Your favourite gear box?

Your favourite gear box?

Author
Discussion

smifffymoto

Original Poster:

4,547 posts

205 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
I have driven most,except an auto,and I would say my choice would be the Eaton 12 speed twin splitter.You couldn’t rush and had to ‘drive’ the truck.
Down side was loaded hill starts and then repacking the cab.

normalbloke

7,450 posts

219 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
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There’s a forum for the Eaton twin split reminiscing....

smifffymoto

Original Poster:

4,547 posts

205 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
Probably but if you could use it,you can appreciate how good it was/is.
Those that take the piss,probably can’t use one,or drive anything without an auto and less than a 420.

leggly

1,787 posts

211 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
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smifffymoto said:
I have driven most,except an auto,and I would say my choice would be the Eaton 12 speed twin splitter.You couldn’t rush and had to ‘drive’ the truck.
Down side was loaded hill starts and then repacking the cab.
Couldn’t rush! It was the fastest gearbox ever, I still miss them .

Pica-Pica

13,764 posts

84 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
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OK, OK, I’ll bite. To resurrect an old PH favourite, it has to be this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM76f7nChSU

s p a c e m a n

10,777 posts

148 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
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Whatever manual box was in the 1999 daf xf, I could flick that thing through gears like I was in a car. Love the new Scania autos, have been driving a 13 plate slush box MAN for the past week and had forgotten how bad autos could be.

smifffymoto

Original Poster:

4,547 posts

205 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
leggly said:
smifffymoto said:
I have driven most,except an auto,and I would say my choice would be the Eaton 12 speed twin splitter.You couldn’t rush and had to ‘drive’ the truck.
Down side was loaded hill starts and then repacking the cab.
Couldn’t rush! It was the fastest gearbox ever, I still miss them .
Instead of couldn’t rush I should have put wait for the revs.

leggly

1,787 posts

211 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
smifffymoto said:
leggly said:
smifffymoto said:
I have driven most,except an auto,and I would say my choice would be the Eaton 12 speed twin splitter.You couldn’t rush and had to ‘drive’ the truck.
Down side was loaded hill starts and then repacking the cab.
Couldn’t rush! It was the fastest gearbox ever, I still miss them .
Instead of couldn’t rush I should have put wait for the revs.
Or, in and out of neutral as fast as you can in every gear going up the box and block changing coming down.

smifffymoto

Original Poster:

4,547 posts

205 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
I only got to drive it mated to a 10 litre.
Back in the day it was a dream to have an ERF Olympic with a 14 litre Cummins.

fttm

3,686 posts

135 months

Thursday 20th May 2021
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Volvo I-Shift , just suberb even on snow and ice . Done most types I think , slam change , twin split , spicer 10 speed ( horrid) , and 12years with Eaton 13/18 speeds in N America . Never wanted an auto for tanker work but I can’t fault the Volvo box , as opposed to the Eaton auto on our Kenworths which are dire .

944 Man

1,743 posts

132 months

Sunday 23rd May 2021
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normalbloke said:
There’s a forum for the Eaton twin split reminiscing....
I can't imagine that many people wish that they still had one. They could be easy enough when you got the hang of them, but they were pretty horrible if you were sat in a vehicle with one and just given the keys.

I have driven one, but they were far too old by then and they're all in black and white now. The ETS is most useful for pointing out how it could be, when people complain that the vehicle that they are asked to drive isn't brand new and automatic.

Automatic Volvos (i-Shift) are pretty good road vehicles. If you want to drive off road then a four over four might be better. Plenty of FMXs have i-Drive but the buttons that you need to turn off a lot of the features were optional, and you cant drive through mud when the ECU is constantly interfering.

Renauts use exactly the same gearbox but they arent nearly as good: showing that the software is as important as the engineering.

Vintagejock

201 posts

80 months

Sunday 23rd May 2021
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s p a c e m a n said:
Whatever manual box was in the 1999 daf xf, I could flick that thing through gears like I was in a car. Love the new Scania autos, have been driving a 13 plate slush box MAN for the past week and had forgotten how bad autos could be.
Early versions of the ZF as tronic ( man and daf) were vastly improved by a software re flash. This especially applied to tanker work. As you slowed down for say, a roundabout the box would change down and then if you tried to exploit a gap in the traffic and accelerate the ullage in the tank would catch up. That would alter the weight on the 5th wheel and the truck would be confused not knowing what gear to be in. The update slowed down the gear changes improving the driveability. The box doesn't give much trouble itself, breakdowns are usually wiring related...

and31

3,021 posts

127 months

Monday 24th May 2021
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13 speed Fuller for me.I would happily use one every day again.

and31

3,021 posts

127 months

Monday 24th May 2021
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13 speed Fuller for me.I would happily use one every day

exelero

1,890 posts

89 months

Wednesday 9th June 2021
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Scania 16 speed auto. It’s called opticruise if I’m not mistaken. I’m a new age driver so the last time I drove a split box was when I passed my class 2 a year and a half ago.
Mercedes gearboxes are so st btw that it’s borderline dangerous

944 Man

1,743 posts

132 months

Wednesday 9th June 2021
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The Arocs gearbox is'nt that bad itself. It is the software that makes it difficult to drive. I have driven several iterations of the same 8w chassis and each new attempt is a little better: 2015 examples need an email sending to let the transmission know that you intend to pull out, and it is far less of a problem on the latest vehicles.

An even bigger problem is the manufacturer believing that drivers should not be given complete control and no matter what features the vehicle has, it is still going to be a pig to drive off road if the f*cker keeps changing gear and otherwise interfering as you try to keep moving over ground where a four-over-four Scania doesn't even slow down.

edited

Edited by 944 Man on Wednesday 9th June 18:06

exelero

1,890 posts

89 months

Wednesday 9th June 2021
quotequote all
944 Man said:
The Actros gearbox is'nt that bad itself. It is the software that makes it difficult to drive. I have driven several iterations of the same 8w chassis and each new attempt is a little better: 2015 examples need an email sending to let the transmission know that you intend to pull out, and it is far less of a problem on the latest vehicles.

An even bigger problem is the manufacturer believing that drivers should not be given complete control and no matter what features the vehicle has, it is still going to be a pig to drive off road if the f*cker keeps changing gear and otherwise interfering as you try to keep moving over ground where a four-over-four Scania doesn't even slow down.
What I drive today is 19 plate and my god is it awful. At one point today it went from 5th to 7th and then after 20 seconds of thinking back to first. At this point the handbrake was already on. I don’t know who designed the software, but I’d put him in one of the units for a day or two... with some hilly sections for good measure

s p a c e m a n

10,777 posts

148 months

Wednesday 9th June 2021
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Is it the Actros auto than had a clutch pedal that you could flip up under the dash? I borrowed one for a night and spent 15 mins in an empty dark yard in drive with the dashboard saying depress clutch to me whilst I shouted at the fking thing because there wasn't a clutch pedal hehe

944 Man

1,743 posts

132 months

Wednesday 9th June 2021
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Two pedals only.

944 Man

1,743 posts

132 months

Wednesday 9th June 2021
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mistake corrected.