I’ve got my Daf vehicle training next week so will let you know what I reckon(if anyone cares)but as i’ve said ,not one driver so far has had a bad word to say about them at our place.And we pull at 44t all the time so they need to be on the ball.I love the i-shift so will be sceptical of the Daf.Mike in answer to your question mate ,I drive for Cemex,formerly Rugby Cement.
shade:
I’ve got my Daf vehicle training next week so will let you know what I reckon(if anyone cares)but as i’ve said ,not one driver so far has had a bad word to say about them at our place.And we pull at 44t all the time so they need to be on the ball.I love the i-shift so will be sceptical of the Daf.Mike in answer to your question mate ,I drive for Cemex,formerly Rugby Cement.[/q
uote]Suprised you lot getting DAFs being weight critical
Weve just changed from volvo to narrow cab Ivecos (same weight)
Lucy:
and you can’t change up more than 1 gear at a time in manual (or is that the old Iveco I’m thinking of?)
No idea. Both Eurotronic1 and 2 allow block changes of two gears at a time. Then for bigger shifts, with the older box you held in the grey button as you changed and it would give you a gear which would work with whatever revs you were putting on (bearing in mind that the old box wasn’t full AMT, only Semi). The newer box actually does this for itself automatically in whatever mode you’re in (Semi/Auto, which is what the same grey button is now there for), particularly handy when you’re steaming into roundabouts.
I got mixed up there. It was actually the original Merc EPS box I was thinking of. You have to get up through every gear on it. A real pain when you’re running solo. The DAF does go up 2 at a time if you hold the lever fully forward but that’s still far too many changes when running solo. If you put it in auto mode it’ll go 3 to 6 okay, but will leave you in no-mans land for a good 5 seconds while doing so.
and I seriously dislike it changing down a gear going down hills so as to get enough revs up for the retarder. It’s a good idea in principle, but when you’re only lightly loaded the retarder has enough revs to hold the speed back in top gear without needing to drop it down a peg.
Simple solution. Whack it into Semi to hold a gear.
That’s what I do, but you shouldn’t need to do that. The idea of an auto box is to make less work for the driver, not more.
The Stralis also has the same problems the others suffer with regards close proximity movements.
Sorry Rob, but that’s just lack of practice. As an agency driver, you simply haven’t had chance to work with the box for a long enough time to master it. I’m not trying to teach you to ■■■■ eggs here, btw…I just hate to see people writing off a very good AMT gearbox through lack of training and not having had time to master the skill - neither of which are by any means your fault. It’s just a crying shame, is all. I’ve had two years with the Stralis now, with 6 months on the older box before that. I can even get under a heavily loaded trailer without slamming now if I pay attention to what I’m doing… (
). It just takes time to master, like any new skill.
I used to get a Stralis every flaming night of the week when on for Beddies so I disagree it’s lack of practice. I pulled the manual out on 3 occasions at least to check stuff out about the box, not that it was of any useful help.
I do agree that with practice you can connect up to trailers without the slamming effect, but you need an incredibly steady foot and also spend a longgggggggggg time perfecting how much weight you give the 5th wheel so that it slides under with ease. Once again though, this is not what you should have to be doing with autos - this is making your life harder, not easier.
I feel less tired with an autoshift after a days driving round the city.
The boss decided to keep the 3 pedal setup on the new trucks instead of going clutch pedalless.Backing up was the whole issue since we do alot of it. My mates at Shell complain about their two pedal setup.They have trouble backing up too, the poor overpaid lads 
Coffeeholic:
Lucy:
and you can’t change up more than 1 gear at a time in manual (or is that the old Iveco I’m thinking of?)
No idea. Both Eurotronic1 and 2 allow block changes of two gears at a time.
You can in the Daf. Quoting from the manual, which I have in front of me.
To change up - push lever forward gently
- one gear up (push to 1st position)
- 2 gears up (push past detent to 2nd position)
Yes I know Neil. I’d got mixed up with the old Merc EPS box.
While on the subject of the manual here is another quote:
To get AS-Tronic to select for the best gear when in manual mode - move the lever to the right (S)
Now that just didn’t work on the one I drove, either that or it felt the best gear was neutral becuase that was all you got if you moved the lever to the right, S postion.
I was just about to pull you up on that, but I see you too have figured that out for yourself as well. 
Have to say I was doing rather a lot of head scratching when I read that in the manaul and had to double check the manual was actually a DAF one and not out of something else.
Coffeeholic:
Now I really tried everything I know with that box in the Daf, but to no avail. Might have been me - possible. Might have been that particular truck - possible, it was a rental so may have been abused. I don’t believe they are all like that, they can’t be surely? I’ll just have to wait until I drive another one, maybe in another make of vehicle to see if it was me or the box.
No Neil. It really is a bag of [zb]. Believe me.
I got mixed up there. It was actually the original Merc EPS box I was thinking of. You have to get up through every gear on it.
you sure about that Rob ■■ I drove a lot of EPS mercs from G reg onwards & on every on of them you could change 2 at a time by holding in the button at the front (grey I think) whilst moving the stick. This worked going up and down the box. These must’v been early EPS because the F reg they had were still slapover SK mercs.
Rob K:
Mike-C:
Rob K:
airhorn98:
I’d like to see them drive an old Atki Borderer with a back to front box or an Antar with a crash box they would [zb] themselves.Would gladly show you how to do it, horn
. I cut my teeth on both boxes although you can give me the backwards box over the crash one any day
I’ve just found myself a sig!!!
I never said they were from those wagons
. First one was in an old V-reg Merc, from the late 70s/early 80s?, where the positions were back to front and the crash box from was an old Foden.
Come on, you know i can’t resist!! Ooops! sig still there, i’ get shut of it now
scab-in-a-cab:
I got mixed up there. It was actually the original Merc EPS box I was thinking of. You have to get up through every gear on it.
you sure about that Rob ■■ I drove a lot of EPS mercs from G reg onwards & on every on of them you could change 2 at a time by holding in the button at the front (grey I think) whilst moving the stick. This worked going up and down the box. These must’v been early EPS because the F reg they had were still slapover SK mercs.
Well I’ll be honest John, I didn’t have that much time in it. It was that M-reg 150 tonner double drive I posted on “another” forum a while back. The driver who showed me how it worked had been the driver of it from new (what’s M-reg? 94?) and said that you couldn’t change up more than 1 full gear at a time. Obviously with him being the experienced hand and having driven it for that long one would have thought he’d have known what he was talking about. However, you may well be right!
Well I’ll be honest John, I didn’t have that much time in it. It was that M-reg 150 tonner double drive I posted on “another” forum a while back. The driver who showed me how it worked had been the driver of it from new (what’s M-reg? 94?) and said that you couldn’t change up more than 1 full gear at a time. Obviously with him being the experienced hand and having driven it for that long one would have thought he’d have known what he was talking about. However, you may well be right!
Maybe it was differnet, being a heavy version ■■ I drove a lot of them between 1990 & 1993, mostly newish ones & every one bahaved the same. The little grey button on the front was used to block change 2 at a time.
the other nice touch i can remember from the EPS was driving it really lazy & letting it roll along into a roundabout losing speed, bang the stick to the side & then forwards to pick up the right gear to get the power on, doing this with the splitter in high, let it select the gear & then drop the splitter would wack the revs nicely at the higher end of the power band
but then again, I am a senile old & may well be talking about a Thorneycroft steamer
scab-in-a-cab:
Well I’ll be honest John, I didn’t have that much time in it. It was that M-reg 150 tonner double drive I posted on “another” forum a while back. The driver who showed me how it worked had been the driver of it from new (what’s M-reg? 94?) and said that you couldn’t change up more than 1 full gear at a time. Obviously with him being the experienced hand and having driven it for that long one would have thought he’d have known what he was talking about. However, you may well be right!
Maybe it was differnet, being a heavy version ■■ I drove a lot of them between 1990 & 1993, mostly newish ones & every one bahaved the same. The little grey button on the front was used to block change 2 at a time.
the other nice touch i can remember from the EPS was driving it really lazy & letting it roll along into a roundabout losing speed, bang the stick to the side & then forwards to pick up the right gear to get the power on, doing this with the splitter in high, let it select the gear & then drop the splitter would wack the revs nicely at the higher end of the power band
but then again, I am a senile old & may well be talking about a Thorneycroft steamer
Well I’ve learnt summat new John! I’ll give that button a whirl if I ever get one again, although that’s rather unlikely now as there’s not many of them about now.
scab-in-a-cab:
Well I’ll be honest John, I didn’t have that much time in it. It was that M-reg 150 tonner double drive I posted on “another” forum a while back. The driver who showed me how it worked had been the driver of it from new (what’s M-reg? 94?) and said that you couldn’t change up more than 1 full gear at a time. Obviously with him being the experienced hand and having driven it for that long one would have thought he’d have known what he was talking about. However, you may well be right!
Maybe it was differnet, being a heavy version ■■ I drove a lot of them between 1990 & 1993, mostly newish ones & every one bahaved the same. The little grey button on the front was used to block change 2 at a time.
the other nice touch i can remember from the EPS was driving it really lazy & letting it roll along into a roundabout losing speed, bang the stick to the side & then forwards to pick up the right gear to get the power on, doing this with the splitter in high, let it select the gear & then drop the splitter would wack the revs nicely at the higher end of the power band
but then again, I am a senile old & may well be talking about a Thorneycroft steamer
Your absolutely right Scab.
The EPS was the best gear box I ever used.
Only ever had 1 thing go wrong and that was a conection under the gear stick went ■■■■ up, took it into Merc they put it on computer. 1 hour later back on the road. Fantastic.
Your absolutely right Scab.
The EPS was the best gear box I ever used.
Not often I am right, time for a beer I think
I loved the EPS, I listened to all the moaning ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ about them, but often on a sunday when there were half a dozen EPS, same number of 95’s & a couple of SK’s, guess which the moaners took
I only ever had big problems once & in another thread I told how I was shown how to reprogram, never looked back, reprogram & fly, never had a problem with the box full of neutrals 
Well i must be in the minority here…i drove a 55 plate XF 95 auto for 6 months and loved it
Once you got used to it it was superb. The majority of the drivers on my old firm liked them as well.
Usualy flipped into manual when heavy laden at roundabouts etc and it was fine.
Maybe u had a duff one rob
Wish i was driving one down here in cornwall
Joey
Rob K:
I used to get a Stralis every flaming night of the week when on for Beddies so I disagree it’s lack of practice
I thought you used to turn it down for the flat-roof old Volvo? Anyways, I remember when you were doing that job and you did a fair bit for Macs interspersed with it…The result being that you were forever jumping between two or three different models of truck and hence never really had chance to get “intimate” with the Stralis. It’s like when you first learn to drive…If you learn in one car and practice in another one or two, it takes you far longer to get the knack of clutch control/bite and when to change gear etc etc etc as the goalposts are forever moving. Since the issues are the same (clutch control/bite, timing of gear selection) it’s a ■■■■ good analogy with the same result. It’s a perfectly good box…It’s just that you’ve never had chance to learn the skill, that’s all Rob - not your fault at all.
You can study the manual all day long, that doesn’t teach you the knack of anything. If you had the chance, and a few lessons off someone who’s properly familiar with it in practice - as I did, and still do from time to time - then you’d love it as much as most other Iveco-dwellers. Trust me. 
BiggusdickusUK above is my mentor and guru for all things Stralis these days and he taught me something new only last week…Don’t ever dismiss these old, experienced hands, and if you get the phone number of one, guard it like the gold-dust that it is.
Rob K:
Whoever DAF use for the auto boxes in the XFs should be fired/shot.The AStronic auto box is quite simply THE WORST AUTO BOX EVER !
I challenge anyone to honestly say otherwise after you’ve used one to do shunting with.
You put it in drive, press the pedal and nothing happens, other than it rolling backwards alarmingly, so you press it more and after about 5 seconds and having the pedal nearly to the floor it finally wakes up and catapaults you forward at warp factor 9. Even in tortoise modes for drive and reverse it’s just as bad.
I’d dropped a trailer off on a hill, pulled the pin and went to pull out. I’d just cleared the pin and then eased off to give the suspension time to drop, with the intention of pulling out afterwards, but oh no, the truck has other ideas. It can’t recognise that I’m only just feathering the pedal to creep out slowly and thinks I’m not doing anything at all, so of course rolls back… and reconnects the pin
. I get out and do it again, but the same thing happens, but this time the suspension had dropped far enough so when the unit rolled back, this time I had my foot ready on the pedal and pressed it to make it go forward, but because of the 5 second delay before it wakes up the unit had rolled back, over the top of the pin and the trailer contacted the back of the cab
They’re a real [zb] nightmare.
Even driving down the road normally, when you pull away from a junction it leaves you in no-mans land about twice as long as the Idle Shift does (and THAT’S far too long in itself). People start thinking you’ve broken down as you’re just coasting along and start overtaking you.
The Idle Shift is a dream to drive in comparison, and that’s coming from someone who hates the Idle Shift with a passion. Anyway, needless to say it got defected for poor response/gearbox problem and I’ll keep doing it until they make them drive properly or give me a proper truck with a proper gear box, not an idiots gear box for people who hold 44 tonne on 1:4 hills on the clutch.
This has been a problem for a while now but apparently there is now a software update available that will/should cure this, apparently these problems do not exst with the new 105’s I will let you know in a couple of weeks when I get one.
airhorn98:
Rob K:
airhorn98:
I’d like to see them drive an old Atki Borderer with a back to front box or an Antar with a crash box they would [zb] themselves.Would gladly show you how to do it, horn
Show me how to do what Rob, drive?
I aint driven an artic in 3 years and have still done more miles in reverse than you will ever do. Actually Rob which planet do you come from.
For someone who has driven class one for only five years you seem to have done a hell of a lot.
In fact you still haven’t served your apprenticeship yet.
Over the last 20 years I have met so many like you, been there done it and always a little better than you.
Carry on Rob your funny and amusing, just do me a favour stop presuming you know better than a lot of people on here. You don’t, have opinions yes, every one has. But don’t go saying thing like you cut your teeth on them when you only started driving class 1, 5 years ago
shall we make that in 2003 rob,s had his class 1not 5 years