at the same time ! but i found the I-shift was a very good box , & only rarely did i need the manual option.
i did a bit of work for a large company once. the kick down didn’t work, so i replaced the fuse.
the TM wasn’t a happy bunny when he read my daily check sheet.
“kick down inop. relaced fuse, some ■■■■■■■■■ had taken it out”
well of course, it was him. he just had to justify his position.
well i got him back. me and a few other drivers started putting made up words on daily check sheets. things like, “the benelux valve won’t switch from low”
“canbean is stuck”. crap like that.
the mechanic was in on it. so when the TM went into the workshop, to demand that a new benelux valve was fitted, and the canbean fault was rectified. the mechanic would tell him, that the drivers will have to check these things out.
so, the memo’s came out , and so did the MD. he thought the poor bloke was having a breakdown of some sort.
job done, then i left.
My views are that I would like the manual options in the following situations
30mph Zones (when up to 30mph I select manual, this for me help as I find these auto’s tend to want to pull and shift up)
Yes these trucks are used for a high street chain, and as you would guess some of the access is a little tight. Selecting and lower gear than auto would it allows me to take my time manoeuvring the trailer under full control and give me time to keep check on all that happening around me!
Allows a smother pull away on steep inclines. Especially when exiting some of the service yards.
But in the following situations I believe that I really need the option
Snow covered inclines and Descents. I really don’t like the idea of the truck making an unexpected gear change.
When pulling a heavy load, up hills. We don’t have” Kick Down” or the “power button”, hence the truck just dies on you.
Recently we had the trucks split with some at 56 and the rest at 52mph. With them being hell bent on the 52 mph argument and the fact that there is little or no difference in fuel consumption they have decided to fit these box’s. Because they have the opinion that we have been knocking them down to 11th all the time? And they now have the problem that they have spent all this money and not saved a penny! Hence there reluctants to back down.
Depending on the load and journey I am using around 25 to 33 litre per 100KM’s that around 8.6 to 11.2 MPG, which seam about right to me. And there are certain limits that a truck can realisably achieve.
If they had access to telemetry data, which I think is possible in these truck nowadays. It would be possible to re-train the drivers appropriately. Or is this just using too much common sense.
8.6 - 11.2 is quite good for an artic I think, I usually average early to middle 9’s.
I do find that running 52 instead of 56 makes a massive difference, but there’s another big leap from 52 to 50, and a lot of trucks are now limited to 52, so I run at 50 to give me a bit in reserve and make it easier for others to pass me, not noticed any massive time differences on any job.
wait till they start speccing your trucks with manual window winders to save themselfes £100
[/quote]
A firm I worked at specc’ed manual winders on '52 plate Daf CF’s as a reliabilty-based decision (rather than cost-saving), and they were more trouble than we ever had with any electric windows
