I know their meant to be a doddle to use but having passed C and C+E in manuals any form of auto box is currently alien 
Could someone explain the basics of how to use and reverse with them ?
Thanks
truckster5:
I know their meant to be a doddle to use but having passed C and C+E in manuals any form of auto box is currently alienCould someone explain the basics of how to use and reverse with them ?
Thanks
Quite a big question that. 
The simple ones areā¦ well ā¦ simple.
Daf or MAN have a rotating knob. Turn it to āDā and press the accelerator and forward you will go. Turn it to āRā to go backwards. There are also ācrawlerā gears, often shown by the picture of a tortoise. So āDā tortoise crawls forward, etc.
I recently drove a Renault auto artic for a two shifts and got out of it with still no clear idea how the auto selector worked.
On the MAN TGX the control knob is on the left side (where the gear lever should be)
As Alan says- turn it to D for Drive & R for reverse, just Tickle the throttle & she should pull away.
You can over ride the Auto with the lever on the right hand side of the steering wheel, down for lower gears & up for higher gears (press it twice or 3 times & it will block change 2 or 3 gears)
The knob on the lever,that says AUTO/MAN & ON/OFF switches her to Auto or Manual, when your in auto it show an A in the top left of the digital display in front of you, this goes out when your in manual.
The button on the end of the lever (where the horn is on the left side) is the exhaust/engine brake- press it & she will slow down, press it again & the brake will shut off, press the throttle & the brake will come off as well.
Donāt forget & hit the Non-existent Clutch Pedal, as you come to a halt, when you need to stop in a hurry. (I bet you do, for the first few times ? Lol)
When I got out of the auto and into the keep fit gear one was funny 
I was trying to work out why the dam thing had not changed gear yet
I find a man better when parking and shunting around the yard as I can use the clutch but the auto is fine once moving on the roads
With the Renault you have to put it in drive before you can select reverse. Strange system but easy when youāre used to it.
Most autos are no different to a standard auto car.
Do you have to put the foot on the brake prior to selecting drive? EG, when you put it into drive does it creep forwards or remain stationary ?
Iām guessing when your parked up thereās a N for neutral option ?
it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, we had 18T Iveco autos and there was no creeping forwards with them and you didnāt need to have the brake down to select drive but weāve recently switched to 7.5T Izusu and with them they do creep forward and you canāt select D or R unless you have the footbrake down. What Iāve found with autos is that coupled to the fact a lorry is slow anyway you have to allow yourself even more time and read the road ahead as acceleration is very poor.
Yes there is a Neutral positionā¦
no you dont need to press the foot brake before selecting gearā¦
and no it wont creep forward when drive is selected unless the handbrake is off and you dont have your foot on the brake pedal !!
VOLVO FH has a gear knob like a car attached to the drivers seat and you use that to select your gear
the Merc Axor and Actross have a similar system but you press the right button on the knob and either push it forward or back to select drive or reverse and it has a button on the left of the knob when depressed puts it back into neutral
the IVECOās have 3 buttons on the dash D, N , R
Renaults gear selecter is on the steering column and you twist the inner part of it to select drive or neutral and twist the outer part to select reverse
DAF XF and CF are similar to the MAN but is located on the dashboard
the last Scania i drove was a 59 plate and it was similar to the Renault but it also had a clutch pedal !!..was weird to drive 
i cant remember what else ive driven 
and remember to put it back into Neutral when switching it off as they wont restart if in drive
we had 18T Iveco autos and there was no creeping forwards with them and you didnāt need to have the brake down to select drive but weāve recently switched to 7.5T Izusu and with them they do creep forward
There is a reason for this. The vast majority of automatic trucks are not automatic at all. Yes, they only have 2 pedals and they donāt have a gear lever. But, in the bowels of the mechanical bits and pieces, there is a manual clutch and a manual gearbox. But the manufacturers attach a box of tricks to this so that the driver doesnāt have to change gear or operate the clutch. So the end result is automatic. This is known as AMT - Automated Manual Transmission.
Izuzu ARE automatic. They have a torque converter and they ācreepā.
Hope this helps, Pete
The Scania Opticruise comes in 2 & 3 pedal versions.
The 3 pedal version has a clutch pedal but no gearstick. It has a collar on the right stalk, R everse, N eutral, A utomatic & H ill / hold which holds the revs longer for pulling hard.
To set off select A, push the clutch in and pull away as per a traditional manual. Then forget about the clutch until you are about to come to a complete stop and use the clutch as you would in a manual just before stopping.
When I got mine I had an auto car, the only time my brain got confused was sometimes on the way home Iād go to push the clutch in at a roundabout. Then Iād remember I didnāt have one.
Volvo I shift probably the easiest of them all cos its just like an auto car. put it to the a symbol on the gear lever and your away, you can pull the lever backwards to the m symbol which is manual and theres a button on the side of the lever to go up and down the gears as you wish. to reverse just push the lever forward to the r symbol.
One of my new drivers with an automatic truck text me the other day. He said boss when I put it in D for daytime driving everything is fine, when I put it in N for night time driving nothing happens but when I put it in R for race mode I crashed into the car behind. You have to laugh.
^^PMSL - thats a classic
One of my new drivers with an automatic truck text me the other day. He said boss when I put it in D for daytime driving everything is fine, when I put it in N for night time driving nothing happens but when I put it in R for race mode I crashed into the car behind. You have to laugh.
Brilliant!
mickster86:
One of my new drivers with an automatic truck text me the other day. He said boss when I put it in D for daytime driving everything is fine, when I put it in N for night time driving nothing happens but when I put it in R for race mode I crashed into the car behind. You have to laugh.
This is a prank call by a South African radio station. Think it was BMW. You have to YouTube it because it is easily one of the funniest prank calls ever done
Sorry I canāt put a link up right now.