Allisons have been in use since the late s. Today's products have precise electronic controls and keep the torque converter locked most of the time for efficiency. Most versions are 6-speeds, like the one in the Western Star dump I drove. It was a RDS (Rugged Duty Series) that is about as simple to drive as anything out there. Punch D on the dash-mounted keypad, release the parking brakes, and off you go. The truck scooted away from dead stops with no fuss, and quickly upshifted to 5th and 6th. Programming favored high ratios and low engine revs, which made the powertrain feel a little sluggish even though the truck moved along nicely. As I slowed down, the Allison downshifted appropriately; with the engine brake switched on, it downshifted more actively to help further retard road speed and added a nice burble to the exhaust note. This was especially helpful on downgrades and an off-ramp from I-70.
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It's difficult to abuse a driveline because of an Allison's cushioning effect, so it also reduces maintenance, fleet managers have found. Perhaps best of all, drivers can keep their minds on the road and the delivery job, and at the end of a day, they're not nearly as tired as they are with a manual transmission. This is also true of AMTs, fleet owners have told me.
Double-clutchin' and gear jammin' was once a big part of truckin', but now manual transmissions are for 'price-sensitive buyers,' Apollonio said. As standard equipment, an Eaton '8LL' saves several thousand dollars over an AMT and $7,000 to $8,000 compared to an Allison. That's why he keeps at least one truck on the lot with a manual, 'but it's one manual for every nine or 10 Allisons, and that manual is the one that sits here the longest.' The one I drove saved some more money with a lower-rated DD13'470 horsepower versus 505 in the Allison-equipped truck. Both, by the way, had Rhodes 21-foot steel dump bodies, reflecting another trend: 'Steel weighs just a little more than aluminum because of the Hardox high-strength steel they use now, and steel is more versatile. There's hardly any call for aluminum anymore.'
More properly called RTLO-LL, the 8LL transmission is easy to operate, at least in the on-road driving gears. You move the lever for each gear change, and go through the H pattern twice, using the range switch on the lever. With the dump bed empty, I usually started in 2nd (the third ratio), and up- or downshifted as needed. Those steel gears made the truck respond instantly to my throttle inputs. The speed limit on U.S. 40 east of Zanesville is 45 mph, and there the engine lugged without complaint at around 1,000 rpm in 8th or at a lively 1,300 in 7th. At the other end of the operating scale, an 8LL has low-low ratios, activated by a blue thumb switch on the lever's knob. It's akin to shifting a 4x4's transfer case into low; you can go through all five of the Eaton's low-range gears, which will start a truck easily on steep inclines and crawl out of deep dirt or mud. With an overdrive top gear, it will still cruise nicely on the open road.
Saw a guy yesterday driving with his arm hanging out the window. I could hear the trans shifting when he left the stop sign. Don't understand how it was downshifting when he was stopping? Not like the trucks I drove years ago. Thanks
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90% of ALL Class 7 and 8 HD Trucks are Auto or Semi Auto trans now. Few to any being constructed Old School as decreasing few can drive them.
Thanks Dave, sounds about right. Kinda funny, my grandma drove a school bus and now my baby sister does. No way Sis could drive a manual transmission.
I rode the school bus until the - school year. Most were no air conditioning, and five speed transmission w/two speed rear axle. 350 V8, or 366 V8 Chevrolet engines. Diesels, and automatic transmissions came along after I was out of school.
A career built on repairing and improving engineering design deficiencies, shortcomings, and failures over 50 years now.
Late 60's our school bus was probably a 5 speed and I think a gas engine. Thanks
We have a Japanese mini truck we use at the farm and it's a 5 speed. I made my girls learn how to drive it and now they love it. It's funny to see new people come around and see them sitting in the truck and they say "wow they're driving at that young?" Then when they take off they get a funny look on their face and say "does that thing have a clutch?" You better believe Ole Daddy rares back and says "yes, yes it does".
"Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan
There's a lot of dump trucks now a days with auto shift. They have become a very durable trans. Most all semi trucks have went to the auto. I remember grade school days when I had to ride on the steps (always someone else's fault) and they would be shifting steady. High school years I don't know much about because it seemed I was always kicked off. Lol. Good ole days
I remember our bus driver Mr Simms changing gears with the floor shifter. Can't remember what I had for breakfast though. Oh well
I'm kind of a celebrity cause I got to ride a mid fifties Dodge with a hemi in it. Rams head emblem on the hood too as I recall. Genuine chrome plating over potmetal.
All of the semis that come to the farm are Volvo's and they all have automatics. There's one Mack that they bring the forklifts on and it's still manual but that's all
"Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan
Don't matter what the tranny is, 99.44% of 'truckers' around here don't know HOW to drive let alone being nice to the rest of us.
3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
Kubota BX23S lil' TOOT( The Other Orange Tractor)
Never burn your bridges, unless you can walk on water
All of the MDOT Plow trucks are Allison Automatics. They hold up well. And they are a pleasure to drive when clearing intersections!
Combination of compact mechanics and electronic controls, with constant mesh of the automatic makes for a very durable and effective transmission nowdays. The automatic in cars has brought technology forth to a point where scaling 'em up to go into large trucks is no big deal.
Look at the torque numbers advertised on these turbo'd gas and diesels used in cars and light trucks... it's putting their 'smaller' automatics to task, but when you look at scaling that up to Class 6,7,8, it's just a little bit more size.
Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
We got an Chevy with a Cat an AUTO,,, its pretty sweet ! Just mash the GO Pedal- and shes gone !
I've got a '89 Ford E-150 van with a straight 6 with 4 speed with Over/Drive.
917 H, '48 G, '65 D-10 series III "Allis Express"
Driving semi's with 'auto-shifts' suck. They down shift when you don't want them too, they up shift when you don't want them too. Slow as turtles from a stop. No warning then BAM, not shifting and your dead in the water. And worst of all, they have increased the 'driver pool' thus suppressing wages.
I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that's where I found the science.
GM had automatics in the 's in some tandem axle dunp trucks. Don't get stuck loaded, they didn't go too good if you got them down in the mud.
Drove a Ford tandem dump with old Allison 5 speed with a 2 speed rear , CAT V8 , for 3 years mostly city driving so seldom used low range .
Thing is the dang truck weighed in at 23,000 empty and boss never wanted over 11 ton in box . He then bought another Ford tandem with Cummins and 5 speed Allison and it weighed about the same but had a foot longer box - so ended up putting another axle under it as city said had to be tri axle or more as they didn't want tandem any more on jobs .
Both my other sons Quint's were also Allison Auto but with electronic push button shifting , as old Fords were a manual selector and governor shift , new trucks were all electronic modules . The old Auto transmissions are now hard to find anyone who can set or adjust them to shift right , new ones are all computer controlled .
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"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
In the 80's the military was struggling to find recruits that could drive manuals so they pulled in a bunch of M35 2.5 tons and converted them to Autos (Engines changed to a CAT also) until the new line of trucks came out that were all Automatics.
Charlie
'48 B, '51 CA, '56 WD45 '61 D17, '63 D12, '65 D10 , '68 One-Ninety XTD
it's just another 'dumbing down'......
just wait for the battery powered, self driving dumptrucks to come out !!!
3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
Kubota BX23S lil' TOOT( The Other Orange Tractor)
Never burn your bridges, unless you can walk on water
NYSDOT, also. They started making the change from Road Rangers to Allison automatics in . I had been a supervisor for quite a while then, so I drove the Road Rangers for years.
When we got the first automatic, no one wanted it (which was not normal for a new truck). I assigned it to a snowplow route that had about 30 traffic lights per round trip. The guy that had that route quickly changed his mind about the automatic. When we got the second new truck with an automatic everyone wanted it!
It was ironic that the guys that resisted the change to automatics the most were the ones that constantly had clutch problems with their trucks!
Its sad. It seems that few people want to develop skills so equipment becomes more complicated and harder to maintain. I know im old school but I dont want a damn computer to decide for me if the engine will start or when to shift gears. Or on new cars and such if the window will roll down
D14
DES 300 with engine
616 tractor
A lot of people that thought they "had the skill", really didn't. They lugged the engines, didn't downshift when stopping and rode or slipped the clutch. Some drivers kept their foot on the clutch enough to keep the throw out bearing engaged all the time.
I don't believe any of the "big three" offer manual transmissions in their pickups for the same reason; high failure rates and high warranty costs.
All the hours I spent going through Chicago, Detroit and the other big cities during rush hr inching forward 10 feet and stopping I think an auto would have felt good on the clutch leg. Wait to long and another car would squeak in so ya had to stay close to the car ahead of ya. Your right about there is a lot of people think they got it mastered and there goes clutch and throw out bearings. But I do like the ole 18 and 13's when ya start pulling the mountains.
I've got an E-150 with 4 + OD on the floor. It's been so long since I've driven it, I'm not sure about that transmission.
917 H, '48 G, '65 D-10 series III "Allis Express"
My cousin's fleet got transitioned to automatics. Said got tired of replacing clutches as today's drivers don't have the skill. Also why you flags on trailer wheels. A coworker years ago when we hauled grain dumped the clutch on the cabover and twisted off the driveshaft
Back when I drove truck I only used the clutch for starting and stopping never for shifting
I alternate daily between automatic and manual. Clutch is only used to start, stop and unload driveline for downshift.
A career built on repairing and improving engineering design deficiencies, shortcomings, and failures over 50 years now.
I worked with a guy who still double clutched. Said it was how he learned to drive truck. Boss was on him constantly about wearing out clutches. The Allison Auto's in the plow trucks had a feature to lock out the 2 top gears of the 6 speed so that the transmission was not constantly up shifting and down shifting. This worked great with a front plow and wing in heavy snow.
There are still available Semi Auto Transmissions, shift the first Low range gears and the truck ECMs do the rest. NONE of these masterpieces of Over Engineering can be Towed with drive shaft in place, the Eaton Semi Autos if even pull out of a ditch engine not running Trans is RUINED, that from the rep to a Towing Service that destroyed SEVERAL before stopping.
Allison still makes Autos, still see them in the Medium duty to Lower end Class Seven trucks. Eaton/Used to Be Fuller, has a Next Generation called AMTs.
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