How many of you had the pleasure of driving with the good old eaton twin split? I used to swear like a trooper at it when i first had one in a seddon strato then once i got used to it, Brilliant gearbox. Bit like marmite with with other drivers tho; either loved them or hated them. But they were great for going up hills (as long as you did’nt miss) lets have some more opinions.
Im sweating thinking about it much prefere a fuller 13 speed.
i agree with you hoody only did one trip to sicilly in an old 362 man with the twin splitter, i was playing the tunes goodo all the way down but on the way back i had it well sorted, ive always run volvos myself i wish i had the twin splitters in my version 2s those cables are crap they would be a great truck with those boxes in
BEST GEARBOX IN THE WORLD !!!drivers that are not intrested in trucks or there work will never get the hang of them we still use them in the race trucks very very fast gear changes great box 
Yes, when I was on the agency back in the late 80’s I did several months test driving of a prototype version for use in 44 tonne trucks on the continent. The R&D dept responsible was based in Farnworth, and had permission to run at 44t back then on a designated test route crossing and re-crossing the pennines. My job was simply to drive the test route, and note certain measurements (temperatures etc) at certain points. Somewhere on here I’ve already posted a picture of the Iveco 190.42 turbostar that was used as a test bed, I’ll have to fix the links to my old pictures on here though; my web site has moved hosts and I took the opportunity to rationalise the directory structure a bit.
my ec 14 has a twin splitter one of the best gearboxes ever made.really sorts the men from the boys.
Wish I’d got any truck with a manual box these days, I’ve not driven anything with a good auto box. I liked the twin splitter it was a good box but my favourite was the W pattern fuller 9&13’s
Brilliant gearbox - unfortunatley , the only time i drove one it was attached to an Iveco(Ford kin Eurotech) 340
thehood:
… But they were great for going up hills (as long as you did’nt miss) …
If you miss a gear going uphill, you can choose one a few gears lower, that involves a different split (ie not exactly three gears lower, that won’t work). Then if you increase the revs a bit, as the vehicle slows and your revs go up, when they match it will put itself back in gear. If you’re quick and chose your gear well you might not even loose that much speed. I was taught many different tricks and tips by the Eaton guys, all of which I’ve forgotten 
The twin splitter and 13 speed fuller were the best boxes out -
Like most people who drove a twin splitter equipped truck, I hated it for the first couple of days, after that i loved it, Thought I was the dogs bo***cks back in 1990 with a brand new Strato, 14ltr ■■■■■■■■ Eaton twin splitter 
Jerry
Any Fuller box is a pleasure to use if you know what you’re doing, the twin splitter probably gave the fastest changes of all of them, especially if you slipped it into neutral as you split, IIRC this was known as bunny hopping, the only downside to them was the crap that was attached to them, usually an ERF, Foden, Sudden Accident or if you were really unlucky an IVECO
I had the auto version in a 520 Eurostar, it was a nightmare, typical Italian electrics I converted it to a manual, it seemed a simple process, just rip out the actuators & put in a gear linkage, but it wasn’t to be, it had an upside down gear pattern, not like the old chinese boxes, 1st & 2nd were still in the same plane as usual, just round the wrong way, that took some concentrating to get right I can tell you, I sorted it with a linkage from a Strato & it was back to normal after that.
I’ve spoken to a few American/Canadian drivers about it & none of them had a clue what I was on about, they had/have the 9, 10, 13, 15 & 18spd boxes here, but none of them remember the twin splitter, I know it came in MANs & IVECOs, but I don’t know if that was UK market only, perhaps someone could shed more light on it 
newmercman:
Any Fuller box is a pleasure to use if you know what you’re doing, the twin splitter probably gave the fastest changes of all of them, especially if you slipped it into neutral as you split, IIRC this was known as bunny hopping, the only downside to them was the crap that was attached to them, usually an ERF, Foden, Sudden Accident or if you were really unlucky an IVECOI had the auto version in a 520 Eurostar, it was a nightmare, typical Italian electrics
I’ve spoken to a few American/Canadian drivers about it & none of them had a clue what I was on about, they had/have the 9, 10, 13, 15 & 18spd boxes here, but none of them remember the twin splitter, I know it came in MANs & IVECOs, but I don’t know if that was UK market only, perhaps someone could shed more light on it
Hiya …British Leyland put a twin splitter into the Leyland roadtrain fitted to a ■■■■■■■■ I think ERF and Foden also fitted them.that must have been the good old days.We don’t make ow’t these days.The Goverment wanted this country to be a holiday resort who’ed come here its always cold and wet.
newcomerman i’ll tell you what you can put on this site.a US company perchased ERFs and tweeked them up. have you any photo’s i think they was called a Margam they used the ERF cab but fitted a bigger engine and gearbox IICR
John
My first Eaton twin splitter was when I started night truck at Fed Ex out of Crick doing a change over in Exeter, it was a pig 
Next day the boss asked “how did you get on with that gear box ?”
“I had it mastered by the time I got to the M6 split” I replied.
“That soon ! … wow”
“Yeah … on the way back though”
I grew to love them in a short while, once in to top I never moved the gear lever till Exeter again, just flicked the splitter back and forth.
My present truck has a similar gear box called an ‘Eaton super ten’ it only splits once in each gear but is clutchless and mostly on main highways and interstates I only use the splitter, in cruise control it actually changes between the top two by it’s self.
Pat Hasler:
My first Eaton twin splitter was when I started night truck at Fed Ex out of Crick doing a change over in Exeter, it was a pig
Next day the boss asked “how did you get on with that gear box ?”
“I had it mastered by the time I got to the M6 split” I replied.
“That soon ! … wow”
“Yeah … on the way back though”
I grew to love them in a short while, once in to top I never moved the gear lever till Exeter again, just [zb] the splitter back and forth.My present truck has a similar gear box called an ‘Eaton super ten’ it only splits once in each gear but is clutchless and mostly on main highways and interstates I only use the splitter, in cruise control it actually changes between the top two by it’s self.
Pat, that Super10 is the same box that the supertruckers on Ice Road Truckers were having so much trouble with
3300 John, yeah I forgot about Leyland, I had a Roadtrain with a 325 Roller or Perkins as it was then, that had a twin splitter. The American ERFs you mention were probably something to do with Western Star, they owned ERF for a while, as far as I know they never had a cabover ( I’ve never seen one anyway) they may have used the ERF cab for that, they probably melted in the first summer 
newmercman:
Pat Hasler:
My first Eaton twin splitter was when I started night truck at Fed Ex out of Crick doing a change over in Exeter, it was a pig
Next day the boss asked “how did you get on with that gear box ?”
“I had it mastered by the time I got to the M6 split” I replied.
“That soon ! … wow”
“Yeah … on the way back though”
I grew to love them in a short while, once in to top I never moved the gear lever till Exeter again, just [zb] the splitter back and forth.My present truck has a similar gear box called an ‘Eaton super ten’ it only splits once in each gear but is clutchless and mostly on main highways and interstates I only use the splitter, in cruise control it actually changes between the top two by it’s self.
Pat, that Super10 is the same box that the supertruckers on Ice Road Truckers were having so much trouble with
3300 John, yeah I forgot about Leyland, I had a Roadtrain with a 325 Roller or Perkins as it was then, that had a twin splitter. The American ERFs you mention were probably something to do with Western Star, they owned ERF for a while, as far as I know they never had a cabover ( I’ve never seen one anyway) they may have used the ERF cab for that, they probably melted in the first summer
Ice road truckers ■■?
You don’t watch those useless ■■■■■■■■ do you ? … if they knew how to drive properly they would find a super 10 a great gear box but they are ■■■■■■■ in real life
Pat Hasler:
newmercman:
Pat Hasler:
My first Eaton twin splitter was when I started night truck at Fed Ex out of Crick doing a change over in Exeter, it was a pig
Next day the boss asked “how did you get on with that gear box ?”
“I had it mastered by the time I got to the M6 split” I replied.
“That soon ! … wow”
“Yeah … on the way back though”
I grew to love them in a short while, once in to top I never moved the gear lever till Exeter again, just [zb] the splitter back and forth.My present truck has a similar gear box called an ‘Eaton super ten’ it only splits once in each gear but is clutchless and mostly on main highways and interstates I only use the splitter, in cruise control it actually changes between the top two by it’s self.
Pat, that Super10 is the same box that the supertruckers on Ice Road Truckers were having so much trouble with
3300 John, yeah I forgot about Leyland, I had a Roadtrain with a 325 Roller or Perkins as it was then, that had a twin splitter. The American ERFs you mention were probably something to do with Western Star, they owned ERF for a while, as far as I know they never had a cabover ( I’ve never seen one anyway) they may have used the ERF cab for that, they probably melted in the first summer
hiya you two over the pond weston star NO it wasen’t that lot i will have to find out from this side. it must have been a privateer i think they was for special use. the trucks was a few years old when exported and then converted for use.I 'am going to a show this weekend i might get some info there
cheers lads John
3300John:
newmercman:
Any Fuller box is a pleasure to use if you know what you’re doing, the twin splitter probably gave the fastest changes of all of them, especially if you slipped it into neutral as you split, IIRC this was known as bunny hopping, the only downside to them was the crap that was attached to them, usually an ERF, Foden, Sudden Accident or if you were really unlucky an IVECOI had the auto version in a 520 Eurostar, it was a nightmare, typical Italian electrics
I’ve spoken to a few American/Canadian drivers about it & none of them had a clue what I was on about, they had/have the 9, 10, 13, 15 & 18spd boxes here, but none of them remember the twin splitter, I know it came in MANs & IVECOs, but I don’t know if that was UK market only, perhaps someone could shed more light on it
Hiya …British Leyland put a twin splitter into the Leyland roadtrain fitted to a ■■■■■■■■ I think ERF and Foden also fitted them.that must have been the good old days.We don’t make ow’t these days.The Goverment wanted this country to be a holiday resort who’ed come here its always cold and wet.
newcomerman i’ll tell you what you can put on this site.a US company perchased ERFs and tweeked them up. have you any photo’s i think they was called a Margam they used the ERF cab but fitted a bigger engine and gearbox IICR
John
hi john theres a photo of that margam on the big lorry blog in the archive-alan
or was it this -alan
newmercman:
…but I don’t know if that was UK market only, perhaps someone could shed more light on it
Someone already did
zetorpilot:
…back in the late 80’s I did several months test driving of a prototype version for use in 44 tonne trucks on the continent.
I know that’s not a real answer, but I assume the euro version went into production, that was the intention anyway…
By the way you are right about changing gear in that way, but it was actually called “Buddy hopping” after the guy that discovered it 