Foden 12 speed never driven one myself but looked very complicated.Over here Canada 4 times 2 gearshifts were common on gravel trucks and similiarThese had two gear sticks.The most difficult time I ve had with a gear box was on a 1969 MCI coach 4 speed crash box.
Eaton Twin Splitter or any Fuller box
Fullers are alive and well over here. We have the 9 speeds, 13s and 18s. They never had the twinsplit as far as I know, but that was a top gearbox.
davemackie:
Old gearbox’s, Scammell gate change must rank tops, if you didn’t know how to use this box, you were going no where.
Dave.
When I started at Shell Mex & B.P. at Buncefield Terminal they were still running Scammells and we were given special tuition on how to handle the gear changes !! If you weren’t in the correct gear 100% of the time then you were stuffed !!
Rob, I remember reading in TRUCK about the twin splitter when it was still experimental, it was in the US & called a twin snapper, don’t know if it caught on as I’ve never heard it mentioned, but as you know the twin splitter did make it in the UK, if you used it properly it was a fantastic box, but get it wrong & it had 12 gears & a million neutrals 
personally I liked it, had a Foden 12 speed in an 8 wheeler & that was a strange one, there seemed to be different gears in different places on different days! Had a David Brown 6 speed with a chinese gear pattern, that was a nasty thing, the worst though was a constant mesh ZF 12 speed splitter in a 2800 Daf, it was pure evil, you had to use every gear up & down the box or it just would not go in, didn’t matter if you had the revs right, try & go down a couple at a time like when you approach a roundabout or a traffic light that turned green & it would just make a load of crunching & you’d have to stop & start from scratch 
I’ve got an 18spd Fuller in my current steed, I have no issue with it, but it’s no I-shift 
Gta be the Roadranger, an exellent box in over-drive top form, nice n simple with lightning fast shifts to be had! 
twin splitter was a dream to work with afteer first hour or so 
worked with 9 speed fuller as well and never a problem. bet the poles not be as keen to work here if we still had them!!!
newmercman:
Rob, I remember reading in TRUCK about the twin splitter when it was still experimental, it was in the US & called a twin snapper, don’t know if it caught on as I’ve never heard it mentioned, but as you know the twin splitter did make it in the UK, if you used it properly it was a fantastic box, but get it wrong & it had 12 gears & a million neutralsI’ve got an 18spd Fuller in my current steed, I have no issue with it, but it’s no I-shift
I don’t think that the Eaton ‘Snapper’ ever came to market here, although I was able to drive a B Series ERF with a prototype installation. It seemed OK to me, although it was different to the Twin Split, wasn’t it?
The David Brown is OK. as far as 6-speed boxes go, but the ratio gap between 4th and 5th was wider than the others, so you always had to time that change differently. OK in its day behind a Gardner, but utterly hopeless behind a 220 ■■■■■■■■
wilson epicyclic and coventry self changing gears.
the wilson box was definatly tried in a aec as for csg im not 100% if this was a bus only aplication. the wilson box was normally for coaches maybe someone can enlighten me on the use of a wilson “air change” box in a aec ■■
The 18 is a good box, but with the big motors they are largely window dressing at the weights we run. I use them all at one time or another, but the thought of using all of them all the time is mind numbing, not to mention shoulder stretching at the moment…
I had the principle of the twinsplit told to me by someone in Gregorys yard at Cullompton when I was watching an agency driver grate his way around the yard. The guy who told me described it as terrible and I believed him, right up till I actually drove one. After that, I loved it.
Never heard of them being out here, but I was not in a position to hear until a few years ago when I actually came out here. Not heard of any being in use though.
You got me thinking though. I had an MAN 8 legger block lorry with a ZF in it. That was a 6 speed with an indirect splitter that you had to listen to when you used the splitter, and wait for the crunch of the gear meshing. That thing was a witch. You had first by your knee and it shifted up to the left…
I quite liked the spicer 12 speed in the Roadtrain, although the bottom 6 gears were too low and the gaps in the upper 6 were too high. Didn’t bother the Rolls Royce much, but the ■■■■■■■ wasn’t as good with it.
240 Gardner:
I don’t think that the Eaton ‘Snapper’ ever came to market here, although I was able to drive a B Series ERF with a prototype installation. It seemed OK to me, although it was different to the Twin Split, wasn’t it?The David Brown is OK. as far as 6-speed boxes go, but the ratio gap between 4th and 5th was wider than the others, so you always had to time that change differently. OK in its day behind a Gardner, but utterly hopeless behind a 220 ■■■■■■■■
I only read about the Twin Snapper so you know more than me if you had a prototype, I’m sure it was on the same principal as the Twin Splitter with 4 main gears & 3 ‘splitters’
As for the DB, the one I had was also chinese with 5th & 6th back to front too, it had a 2spd eaton rear end too & as it had a Gardner 180 making it all go around I used it quite often It was a slow box & did suit the Gardner well, I did a local job once in an A series that had a 240 Gardner & a Fuller box (10spd I think) that was a different story, the Gardner & the Fuller were not a good match, with the combination of the Gardner revs taking forever to drop & the Fuller requiring lightning fast shifting I made more crunching noises than Dawn French in room full of honeycomb 
remember driving a 16 speed twin splitter it was the same as twelve speed but an extra flick of the thumb before changing with the stick . but preferred the 12 speed twin splitter . the fuller road ranger 9 speed was good as well but had to be fairly quick changing . give me any of these over an eps any day
newmercman:
240 Gardner:
I don’t think that the Eaton ‘Snapper’ ever came to market here, although I was able to drive a B Series ERF with a prototype installation. It seemed OK to me, although it was different to the Twin Split, wasn’t it?The David Brown is OK. as far as 6-speed boxes go, but the ratio gap between 4th and 5th was wider than the others, so you always had to time that change differently. OK in its day behind a Gardner, but utterly hopeless behind a 220 ■■■■■■■■
I only read about the Twin Snapper so you know more than me if you had a prototype, I’m sure it was on the same principal as the Twin Splitter with 4 main gears & 3 ‘splitters’
As for the DB, the one I had was also chinese with 5th & 6th back to front too, it had a 2spd eaton rear end too & as it had a Gardner 180 making it all go around I used it quite often
I regularly used to go out in a 400 Series with a 240 Gardner and a 9-speed Fuller and loved it! It certainly didn’t need the clutch - each to their own, eh?
And I own a Mk.2 Atki with a 180 Gardner and a 10-speed Fuller, and I think it’s a really good match - it will climb a house side and still do well over 60 mph. It’s one or the other with a 6-speed!
David Brown 6-speed with a 2-speed Eaton axle. Absolute doddle empty but miss one change on the hill with a load on and it was crawler all the rest of the way!
Regarding Fullers; IIRC you had to be a bit careful if your gaffer had a mixed fleet of Sedd-Acks and ERF’s, same box but gate was arse about face.
I had a Sed Atki 400 with the 240 Gardner and 9-speed Fuller and apart from the box being a*** about face it was a good tool.
Was a bus & coach driver 70 -74 & we had leyland tigers & the bigger Leyland Leoperds with crash boxes built late 50s & early 60s bit of an embarrasment when a newbie but ended up loving them, although couldnt tell you what they were.Years later ended up with the love of me life Sed Ack Strato with the twin splitter very similar drive to the early 60`s buses.
r slicker:
wilson epicyclic and coventry self changing gears.the wilson box was definatly tried in a aec as for csg im not 100% if this was a bus only aplication. the wilson box was normally for coaches maybe someone can enlighten me on the use of a wilson “air change” box in a aec ■■
Not sure about it being used in AEC lorries, but it appeared in the “2 Pedal Beaver” and also in Atkinsons to special order. There is even an ex-Schweppes Borderer preserved with its original semi-auto box - 250 ■■■■■■■ and 4-speed SCG box at 32 tons!
hiya, scammell gate change was good if you could manage with the gate removed, you had to put a rolled sack and a few innertube rubbers round the bottom to stop the noise but when you got used to it it made life a lot easier, this was an old shell unit which killingbecks bought i did the gearbox mod myself but can’t claim the invention. thanks harry long retired.
I always thought it was ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ & Gardner-DB that were best suited to each other, only did about 30 miles with the Gardner-Fuller combo & my usual steed at the time was an F10 so it might have been me being a bit rusty that was the problem rather than the lorry
As for the Gardner 180-David Brown 6spd-Eaton 2spd combo, coming down the box the thing used to lose speed on a hill so quickly that I never even considered going down half a gear & with 180 lame horses I didn’t do much changing up when going uphill on the level or downhill though it was fine, except that to go from 2nd to 3rd (main gears) it would not go in straight from 2nd, I had to push the stick away from me & come back into 3rd as if I was changing down from 5th, were they all like that?
Like all ‘proper’ drivers I also use a constant mesh gearbox without the clutch, whether it’s a DB, Foden or Fuller of any kind & as my current motor has an 18spd Fuller I do it all day every day, give me a go in that A series now & I’d make it sing
240 Gardner:
r slicker:
wilson epicyclic and coventry self changing gears.the wilson box was definatly tried in a aec as for csg im not 100% if this was a bus only aplication. the wilson box was normally for coaches maybe someone can enlighten me on the use of a wilson “air change” box in a aec ■■
Not sure about it being used in AEC lorries, but it appeared in the “2 Pedal Beaver” and also in Atkinsons to special order. There is even an ex-Schweppes Borderer preserved with its original semi-auto box - 250 ■■■■■■■ and 4-speed SCG box at 32 tons!
Got all excited on my last post & forgot about this 
A firm my Dad worked for had a Scammell Trunker that had an epicyclic box, my Dad didn’t drive it often, nor did anyone else for that matter, as the regular driver was a relly short bloke & had put blocks of wood on the pedals & I’m being serious Don’t know what engine it had but I assume it was an 0.680?