rigsby:
did you never practice bunny hopping robert ? select next range , lift off , whip into neutral and back into gear double quick , good for upshifting on an uphill drag . it took a bit of practice until you got it smooth . no clutch involved by the way . i was introduced to that by an instructor from the man agents . dave
Yes! That’s particularly useful if you are using the bottom 3 splits with a heavy load on and a hill start: not for the faint-hearted! Robert 
hitch:
The gearbox thàt tells you you’re tired
Spot on!! Robert 
robinhood_1984:
taffytrucker:
The Eaton Fuller box is still big this side of the pond I think Volvo is the only make with auto box as standard. I do mostly highway work with mine so I don’t mind it at all but wouldn’t want it for city work.My dear old shed sports a 13 speed Eaton Fuller and while I’m completely used to it now as I’ve driven nothing else for quite some time, I did spend a considerable time when I first got to Canada missing a European style syncromesh gear box or a decent auto.
I made the error today of opting for Highway 17 coming across Ontario towards Manitoba instead of the much flatter highway 11. It’d been almost six years since my last jaunt this way having gone on 11 every time since and I’d forgotten how bloody twisty and hilly the ■■■■ road was. I’m fully grossed out on Canadian weights for a tandem trailer, with an 11 year old Kenworth with over two million klicks under her belt, and plenty of standing starts on some horrid hills due to road works, traffic lights etc. Its been bloody hard work to say the least, barely managing 15mph up some of the drags. Thankfully I only missed a gear once, which resulted in much swearing.As for Twin Splitters, have you ever heard of one over here? I certainly haven’t.
Only taken that road once was just glad it was in the summer but that was in a auto and wow what a cracking drive. I just hear drivers say 13 spd or 18 spd not twin split
I did 17 heavy once, never again, I’m glad I had ishift or my bloody arm would’ve fallen off by Sault Ste Marie, I hate the 11 though, too many turbanators and Quebecois trying to kill you and the road is falling to pieces! 17 isn’t much fun in winter either, the squalls coming off the lake are evil and in a white out there’s no margin for error, you get it wrong and you’re in the rocks or the lake!
I’ve never heard of a Twin Splitter over here, I’m quite interested in the older trucks and they mostly seem to have a 13 or 15spd or a twin stick set up with 5 main gears and four splits.
neva needed a clutch. only to pull away.
best box for drivers
newmercman:
I did 17 heavy once, never again, I’m glad I had ishift or my bloody arm would’ve fallen off by Sault Ste Marie, I hate the 11 though, too many turbanators and Quebecois trying to kill you and the road is falling to pieces! 17 isn’t much fun in winter either, the squalls coming off the lake are evil and in a white out there’s no margin for error, you get it wrong and you’re in the rocks or the lake!I’ve never heard of a Twin Splitter over here, I’m quite interested in the older trucks and they mostly seem to have a 13 or 15spd or a twin stick set up with 5 main gears and four splits.
It’s odd how that happened. The Twin-splitter seems to have been a British thing; they took off well here in the early 'eighties, were banned under EU noise regs in the late 'nineties; were scarcely used on the Continent; and never seemed to make it over the water to USA, Canada, NZ or Australia. Just a brilliant flash in the pan, then! Robert
I remember reading about the Eaton Twin Snapper in TRUCK mag years ago, I think the concept was the same, I only have a vague recollection of the article, but I’m sure it was in a US truck not a European one. Never heard of one of those over here either for what it’s worth.
NMM
I too remember the article in Truck magazine about the “Snapper”. Seem to think it would have been around the mid 70’s.
If I remember correctly it was going to be the best thing since sliced bread and it had a lot in common with the TwinSplitter.
Was it a prototype for the Twinsplitter?
Bassman
robert1952:
newmercman:
I did 17 heavy once, never again, I’m glad I had ishift or my bloody arm would’ve fallen off by Sault Ste Marie, I hate the 11 though, too many turbanators and Quebecois trying to kill you and the road is falling to pieces! 17 isn’t much fun in winter either, the squalls coming off the lake are evil and in a white out there’s no margin for error, you get it wrong and you’re in the rocks or the lake!I’ve never heard of a Twin Splitter over here, I’m quite interested in the older trucks and they mostly seem to have a 13 or 15spd or a twin stick set up with 5 main gears and four splits.
It’s odd how that happened. The Twin-splitter seems to have been a British thing; they took off well here in the early 'eighties, were banned under EU noise regs in the late 'nineties; were scarcely used on the Continent; and never seemed to make it over the water to USA, Canada, NZ or Australia. Just a brilliant flash in the pan, then! Robert
I never heard about a Ban of the Eaton Gearbox
You may not have heard about it, but it’s the reason they stopped making them, as Robert said, it was too noisy.
albion1971:
A real lorry drivers gearbox that some did not know how to use properly! Every driver should have to use that gearbox on a driving test. That would keep a few off the road.
the first lorry I drove was a seddon Atkinson strato for fedex and it had an eaton splitter box,went out with a night trunker so he could show me how to use the box over 4 nights,i found it to be a very good box
truckman020:
albion1971:
A real lorry drivers gearbox that some did not know how to use properly! Every driver should have to use that gearbox on a driving test. That would keep a few off the road.the first lorry I drove was a seddon Atkinson strato for fedex and it had an eaton splitter box,went out with a night trunker so he could show me how to use the box over 4 nights,i found it to be a very good box
+1
newmercman:
You may not have heard about it, but it’s the reason they stopped making them, as Robert said, it was too noisy.
We couldnt get them when we got the 420 MAN as the Twinsplit was not build for that high torque,and Eaton didn’t build a Gearbox for Europe as the Sales were down,due the small Number of Driver who could shift a Unsyncron Gearbox,
That’s why they released the synchro box to the market. I had an MAN 464 Evolution with one in it, a much smoother box than the nasty ponderous ZF ecosplit alternative, but still nowhere near as smooth as a well driven 13spd could be.
Immigrant:
Eaton didn’t build a Gearbox for Europe as the Sales were down,due the small Number of Driver who could shift a Unsyncron Gearbox,
At least the Euros could make up their mind.It’s either that it’s too noisy or it’s that Germans can’t drive.The difference between all the over engineered bollox in the Tiger tank v the Centurion suggests it’s the latter. 
Seriously it’s really just a case of making sure that road speed and engine speed are matched during shifts.Wether it’s double de clutched or a floated shift using a Fuller or a single clutched shift using a synchro.The only difference is that the synchro is a heavier to use,slower and more expensive way of allowing for zb driving standards regards the above. 
Carryfast:
Immigrant:
Eaton didn’t build a Gearbox for Europe as the Sales were down,due the small Number of Driver who could shift a Unsyncron Gearbox,At least the Euros could make up their mind.It’s either that it’s too noisy or it’s that Germans can’t drive.The difference between all the over engineered bollox in the Tiger tank v the Centurion suggests it’s the latter.
Seriously it’s really just a case of making sure that road speed and engine speed are matched during shifts.Wether it’s double de clutched or a floated shift using a Fuller or a single clutched shift using a synchro.The only difference is that the synchro is a heavier to use,slower and more expensive way of allowing for zb driving standards regards the above.
It’s called evolution Geoffrey.
The splitter was very problematic on the Eaton synchro especaly on low range gears and I know MAN disabled the splitter as an option on tge low range and foden offered it as a 12 speed and they were a lot more reliable.
I’d say tge Germans were ok with them man offered the twin splitter and Iveco which is part German Well in to the 90s
kr79:
I’d say tge Germans were ok with them man offered the twin splitter and Iveco which is part German Well in to the 90s
Which leaves the question of why the change from the great ,although driver critical,constant mesh ZF 12 speed splitter as used in the old DAF 2800 to the diabolical synchro ecosplit.
Not to mention that Tiger v Centurion example. 
newmercman:
Seriously it’s really just a case of making sure that road speed and engine speed are matched during shifts.Wether it’s double de clutched or a floated shift using a Fuller or a single clutched shift using a synchro.The only difference is that the synchro is a heavier to use,slower and more expensive way of allowing for zb driving standards regards the above.
It’s called evolution Geoffrey.
[/quote]
Luckily at least they can tell the difference between ‘retrograde’.As opposed to if it ain’t broke don’t fix it ‘progress’ across the Atlantic.On that note ( unsurprisingly ) it seems that the 18 speed Fuller was more ‘progress’ than the twin split.Let alone putting the ecosplit in anything.
We’ve had the Americans having the right idea, ze Germans being useless, now all we need is Gardner were bad engines, British hauliers didn’t have a clue, unions, the war, Thatcher and underage marriage and we’ve had the world according to Carryfast.