Have been out with a couple of firms in the past few days on ‘trials’ . Friday took an ERF with a splitter box ,today an IVECO with a crash box. Quite a difference as i took my test in a straight 6 DAF.
Felt like bart simpson both times when he’s asked if he knows how to do long divivsion and replies "well i’m aware OF IT "!!!
absolutely loved driving the crash box tho, seems the best way to drive. had a nightmare going round a roundabout with the splitter and the ERF took some handling but the IVECO went like a dream. The IVECO was a tractor unit and had more acceleration than my car!!! absolutely awesome especially when the ‘tester’ was going “gun it” to get me moving through the gears!!
been offered both jobs on trail and am definately taking the one from this morning, shook hands on it a couple of weeks ago and you can’t go back on a handshake. Felt stressed out after yeaterdays trail but came out of todays with a big smile on my face and a spring in my step. Will actually be driving a MAN rigid wth todays firm when i start but it has apparentley got a crash box like the IVECO. looked awesome in the yard as well.
Start in 10 days with them and can’t wait ,like the Ramones sang " I wanna be sedated" for the next 10 days and wake up ready to roll. gotta work out my notice with present non driving job though…
last week has been a stressful time as i’d already handed in my notice and was dreading this weekends trials, was expecting them to say i was no good and i’d be left jobless in a couple of weeks but it all seems to have worked out… The manager at todays firm seemed a good guy as well, like i say shook hands with him a couple of weeks ago but we had a good chat today and he seems a good down to earth bloke.
happy days indeed now the real learning can begin.
well i went thru 2nd-3rd gears, knocked the stick quite hard over to the right , then into 4 then back into 5 and 6 (same place as 2-3) then knock it over again to go up again . think went up to 8th. then when in neutral/stopped knock the stick quite hard to the left to get it back to the low gears. Took a while to get used to slapping the stick over.
i think he called it a crash box anyway !!! certainly never driven one before. its all a bit of a blur a few hours after the event and i was a bit overexcited when writing my first post… he just kept telling me i needed to knock it over to the right to go up thru the gears. maybe i misunderstood him. took a few goes around an industrial estate to even half get the hang of it ,kept wanting to go back into low gears to begin with. it will probably take a bit (lot) longer to get used too properly. in fact if you see a big red rigid wagon round manchester in about 10 days going very slowly and with the driver with a face the same colour as the wagon it will probly be me!!!
maybe iit’s got another name after all i’m just a newbie!!! was great to drive anyway.
bigjoe:
well i went thru 2nd-3rd gears, knocked the stick quite hard over to the right , then into 4 then back into 5 and 6 (same place as 2-3) then knock it over again to go up again . think went up to 8th. then when in neutral/stopped knock the stick quite hard to the left to get it back to the low gears. Took a while to get used to slapping the stick over.
i think he called it a crash box anyway !!! certainly never driven one before. its all a bit of a blur a few hours after the event and i was a bit overexcited when writing my first post… he just kept telling me i needed to knock it over to the right to go up thru the gears. maybe i misunderstood him. took a few goes around an industrial estate to even half get the hang of it ,kept wanting to go back into low gears to begin with. it will probably take a bit (lot) longer to get used too properly. in fact if you see a big red rigid wagon round manchester in about 10 days going very slowly and with the driver with a face the same colour as the wagon it will probly be me!!!
maybe iit’s got another name after all i’m just a newbie!!! was great to drive anyway.
I’m pretty new too and the first time I had one (a Eurotech) the other driver who showed me what I had to do (it was one day on agency) called it a Crash Box too. I’m pretty sure it’s called a Slap Over Range Changer, but not positive. Like ianyng said a crash box is no syncromesh. They are ok these slap over things, but I think the switch on the gear lever (like DAF, Scania) to get the next four ratios is a little bit less intense to drive.
The Iveco you had is a knock over type (slap over). I’ve no idea about the crash box, as I’ve never knowingly driven one . Congratulations on the job .
I think I’d have appriciated a few more days in that Iveco at the time, to crack the gearbox properly, I was getting pretty alright by the end of the day. But the company weren’t very happy cos a pallet of paper fell over during the day and they blamed me, even though I’d asked their other driver about a strap that morning (he was the only other person there at 0600) and he’d said “It’ll be alright”.
Liberace:
The Iveco you had is a knock over type (slap over). I’ve no idea about the crash box, as I’ve never knowingly driven one . Congratulations on the job .
Lib, you are right about a slap over box, generally known as a double H.
A crash box is more properly known as a constant mesh gearbox, as opposed to Synchromesh.
A typical crash box would be a 9 speed Fuller roadranger or David Brown box. The 13 speed Fuller was an offshoot of that, with a splitter as well as a range change.
Liberace:
The Iveco you had is a knock over type (slap over). I’ve no idea about the crash box, as I’ve never knowingly driven one . Congratulations on the job .
Yup, a crash box is something different all together.
You will know when you are trying to drive a crash box. You will be exceedingly lucky, if you can get a gear without a ‘crash’ from the gearbox, unless you know what you are doing.
I have also heard a 4 over 4 with slitter box, called a twin-splitter .
Simon, would that be the one you have to double declutch to get it in gear? The first rigid I ever drove was a heap with a gearbox that was to put none too finer point on it [zb]'d . Very early daf, with no power steering , a 7.5 tonne engine and a pants gearbox you couldn’t get into gear without it shreeking at you if you didn’t double declutch it and “let it do it’s own thing.” Ie go into gear in it’s own time. Didn’t half frighten people at the lights when it went into gear. I learnt to double declutch pretty smartish. Could have just been a heap. Does that sound anything like? I think it had a 9 speed on it, as the vehicle was at the end of it’s life and had been chopped about a fair bit .
for crach box see dont use the cluctch going up the box and double it coming down but if your really good then you wont use the box coming down the gears oh joys and memories
. Congratulations on the job 
.
, a 7.5 tonne engine