The only trouble was those L10’s sounded like a bag of spanners in a spin dryer.
I remember reading an article in TRUCK magazine many years ago, probably the late 80’s, Birds, fitted an eaton twin splitter in one of their Scania 142’s for evaluation.
Jerry
The Eaton twin splitter was the easiest and best gearbox which I ever had the pleasure to use and they should have put them in everything as standard 
sammyopisite:
The Eaton twin splitter was the easiest and best gearbox which I ever had the pleasure to use and they should have put them in everything as standard
Well said sammyopisite…You see all these modern trucks stuck in the snow. Think about in if they are these fancy automatic things you can’nt rock
back and forwards so you stay still=Technology= one step forward and many steps backwards
How right you are about the Fuller box, 9spd, RoadRanger, 13spd & Twin splitter, they were all excellent to use, especially compared to the constant mesh ZFs or Spicers, the Leyland group 6 speeders were nice to use too, I only used an L10 a couple of times, in a Ford Cargo artic but never mind 
nasty revvy thing & it wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding, not like an E290, that was an engine that really punched above it’s weight.
I have a Fuller 18spd behind my CAT & it really suits the engine, the revs die at exactly the same rate as it takes to move from one gear to another, in fact it’s harder to make it crunch than not, the shift is very light but also has feel to it, when I’m running through the mountains I’m able to change a gear so quickly that I lose almost no speed at all, contrast that with something like a Volvo synchro box, by the time the shift goes through you lose so much speed you end up further down the box than when you changed up in the first place 
All good old fashioned technology, an engine out of a bulldozer & a gearbox out of the dark ages, 1.200.000kms & it’s all still as tight as a drum, imagine a Volvo or Scania with those miles on it.
Hello again,heres some old ERFs today.
Hope these are ok.
Cheers Bubbs. 
newmercman:
How right you are about the Fuller box, 9spd, RoadRanger, 13spd & Twin splitter, they were all excellent to use, especially compared to the constant mesh ZFs or Spicers, the Leyland group 6 speeders were nice to use too, I only used an L10 a couple of times, in a Ford Cargo artic but never mindI have a Fuller 18spd behind my CAT & it really suits the engine, the revs die at exactly the same rate as it takes to move from one gear to another, in fact it’s harder to make it crunch than not, the shift is very light but also has feel to it, when I’m running through the mountains I’m able to change a gear so quickly that I lose almost no speed at all, contrast that with something like a Volvo synchro box, by the time the shift goes through you lose so much speed you end up further down the box than when you changed up in the first place
All good old fashioned technology, an engine out of a bulldozer & a gearbox out of the dark ages, 1.200.000kms & it’s all still as tight as a drum, imagine a Volvo or Scania with those miles on it.
The only thing you’ve got wrong there newmercman is saying that the Fuller came from the dark ages.The ages get lighter as you go back and darker as we ‘progress’.But I reckon that the fastest gear change combination was the Detroit two stroke and the Fuller.It was something like changing gear with a racing car fitted with a light flywheel and if you made the change much slower than that you’d miss the gear.I’d like to try that 18 speed Fuller matched with a 12V71 or an 8V92.
Carryfast, those old 2 strokes that you love are all over you tube, I downloaded a few the other day, wow what a noise
newmercman:
Carryfast, those old 2 strokes that you love are all over you tube, I downloaded a few the other day, wow what a noise
Here’s a couple of clips for green grenade fans,
On the subject of 2 strokes, I don’t know if this applied to the Foden but definitely to the Detroits and TS3’s at almost stalling speed they could run backwards. I used an Commer TS3 for shunting, one day I was pulling a 22ton ships engine block up to the trailer park, trying to get it rolling it suddenly shot backwards in a forward gear ! Before I realised what was happening the cab filled up with blue smoke choking me, then it dawned on me whilst running backwards it sucked air in the exhaust and blew the exhaust fumes through the air filters under the passengers seat. Did some laughing about that but I was always amazed what those little 2 strokes would pull.
Trev_H:
On the subject of 2 strokes, I don’t know if this applied to the Foden but definitely to the Detroits and TS3’s at almost stalling speed they could run backwards. I used an Commer TS3 for shunting, one day I was pulling a 22ton ships engine block up to the trailer park, trying to get it rolling it suddenly shot backwards in a forward gear ! Before I realised what was happening the cab filled up with blue smoke choking me, then it dawned on me whilst running backwards it sucked air in the exhaust and blew the exhaust fumes through the air filters under the passengers seat. Did some laughing about that but I was always amazed what those little 2 strokes would pull.
The Bedford TMs with the Detroit had a big pull out switch on the dash with a skull & crossbones on to stop them when this happened, 5 pot Gardners would also do this on a regular basis, as would the 6LX, I had it happen to me with a 180 when I nearly stalled pulling away, I dipped the clutch & gave it a bootfull & it went mad, revving its nuts off & belching blue smoke through the air intake, like a fool I stalled it rather than let it blow itself up (I hated that motor) Nobody believed me when I got back to the yard until we pulled the air filter out & it was covered in oil from the inside.
Trev_H:
newmercman:
Carryfast, those old 2 strokes that you love are all over you tube, I downloaded a few the other day, wow what a noiseHere’s a couple of clips for green grenade fans,
They’re the ones I downloaded, awesome, if only diesel wasn’t so expensive today
hiya,
Worked for a firm with a very elderly Thornecroft which would start up of it’s own accord when left in the garage overnight if the stop button wasn’t tied in the stop position when left parked up i witnessed it on a couple of occasions, the fitter said it was something to do where the pistons ended up when the stop was pulled, how true i don’t know but it sure happened,
thanks harry long retired.
in the 60s I worked for my cousin who was had a car and lorry breakers yard his partner who was quite old then used to tell us of diesel engines running backwards I have never seen this so not sure if true as he tell some porkies, great thead this and hands up to bubbleman for all those pics cheers and may we all have enough salt for our roads, ubym344
hiya,
Seemingly the Perkins P4 was notorious for running in reverse if allowed to roll backwards when in a forward gear and if not stopped very quickly by making sure the motor was in gear with the brakes hard on would very quickly rev itself to destruction.
thanks harry long retired.
true gardner and detroit were the ones i have come across that have done it
An Albion Chieftan did it to me going round a corner when we had a dodgy set of batteries, the driver, I was a young mate, put it in reverse and chugged around the corner into the kerb with our heads out of the windows before stopping the engine, as has been said Gardners, especially the 5 LW, liked to run in reverse…Tony.
Talking about Detroits, the first truck i drove in the US was a Freightliner with a Detroit supercharged 318 and a 13 speed gearbox. After being used to lugging an engine down this was hard to get used to, a mechanic said “keep your foot in it till it sounds like it’s going to blow up then you’ve got it just right”
So that’s how i drove it and we were both happy, sounded great too from the two exhaust pipes, going through the Baltimore tunnel was just about orgasmic. 
Charles
newmercman:
Trev_H:
newmercman:
Carryfast, those old 2 strokes that you love are all over you tube, I downloaded a few the other day, wow what a noiseHere’s a couple of clips for green grenade fans,
They’re the ones I downloaded, awesome, if only diesel wasn’t so expensive today
Definitely.But I’d still be happy to use them even at £5 per gallon but at US prices I just can’t see the problem and it’s just got to be the best way to go broke and deaf at the same time
youtube.com/watch?v=ZmytwZnXgjM
And if you think that sounds awesome I’ll try to get a Pathfinder on You Tube.It’s got a 16V71 in it.635 horses and that’s without turbocharging and makes that 12V71 sound tame.
Hello,M.A.Ns today.
Hope these are ok.
Cheers Bubbs.