as some of you guys may know i start back tramping monday morning at nuttalls so had to go in this morning to run through a few things and go out for a short drive with the guy who runs the workshop well this is were it all went wrong it was a scania topline with a 3 over 3 manual box having driven many scanias before i have never driven a manual in fact i have only ever driven a manual truck 3 times and 1 was for my test
well it was shocking a just couldnt find 4th i was all over the place ( stiring soup i think the phrase is )
i know after my first full day in it il have it down to a fine art but just couldnt belive how much a struggled with it 
also i dont it left the bossman with a massive deal of confidence in my ability o well gonna be fun on monday so if see a 54 plate slightly shabby looking topline reving its nuts off and crawling along give us a wave it will be me 
Do you mean a 4 over 4? Guessing so as you talk about missing 4th gear. I got thrown in the deep end with a 4 over 4 DAF (This one - 
) - and quickly picked it up. I’m sure you will do fine when you get behind the wheel without someone watching you.
Dont ever get into a truck with an eaton twin split then FFS 
Joking aside, i was the same back in 92 when i passed my C&E. You can get some pretty good tunes outa them when your abit green.
You also have one up on me as Ive never driven anything but manuals. I got in a Merc with that EPS thing when it very first came out in the early 90’s. Would’nt have the first clue in how to operate one those even now!!!
it is a 3 over 3 box with a splitter, 4th is where 1st is
1/4 2/5 3/6 are the gears
just take your time with the gearbox and you will be fine
BanburyDan:
Do you mean a 4 over 4?
No, it’s a Scumia, he means a 3 over 3, 1st is where 2nd is on your daf, 2nd where your 3rd is and 3rd where your 4th is, then 4th is above 3rd.
Usually a switch on side for a range change, but some have a collar range change switch, they also have 1/2 gears too.
Like most things you’ll learn in time with plenty of practice, you just learn to adapt to different variations.
BanburyDan:
Do you mean a 4 over 4? Guessing so as you talk about missing 4th gear. .
its a while since i had a scania but i,m pretty sure my old one was 3 over 3
its basically only a 6 speed box
3 in low 3 in high but then you use side splitter to split each gear giving you 12 in total
I stand to be corrected and it was a while ago {W reg} but thats how i seem to remember it, although i seem to remember 4th being awkward when the gearbox was cold, which could be the problem the op was having
edited as i made it sound over complicated
waynedl:
BanburyDan:
Do you mean a 4 over 4?No, it’s a Scumia, he means a 3 over 3, 1st is where 2nd is on your daf, 2nd where your 3rd is and 3rd where your 4th is, then 4th is above 3rd.
Usually a switch on side for a range change, but some have a collar range change switch, they also have 1/2 gears too.
Fair enough, never had the misfortune to have to drive a swedish truck. The DAF had a collar change lever on it.
Just remember it not a “Russian” gear box
A problem highlighted here is, from what the o/p says, he got the job and then went out for a drive with the guy. Itll be al ok Im sure and thats how I always learned. i.e. get in the ■■■■ thing and drive it. It`s awkward at first, but you do get it after a bit.
No. The problem now is, if youre on agency or even if you get past the interview stage for a permanent job, you go for an assessment at quite a lot of places, and if you werent born with the ability to drive seamlessly in a truck that youve never been in before then you dont get a second chance. Not many give you the benefit of the doubt if you don`t click with it straight from the off.
That Scania can be a handful if you`ve never done one before, but after a few miles its no mystery.
They are designed for lorry drivers to operate after all! 
Why cant gearboxes be standardised E.G. 7.5. tonners with a straight 6 speed box, rigids with a 4 over 4 and artics well I cant drive them so someone e lse could sort that one.
alamcculloch:
Why cant gearboxes be standardised E.G. 7.5. tonners with a straight 6 speed box, rigids with a 4 over 4 and artics well I cant drive them so someone e lse could sort that one.
The 7.5 Tonner I was driving on friday was a 5 speeder - well annoying!!!
I used to drive an MAN a 35 343 5 pot had a 16 speed knock across box but was back to front so first and second was nearest to you and you worked away from yourself. Ok when you was used to it but ever drive a normal one and you looked a right knob.
Anyone who has driven a gate change scammel will tell you we all don’t know we are born and a twin splitter is for sissys
Sorry to sound harsh…Where I use to work before being kicked out the door I use to hear about drivers coming in for a quick blast up the A5 and the guy who took them out was still shaking after they had left,they couldn’t drive for toffee !! Interview,then a drive,then an offer of work.The OP wouldn’t of been offered a job at my old place.
I have driven artics for about 20 days in 10 years,but I still know how to use them,if I didn’t I would look up the gearbox etc and see how to use it…I thought the OP was a driver?..Sorry dude,your fired ! 
cheekymonkey:
A problem highlighted here is, from what the o/p says, he got the job and then went out for a drive with the guy. Itll be al ok Im sure and thats how I always learned. i.e. get in the ■■■■ thing and drive it. It`s awkward at first, but you do get it after a bit.No. The problem now is, if you
re on agency or even if you get past the interview stage for a permanent job, you go for an assessment at quite a lot of places, and if you werent born with the ability to drive seamlessly in a truck that youve never been in before then you dont get a second chance. Not many give you the benefit of the doubt if you don`t click with it straight from the off.That Scania can be a handful if you`ve never done one before, but after a few miles its no mystery.
They are designed for lorry drivers to operate after all!
An age old problem really. One company I worked at a while back ran a fleet of Scanias with the 3 over 3 box. Come November time they needed to run some night trunks for one particular contract. I rocked back up at the office and they told me mine was going out (I only did day work) on nights and the agency guy was stood there waiting. I introduced myself to the lad and asked him if he’d done fridges and driven a Scania. He had done neither so I suggested I should give the lad a quick run down and a nip around the estate to show him the gearbox. The transport manager was somewhat in shock at the gesture so I offered to do it “off the clock” as a friendly driver to driver gesture. Took the lad out showed him what was what and gave him a few tips and directions. showed him where my coffee stuff was if he fancied a brew. He put his card in etc then we went in and he bought me a brew. 30 minutes later he set off and I nipped in the office to check on the following days work. Several drivers were in ther muttering about [zb]ing agency drivers and “it better not be a mess in the morning” all the usual tosh. TM told me to stick another 30 mins on my timesheet. The next morning the truck was coupled, fuelled, night heater on and he’d found my polish and given it a clean 
Needless to say a word with the TM and I kept him for 3 months as night man on mine
Interestingly enough out of the 5 or 6 of them he was the only Pole. The British ones didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory so far as damage, timekeeping or cleanliness 
I worked for a Seddon Atkinson dealer in the early and mid 1980s. That was the period when the 400 was being superceeded by the 401. Taking the vehicles for a road test was certainly a challenge because the 400 series had a reverse lever pattern to the 401 and of course the gearbox choice was similar in both models. Not only that, but we saw some older Seddon or Atkinson models too, as well as many other makes including some Army gate change Scammells and some column change MAN or Saviems. We had: the David Brown 6 and 8 speed, the Fuller RT 600 series, the Fuller RT 950 series, the ZF AK 6/80, two versions of the Spicer SST box , the Turner in the 200s and 201s and all in either normal or reverse pattern, Foden 12 speeds with shift on the dash or on the lever, the AEC/Thorneycroft D203 6 speed and the Leyland Albion six and the ten speed splitter. It was interesting and often noisy if you forgot what you had underneath you.
I can well remember my first drive (totaly ilegally) in a Guy ‘Big J’ unit back in about 1984, Id only just got my car license back then! It had a 9 speed fuller with a 290 ■■■■■■■ and it really sorted the men from the boys!
I was one of the boys
Gembo:
Dont ever get into a truck with an eaton twin split then FFS
Joking aside, i was the same back in 92 when i passed my C&E. You can get some pretty good tunes outa them when your abit green.
You also have one up on me as Ive never driven anything but manuals. I got in a Merc with that EPS thing when it very first came out in the early 90’s. Would’nt have the first clue in how to operate one those even now!!!
Eaton twin splitters are the best ever and easiest gear box ever made, I wish we had them over here.
Gembo:
I can well remember my first drive (totaly ilegally) in a Guy ‘Big J’ unit back in about 1984, Id only just got my car license back then! It had a 9 speed fuller with a 290 ■■■■■■■ and it really sorted the men from the boys!
I was one of the boys
I learned to drive in an ERF C series which we took the 5th wheel off and put a Jonsered Highland Bear timber crane on.A steep learning curve for a 19 y/o but once you had got it there was nothing sweeter.
Pat Hasler:
Gembo:
Dont ever get into a truck with an eaton twin split then FFS
Joking aside, i was the same back in 92 when i passed my C&E. You can get some pretty good tunes outa them when your abit green.
You also have one up on me as Ive never driven anything but manuals. I got in a Merc with that EPS thing when it very first came out in the early 90’s. Would’nt have the first clue in how to operate one those even now!!!Eaton twin splitters are the best ever and easiest gear box ever made, I wish we had them over here.
Just goes to show how green i was when i first got in one Pat