Are You Driving A Manual Transmission HDT?

[OU812]

I'm running a Super 10 speed. Never gave it another thought, when looking for a truck.

[CrazyCooter]

13spd and love it overall out on the road with a few shifts. Off road I would prefer an 18spd to bring the bottom range closer together. Daily driver in town would have to have an auto shift for sure.

 

The Gearmaster really helped with selecting the correct gear for the down shifts at lower speeds. I don't really look at it anymore, but I leave it for the wife since she doesn't drive as much as I do and forgets.

 

It's not difficult if you have a gear head background, it will be second nature. Like mentioned above, the clutch brake was the most difficult to learn.

[NeverEasy]

StubbleJumper and noteven, re: links to YouTube

Might be a browser thing. I just copied the YouTube URL and pasted it in the post. I looked at the URLs in those that showed up live and those that just showed the URL and did not see a difference. ????

 

I am using FireFox

[JPL]

Cotrecker I've got a Super 10 in our 1998 610 and i think it's a poor mans Auto. Just clutch in to start and then no more clutch. Let off going up the tree and tap the throttle going back down. ( hours on a Sunday was my training period. Never drove a big truck before I bought this one. Six years ago. Happy with. had a 550 Ford before the Volvo. Will never go back to a little truck to tow. Once you make a trip. no matter what trans. you will love it.

 

Chet are you getting ready for the race? have a great Navy Day!! Pat

 

 

The Old Sailor

[Dollytrolley]

With a M11 and a 10 speed road-rager the Dollytrolley is almost N0-Tech but it has been very trouble free.

 

The 10 speed had 1,018,000 miles when it was overhauled with the engine and new clutch so someone else will likely have to grind the next set of gears to dust.

 

It's sorta interesting how many threads pop up regarding transmissions that seem to not want to go into gear or reverse or shift out of one gear or refuse to allow the engine to start but these cranky ticked-off trannies are almost always automatics.....for the most part manual trannies seem to just make a few gear noises and just keep on trucking down the road.

 

I suppose someone has failed a manual trannie but if they did it was not much news since I do not recall any manual troubles in recent memory.

 

I have a friend that has a rebuilt 10 speed on a pallet that he keeps for a spare and it would be mine for $2,500 if I want it but the chances I would ever need it are less than me winning the Lotto and I never buy a ticket.

 

Once you shift a few times its second nature and having a trannie that does what I want is .....just what I want.....

 

Ten speeds tend to be VERY easy to float and IF you have some patience you can obtain a VERY smooth acceleration and deceleration through the entire shift range.

 

Many of our travels involve twisty steep secondary roads to various horse camps in the West so gear and power adjustments are the name of the game many days and floating gears up and down smoooothly induces certain levels of satisfaction into the drive.

 

So is the 10 speed perfect.......well......pretty close......but.....as we all know sometimes computers fail to perform flawlessly and since my pea-brain is the "computer" for the 10 speed once in a while I fail to live up the the 10 speed needs and then thing can get noisy.......NEVER the 10 speeds fault......

 

So what are the ten speed downsides....

 

Well, you need to shift them AND a few times you need to use the clutch and sometimes you might need to use the clutch and shift at the same time

 

Some folks seem unable to learn to shift a manual....likely some sort of mind block but they often try but seem to not learn.

 

Ten speeds often limit who might be able to operate the truck.

 

Ten speed have no wow factor and often detract from desirability for RV marketing appeal.

 

Ten speeds can be hard to obtain a down shift if a electronic engine is in 1500 to 1600 "limp mode" (many atuto trannies don't like limp mode as well)

 

Ten speeds must have a clutch pedal and many RV folks have leg and knee issues that make clutch operations difficult or impossible.

 

Most of the manual trannie folks on the forum seldom have much to say about the trannies in their trucks because seldom do the manules have any issues.......pretty boring gearboxes.....

 

Drive on.......(10, 13, 15, 18, 5+2, 5+4, 5+4+2....whew how many gears ya got???)

[RickW]

If you are comfortable with a manual and don't mind the shifting it should not be an issue. As noted they are different but with a little practice should not be a problem.

 

Stop and go traffic is where it is going to get old and quickly. The 10 miles from the freeway to our home has 12 traffic lights and 2 stop signs. This past Sunday morning at the end of a 1400 mile trip in under 48 hours I caught 8 of those lights red. I have a auto shift so not really an issue but with a manual it would have been a lot of rowing of gears in a short distance and timeframe.

 

Personally when I first started truck shopping, while the autos were preferred over manuals on our wishlist, I originally was not too worried about the transmission. Then after looking at a truck with a 13spd that really sparked my interest, I was informed by my wife that a truck with a manual transmission would be driven by me 100% of the time. While I already do 95% of the driving, having a truck she would/could drive too was a must and not negotiable. Simply put she had no interest in making that many shifts. It was not a learning a non-syncomesh transmission it was just too much rowing for her. Keep in mind even drivers with many years of OTR experience and swear never to have an auto tend to have a new found respect for them after actually driving one, especially an iShift.

 

If you comfortable with the technical differences between auto/manual, just consider the comfort issues too. If they are not an issue either, then go for it if it is the right truck!

[Pete Kildow]

I have found the perfect truck or at least I think so but it has a Eaton 10 speed manual. Low miles, clean, price, nice paint, engine, right year, long w.b. but the transmission. Currently I drive a 6-speed manual F-350 with manual so I am use to the clutch.

 

Clearly there are more manual transmissions in HDT's than Auto's at least in the pre-2007 year HDT's. Pretty sure I understand the con's;

-Shifting

-Resale

 

 

Are you driving a manual HDT? If so tell me about your experience.

If you were close to me. I could have you driving the 10 speed in 30 minutes. Now it would take days weeks or longer to get where its second nature. I for the most part. Never give it a second thought where to go. May have to drop 2 or 3 or even 6 gears at one time. Its all a fluid motion, and no sound other then a click of it going into gear each time. 7 speed, 8 speed, 9 speed, 9 over,10 speed and 10 speed over, 13 speed, 15 speed and 18 speed and even a 18 double over high is where 16th is and 16th is where 18th is back to the dash..

 

Same as driving your pickup with the manual.

[noteven]

Someone mentioned "clutch brake" - it's for stopping the transmission shafts in neutral to select a starting gear or reverse - you depress the pedal all the way down. It's not for stopping the truck - it will try once or twice then the trans gets hard to get in gear then the clutch brake all falls on the floor when you remove the inspection cover...

 

Like Dolley says once in a while you clutch a Roadranger trans to ensure a shift, specially getting out of a gear to upshift in soft ground or uphill starts, and sometimes OMG you double clutch the shift - the pedal is only depressed a couple inches to open the clutch to make the shift, not depressed way down to give the clutch brake a monumental owie...

[Imurphy907]

When I was shoping a manual was on the side under the header "Requirements". Right below "Cummins", so I found a N14 with a Meritor 10 speed behind it. Have not regretted going manual, even after driving around Ft Worth and Portland during rush with 45' of trailer attached.

[Broncohauler]

My RV hauler has a manual 10speed and my work truck is a Volvo I-shift, so I can give you both sides in my opinion.

 

Bottom line for a RV hauler I prefer the I- shift.

The 10 speed you have to think a lot more about what your doing. Plan your shifts before turns, watch your tach for gear shifts up and down hill and it does take practice.

The I -shift dose it all for you while I drink coffee

[jkennell]

Agree with Bronco. I have a Straight 9 speed in the farm Semi and a S10 in RV hauler. BOth are easy to use once you get used to them. Would NOT want auto in the farm semi...I will decide when to upshift on soft dirt thank you! BUT...who wants to be rowing gears thru every little town and stoplight on vacation? If you plan mostly Highway travel---you will like the manual. CHEAP compared to the autoshifts. If you plan on traveling the 2 lanes and small towns--too stressful. IMO.

[Cotreker]

Taking my first driving lesson Saturday on a 10 speed, hope your all having a good smile over this. And thanks I have been watching the UTUBE's and they are very helpful. Airline ticket purchased and the rental car reserved, this is pretty much a done deal. Having a set of chains sent to the location so I do not have to purchase them at a truck stop.

[Dollytrolley]

Agree with Bronco. I have a Straight 9 speed in the farm Semi and a S10 in RV hauler. BOth are easy to use once you get used to them. Would NOT want auto in the farm semi...I will decide when to upshift on soft dirt thank you! BUT...who wants to be rowing gears thru every little town and stoplight on vacation? If you plan mostly Highway travel---you will like the manual. CHEAP compared to the autoshifts. If you plan on traveling the 2 lanes and small towns--too stressful. IMO.

 

I suppose since over 98% of my HDT travel is on narrow twisty steep roads and mid to smaller towns I should be.... stressed out with having a few gears to actually shift at times....but I don't.

 

But then again I tried not to get too stressed out on ink black howling blizzard nights in heavy icing and crosswind with way too many engines, props, hydraulic systems, multi-buss-elec-systems way too many switches, circuit breakers, fuel pumps and valves, flaps, landing gear, and NO autopilot installed shooting ILS to 200 ft and 1/4 mile vis............oh ya we had NO GPS so we had the actually navigate to the runway often with NO radar and sometimes if the conditions were grim you would arrive and be sent out to hold fix and fly 5 mile legs with right turns in a howling crosswind with two of three aircraft in the hold as well while your fuel reserves peter-away .....and you also had to fly the darn aircraft in your spare time.......just another night at the office......that moves.

 

Once in a while in his late years Grumps would ride along on a trip in grim weather and would marvel at all of the wiz-bag equipment in the cockpit and as we would finally see the runway threshold appear out of the blizzard or mist he would grin and say....."shucks, with these gadgets any fool could fly this thing"........and you know for countless thousands of hours Grumps was proven right......

 

Now Grumps knew a thing about work loads since many of his HDT units had NO power steering and TWO sticks to shift and of course you had to stay alert so you had to pour coffee out of the Stanley thermos into the stainless cup and also once in a while he would need to hold the Prince Albert can lid in his teeth and jiggle some into a Zig Zag paper and roll his own smokes all the while herding a lowboy with a D-8 dozer down a twisty narrow logging road.......Those old trucks bouncing down logging roads did not have cup holders, they way too rough so you had to hold your coffee in your hand.

 

Did I mention that if you screwed up with the double shift of both the main tranny and the aux tranny you risk the situation where the aux tranny could not be shifted back into ANY gear because the drive line between the two transmissions was too slow to match the drive line speed of the rear end driven drive line and the main transmission is unable to geared to recover the slow inter-transmission drive line.......don't ask how I know about this....... So you see modern manual transmissions are a walk in the park.

 

I suppose ......"stress" .....is somewhat relative to what you come to expect....

 

For the most part the 10 speed is no stress at all.....it's the other drivers that crowd in too close or pull in too fast that get me a extra heartbeat these days......

 

Drive on.......(Stress.......less)