over the past few weeks i’ve been given a 55plate Daf cf sleeper cab unit with the astronic gearbox.reason being most of my work is in central London and there more fuel effiecient than my good old faithful manual.
Yes it easier to drive in the traffic than the manual gearbox with all the gear changes but I aswell as over drivers at my place say they seem abit jolty especially when pulling away and when reversing. there dont seem as much control as with the old clutch when reversing.
Anyone else had similar experience of this.
Im told the newer motors are alot better and greatly improved
Theyre not a very good gear box mate for low speed manouevering, I had one on a 95 XF on an 04 plate on building site work, even the turtle mode wasnt good. However one time when it went back to Daf for its 6 weekly, They put the software on it from a 105, and this made it loads better
i dont like it.
i have an 07 with astronic,its crap
it is incapable of selecting correct gearing whether loaded or empty,doesnt kick down properly when slowing for junctions,got to use exhauster to make it drop down.
all in all,not impressed,had an i shift volvo before this which was an all round much more capable box.
pulling out on roundabouts is always an embarrasing affair,especially loaded.
the box selects all the wrong gears,is too slow even pressing throttle to max to quicken the changes.switching to manual doesnt hekp either as the box cant keep up quick enough.
Im glad im not the only one then I thought it was me.
yer the roundabout scenario.tell me about it
I was doing a few different runs after xmas to the west country for a change of scenery and in the bad weather it was a joke trying to get up and down some of them country roads with ice on them.there seems to be no traction what so ever
But were told they are saving the company a penny a mile
thanks for the software advice Buck i’ll suggest that but i dont think it will get done if it costs money.
Im a great lover of Daf’s but it has to be manual gearbox for me
gazzahgv:
Im glad im not the only one then I thought it was me.
yer the roundabout scenario.tell me about it
I was doing a few different runs after xmas to the west country for a change of scenery and in the bad weather it was a joke trying to get up and down some of them country roads with ice on them.there seems to be no traction what so ever
But were told they are saving the company a penny a mile
thats dead funny,cos i thought it was just me too!!!
the traction issue is really bad,in ice/snow its frightening,in rain or slightly moist surface it doesnt get much better.had many a sideways pose crossing roundabouts.
yer they dont stop very well in the wet 
Any word on the new trucks , do they still have the same system?
the reason i ask is we are alledgley getting DAF’S with full auto boxs as our new trucks 
terrible for sloppy tanker work 4th to 6th then as soon as all the juice runs to the back its back down to 4th then it over revs, useless at roundabouts 2000 revs before changing up you can jump 2 gears up untill 8th on a flat pull away very slow mind you on pull away on my 460. useless exhaust brake all in all rubish for 44 ton work, im going back to volvo when up for change
re gazhgv
in realation to manovoring,there is another low gear in between tortose mode and normal reverse,if you select r on the dial rh wiol ome up on display if you then pull the joy stick back 2 notches rl will come up on dash ,even though it says rl this is not as low as the tortose mode and is a bit better,as for the rounabout debate its best to try and not stop completly(obviously not compramising safty)but if you do come to a complete stop when loaded the gearbox will always select 2 u cant do any thing about it,but when u pull away as soon as the revs get half way into the green manualy block change to 4 then same again 6 8 etc note u must not let the revs build rite up high as this is wot slows the changes down as the revs have to die rite down again before the gears will mesh up and initiate the change ,with pratice it will become second nature and you can change 2 to 5 4 to 7 etc some ppeople get confused with the boxes thinking its just a case of sticking it in drive and using them like an auto in a car
i couldnt get on at all when i got my 05 xf astronic but once uve mastered the manual changes pulling out on r bouts its a top piece of kit
im on brick and block work all over the country 44t artic site work aswell and dont have anny probs now with the box
however the 105 better matched to this box and is a big improvement had one on demo couldnt fault it
just think could be worse u could have ended up with a volvo badge on the front and i shift
monarch
that is exactly my point,the way you describe pulling away,should not have to be done,and even when you do it is too slow.it should be able to do that itself in automatic.
dont get me wrong,i am a daf fan,i love mine apart from this,but having had a volvo,last truck,i found the volvo was more intelligent at selecting gears,and all in all a much better truck in this respect to drive.
i will try the way you suggest this weekand let you know how i get on,.
I drive a Merc coach with an Astronic box.Its the worse pile of crap I have ever driven.It sets off in third jumps two gears a time till it gets to ninth.Roundabouts are scary as hell as it sets off then dies as it jumps to fifth.I was sat at the lights just off junction 15 M6 where you turn to go towards Shropshire.Its a slight hill I had Fifty Three on board ,lights change and it stalled .Embarrased or what!!.Twice more it happened before I managed to get through the lights.In reverse it tried jumping allover the place.I had to reverse up a hill and it was a nightmare.By the time I got to the carpark the clutch stunk to high heaven.We have had Merc and ZF back to them loads of times.One said the engine is speaking German The gearbox is speaking English,and the rest of the vehicles electrics is speaking Turkish where the vehicles are built,and no one bothered with a translation service.
I know what you mean John.
Anyway had some good news today my 05 plate is going to another depot as it can have a digi tacho fitted and noone at my place has one yet…
Im getting an old 04 plate daf sleeper .yes its a bit of a scraper but as far as im aware its manual yipeee
monarch of the highway:
just think could be worse u could have ended up with a volvo badge on the front and i shift
i cant comment of the daf auto box having only seen other drivers lurching about trying to back onto lading bays, but that statement for the i shift is so far off the mark its unbelieveable and must be a private joke 
■■? i had a volvo 480 with i shift for nearly 4 months and loved the way it always knew the right gear and would block change 2 to 3 gears as it see fit, you would never have to put it into manual to get a good speed up away from a roundabout 
Tried what you said today monarch,and no it made no difference,just as slow and embarrsing pulling away.it seems the gearbox just cant change quick enough even in manual.i have also noticed it now has a tendency in automatic mode,to not bother changing gear from a standing start,ie still in 10th,when you pres throttle,there is a two day interval (exaggerate) before it decides to select correct gear and make haste.
didnt have that trouble in my 03 volvo.
must admit i tried the way that was said too it didnt do anything for me either.
But got my 04 plate manual gearbox back today what a difference.apart from the centra london traffic but i can put up with that 
A few week ago ZF were in our place investigating the problems we were having.Got one of them in the air.Then starts to pull it apart.They have a single plate clutch in now after driving Dennis Javelins with single plate clutches and watching them wear out in twelve to eighteen months on town work.I dont hold out much hope.The guy pulled down the clutch operating arm.and said the wrong grease had been used ,but the rest of it had to be spotless.He showed us the arm and pointed to the bush it pivots on saying “This is teflon coated and the arm has lift in it"The arm ie: rod was a polished steel rod.I replied lift? you mean play.” No its lift and the thrust release has lift in it as well." “So theres play in the operating arm and the bearing is there?” He looked at me and said “No its lift and the bush is teflon coated it doesnt wear.” “Would you like to see my frying pan?” I replied .Our mechanic by this time was grinning from ear to ear .I,m sorry putting play into a part thats new and takes so much strain doesnt seem a good idea and thats without the problems of the gearbox and accelerator programmes not working together dont you just love fly by wire!!.
We’ve got the “FLEET SPEC” autos in all our CFs, which means no manual option. As I’ve said in previous posts on this subject, the’re a nightmare.