I have a Daf Xf95 480 auto 2004 working in the lands of Africa.
with the lack of technology in the country and mechanics for auto box so it has been a problem for our operations have 5 of auto box and I’m now thinking to change the box to manual.
as I have been advised by my mechanic that I will need the whole transmission box with all the gear roads and stick as well as clutch pedal and clutch servo a swell as clutch master cylinder…
Which in no doubt if I source all this parts from Africa the coast would be extremely high so I’m going to buy and cut from here to export the whole lot as parts/breaker.
the confusing bit is some mechanics saying I don’t have to change the whole transmission box I only have to change the gear select/top cover of the box and add the usual gear road and pedal etc…
has any have idea or advice on this sort of work that I’m preparing to do in the next couple of month.
many thanks your advice and information always valued.
I’ve had a semi auto converted to a manual it can be done but its not easy sorry if I miss lead you but i would get a manual gearbox as you will have to get the auto gearbox rebuilt as an auto has or didn’t in mine have any syncromesh and you will need to replace the turret .along with the obvious stuff a problem is the ecu’s you will remove the gearbox ECU and may have to re programe the engine ECU as they look for a signal from each other i.e engine won’t start unless it’s in neutral if theres no gearbox ECU it may not even want to start. another one is the gear lever mounting bracket check there are holes on the engine block where it mounts if there no pre drilled holes you have to make something up to do the job and it has to be spot on height wise for a cab on air and position wise for getting a gear and not punching the dash.mine was pretty expensive to do but it worked most of what I needed was there with it been a semi auto doing a full auto i would look a little further into it if I was you especially the electrics.
lee mat:
I’ve had a semi auto converted to a manual it can be done but its not easy sorry if I miss lead you but i would get a manual gearbox as you will have to get the auto gearbox rebuilt as an auto has or didn’t in mine have any syncromesh and you will need to replace the turret .along with the obvious stuff a problem is the ecu’s you will remove the gearbox ECU and may have to re programe the engine ECU as they look for a signal from each other i.e engine won’t start unless it’s in neutral if theres no gearbox ECU it may not even want to start. another one is the gear lever mounting bracket check there are holes on the engine block where it mounts if there no pre drilled holes you have to make something up to do the job and it has to be spot on height wise for a cab on air and position wise for getting a gear and not punching the dash.mine was pretty expensive to do but it worked most of what I needed was there with it been a semi auto doing a full auto i would look a little further into it if I was you especially the electrics.
Hello Lee,
Yes definitely is not one easy and smooth conversion, I have one big advantage of doing it (labour) is the most cheapest labour wise its in a range of about £300 being Africa helps abit.
yes one thing that I haven’t looked in to is the electrical side of it Ecu etc…
I hope it will work well as ship the whole truck as parts for the work needed.
you remind me on the ecu which I need to speak to my mechanics about it.
as we recently fit a cf85 engine on Renault premium 2006 440 with all the daf ignition and immobiliser box, but we couldn’t start it as the engine came from automatic motor so ecu wasn’t sending signal correctly, not the less the actual key has gone missing and there is no key programmer in the country not even daf dealer.
In all honesty I think I would invest the time on training up mechanics for the transition to auto boxes as, to a certain extent, you are delaying the inevitable as more and more trucks being exported will be autos.
Own Account Driver:
In all honesty I think I would invest the time on training up mechanics for the transition to auto boxes as, to a certain extent, you are delaying the inevitable as more and more trucks being exported will be autos.
I agree with you, but I think in general the country still behind in terms of technology and electronic parts, however I should think in two to three years time would be in good position when it comes to electronics and automatic machines.