Most Disappointing Lorry

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

switchlogic:
Anything with a twin splitter

Luke Luke Luke. Luke. I should start by pointing out that I’m a fan of yours: as an errudite, charming and witty vlogger with an imaginary lego-headed sidekick NO ONE can be considered your equal. However people saying bad stuff about Twinsplitters I find hard to process unless they can claim to have spent any real time driving them. If it’s a ‘no’ then the comment can be dismissed immediately :smiley: . If it’s a ‘yes’ and they still didn’t like it, then it was either a duff one or they never got shown how to use it properly. (And I had somebody very patient showing me if I’m honest).

IM(humblest of)O Twinsplitters were genius. The splits were the quickest downshifts you could EVER imagine. You’d preselect then barely wobble the throttle and there’s your split. There was two splits before you had to move the stick, then another two. Absolutely fantastic on hills and could make a barnstormer out of the most unlikely motor when used properly. Granted (understatement alert) the choice of chassis in which they were available could otherwise be somewhat limited in glamour and driver appeal. But there might be a couple of surprises in that list - for example how about an F90 Man - they could be specced with them. For those that can’t remember, that was when Man’s were still quite good.

‘My choice of disappointment?’ I hear you enquire. We’ll that’s easy. I used to drive for a firm out of Whitland on milk/straw work. Their Actroses had big v8s in them, wow I thought, until I drove one. It wasn’t the 143-eater I fantasised it might be. That horrible tippy-tappy engine note and a glacially slow gearchange out of those ‘Telligent’ autos and semi autos (they had both, though I think the latter were permanently in fold-down-clutch-pedal-pending-repair-mode). For a 530 bhp truck (when that was still quite a lot) they were something of a sheep in wolf’s clothing. They also had an F reg Merc SK 1644 on the straw. That was much the same but with an even worse gearbox and pokier, utilitarian cab. EPS really was the engineering solution to a problem that simply didn’t exist - those prehistoric electronics couldn’t really bring much to the table, you had to be so slow with that clutch it was unbearable, an absolute polar opposite of the Twinsplitters I used to drive in fact (nice link back there dontchathink :wink:)

*edited for a typo and to try and seem less of a knob :smiley: (failed)

22

r series scania.
nice to drive…■■■■ bed.

23

sime17:

switchlogic:
Anything with a twin splitter

Luke Luke Luke. Luke. I should start by pointing out that I’m a fan of yours: as an errudite, charming and witty vlogger with an imaginary lego-headed sidekick NO ONE can be considered your equal. However people saying bad stuff about Twinsplitters I find hard to process unless they can claim to have spent any real time driving them. If it’s a ‘no’ then the comment can be dismissed immediately :smiley: . If it’s a ‘yes’ and they still didn’t like it, then it was either a duff one or they never got shown how to use it properly. (And I had somebody very patient showing me if I’m honest).

IM(humblest of)O Twinsplitters were genius. The splits were the quickest downshifts you could EVER imagine. You’d preselect then barely wobble the throttle and there’s your split. There was two splits before you had to move the stick, then another two. Absolutely fantastic on hills and could make a barnstormer out of the most unlikely motor when used properly. Granted (understatement alert) the choice of chassis in which they were available could otherwise be somewhat limited in glamour and driver appeal.

+1, all the way. I loved the old ERF E series I drove on heavy haulage for a bit, with its Eaton twin split and 14 litre ■■■■■■■ engine. My one big regret in life is that I’ll never again be given a twin splitter to drive, instead being stuck for the rest of my driving days with something fitted with an auto 'box which takes all the skill and judgement of a dodgem car to drive. Twin splitters are for proper drivers, not these modern spoon fed milksops. :laughing:

24

Every Scania I have ever driven has left me feeling disappointed

25

sime17:
If it’s a ‘no’ then the comment can be dismissed immediately :smiley: . If it’s a ‘yes’ and they still didn’t like it, then it was either a duff one or they never got shown how to use it properly.

Its a yes, and a yes, someone did show me how to use it. Over complicated rubbish. Any gearbox that needs someone to show you how to use it is excessively and pointlessly complicated in my opinion. Might not have helped that I only drove them when driving the worst lorries ever made, ERFs. If ever two things were made for each other it was ERFs and Twin Splitters

26

2025 Merc air cooled Iveco’s Fl10 later model Daf’s.

Remember the Mercs with the silly stupid clicky clicky gearbox with “Powerliner” emblazoned on the sun visor, bloody things couldn’t pull your hat off nice and comfy though

If you started your driving career after the the mid to late 90’s then you have probably never driven a bad truck.

27

mike68:
2025 Merc air cooled Iveco’s Fl10 later model Daf’s.

Remember the Mercs with the silly stupid clicky clicky gearbox with “Powerliner” emblazoned on the sun visor, bloody things couldn’t pull your hat off nice and comfy though

If you started your driving career after the the mid to late 90’s then you have probably never driven a bad truck.

Apart from Ivecos, obviously. :laughing:

28

my old Ford D series 7.5t that was a lovely motor :frowning:

29

I concur with Luke with the Eaton Twin Splitter.What was the point of it,useless.?Some can,some can not and stall it in the middle of a roundabout.
The ERF was pig ugly,Olympic cab was fibre glass and plastic.
The Volvo FL10 had some guts and under estimated,nick named the Wendy house.
Get dressed out side if over 4 feet tall.
A bad truck was the Pegaso Troner.GBE had a fleet of them on Euro work.
The Spanish loved them.
If Twin Splitters were so good,where are they now?

30

Missing a gear coming up Stanwix bank in Carlisle during rush hour was not one of the best baptisms of my twin splitter outings. On the whole not bad at all.

31

A Tesco spec Merc’ Axor.

Me being new and naive I was looking forward to driving one of the brand new Mercedes Axors, something different to drive and add to my experience. It was nice to be in a new motor but after trying to get used to it I started to take a dislike to it quickly. Unrefined, uncomfortable and cramped (lift your ar$e an inch off the seat and you head ■■■■ the tacho). I now try and avoid driving them as much as possible. Very disappointed.

32

Not been driving enough different units to have much of a comparison but I find the Merc Axor OK except for the seat I’ve sat on softer church pews :frowning:

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been given some new Actroses to play with which are a big improvement but whoever programmed/set the gearbox and retarder needs a kicking the ‘eco’ gear is a complete PITA. Scenario is - loaded, going downhill rig picks up speed, just as you put the retarder to steady things the eco gear kicks in and the rig starts free-wheeling, then the retarder kicks in dropping the unit down to tenth gear its like driving a fricking kangaroo.

33

T cab Scania 144R - horrible ride quality, notchy gearbox

34

Ford Cargo 17ton rigid. The first truck I was set loose with on my own. My biggest gripe was that the curtains only ran along the back of the seats, so nothing round the windows. The cab was tiny for being away all week in. When I got a Daf 85 I thought it was huge lol.
As for the twin splitter debate, another firm I worked at had these specced into (again) Daf 85s, once I got used to them, I rather liked it. But what I get confused with is why drivers seem to think that auto boxes are bad. Anything that makes work a little easier must be a good thing?

And all the old hands, don’t rubbish the young lads/lasses by suggesting they aren’t worthy to do the job because they’re using autos etc. Any new driver has to pay a lot more money and do loads more training before they get behind the wheel.

I’ve been at this for coming on 19 years, I don’t know everything I still ask questions when I come across something different. I’m not academically brilliant, but if I was a good as some claim they are, why would I still be driving trucks??

35

I drove a Foden with the Eaton twin splitter and Rolls Royce/ Perkins engine in the early 90’s for about 2years. I loathed the gearbox for weeks and weeks at first, but once I’d mastered it thought it was brilliant.

The first Volvo I drove was the FL10, what a pile of dung, I’m quite tall but I remember feeling cramped when I was driving it and as for getting into the bunk :unamused: Alright for a 3 foot munchkin but then I suppose at least you got a bunk !!!

36

Brucewillis:
And all the old hands, don’t rubbish the young lads/lasses by suggesting they aren’t worthy to do the job because they’re using autos etc. Any new driver has to pay a lot more money and do loads more training before they get behind the wheel.

Its a difficult one, i don’t like autos because (Volvo excepted) they’re crap, the programming’s awful, the time lag between gears is a nothing short of a bad joke, but worst of all is that when you need the box to perform correctly, at junctions etc, is the time the failings of the box show up, left to their own devices you can’t make smooth constant progress in a (Volvo excepted) auto, and don’t get me started on close manoeuvering, and i don’t mean backing onto a warehouse door in a 20 acre site, i mean real manoeuvers.

They can be bearable if driven in manual override, and some lend themselves to this, Scania for example, others fitted with the AS Chronic fight you all the way.

I don’t think the old school, who including me liked the twin splitter, a lot, have anything against new drivers as such, i certainly don’t, what we should all have as drivers is a thing against idiots who shouldn’t be allowed within a mile of a lorry…and there’s plenty of them out there old and young alike.

The problem we have now is that any idiot can get in a lorry and aim it up the road just be pressing the throttle and steering…there was something to be said for vehicles that were harder to drive, took some nous and kicked you back to a stop if you didn’t know how to drive them, for those old gearboxes kept a certain number of numpties out of the industry as A, they were hard work, and B, they couldn’t drive the bloody things anyway and couldn’t get 'em out the gate.

This created the golden days of drivers being in relatively short supply, hence better terms and conditions.

I’m not suggesting we should return to hard as nails Mickey Mouse Fodens and Scammel Highwaymans, but things have got too easy and now the job is oversubscribed, and cos any idiot can now be a lorry driver there’s an increasing number of idiots in the things.

37

I’m 48, but still feel like most drivers are a lot older than me. Doesn’t seem to be many younger drivers coming through, or is that just me?

38

FL10 geartronic, we had one of the first at swifts, very clever bit of kit for its time, takes the pressure off the driver etc. trainer showed us the all the knobs and switches,did the standing on its nose braking routine,how to adjust the clutch,the different driving modes, understanding fault codes etc . surprisingly for me i was very impressed ,me being a died in the wool ERF/■■■■■■■■ twinsplitter/roadranger kind of person.
didn’t tell you about the embarresment factor of failing to reverse up anything steeper than running over a ■■■ packet, losing all the gears when going over a roundabout 10 minutes after bring it out of the dealer,after the umpteenth repair, having to constantly adjust the clutch, having all the electrics fitted on the bottom of the gearbox so all the wet crap off the road caused electrical problems.
good job they got it right next time around.

39

The Eaton twin splitter was a dream compared to the Spicer box in a Leyland Roadtrain or TM Bedford, if the revs weren’t perfect it just did not go in, end of.

40

hate iveco tector 7.5 as gear shift like stirring drying concrete!

love my baby daf, even with its auto box.

miss driving my old scania coach. 5 speed split box.
spent many a day teaching older drivers how to use it properly!