This probably is a hackneyed old topic. Sorry if it is.
I’m fed up with driving autos. I know they’re much more fuel efficient, possibly safer as you have more capacity to study the road. The thing that gets my goat is from a really childish point of view - they’re just no fun. I don’t feel like I’m driving a truck anymore. The twin splitter and range changer separated it from mere car driving, a sort of clunky hissing proof you were in something big that required skill. Now it’s like one of those buses; all that hissing and cluncking of range changers but I’m not involved. Bloody annoying. Don’t get me started on reversing and the fact it seems to be speaking to satellites at roundabouts. Even more so backing under loaded trailers. I think the auto was the coup de grace for the truck driver and enter the modern “professional”.
Oh the joys of the ERF Eaton Twin Splitter.Autos get you stuck on snow and ice on a small gradient of a road.Reversing with an auto to hook up to a trailer.;No likey; No lighty.
I feel exactly the same. I’ve never really got over it. I have this habit when reading a truck magazine - I always look to see what transmission a feature lorry has, and if it has a manual I feel a sense of relief. Sad really, but I miss the feeling of control I had with a clutch pedal and - as you say - a big clunky gearstick with all the whoosing and hissing.
Unfortunately, capitalism doesn’t care much for sentiment; it cares only for profit. A truck is essentially a tool for business, and as industry and commerce has a cut-throat reality, and vehicle manufacturers claim fuel savings through this technology,thus increasing profit by even the slimmest of margin, then their vehicles will appeal to those who bear the costs of running them. However, in the practical world some operators claim that the right drivers can get the same, of not better fuel economy from a manual than an auto.
I’d take a manual over an auto any day. Sometimes the ‘easier’ and dumbed down option is not always the most satisfying.
I can’t stand autos. The job is no easier with them, for my money, just much less involving. I used to think the “standard” four over four 'box was a bit dull, but I’d swap a modern auto for one any day of the week. But I’d choose an Eaton twin split over anything else I’ve ever driven.
I hate the auto box with a vengeance, not just because they makes driving competently and under total control impossible, but the worse thing that happened to our vocation, when they arrived dumbing down got into overdrive and oversupply of licence holders cheapened the job.
The dumbing down had begun some years previously when car style gearboxes, eg syncromesh, started being fitted to lorries…proper lorries had lorry gearboxes requiring lorry drivers.
Autos don’t automatically mean better fuel consumption, but they are necessary for too many licence holders, many of whom are not capable of driving lorries competently and wouldn’t have the foggiest idea, and even less interest, of how to get the best from a manual vehicle.
The auto box does provide some form of clutch transmission engine and drivetrain protection from the really incompetent who would otherwise cause premature wear and damage, and autos do allow non drivers to concentrate on steering.
Can i ask what age you must be to be a proper driver.i assume it must over 60 as by the sound of it yous had to hand crank the truck every morning and had wooden wheels.your beds were a plank of wood over the day cab seats and unless you wore overalls with oil on your face it wasnt a real shift that day.i find it rude that newer drivers are deemed less of a person if they strap loads and are not old enough to hav drove a eaton
kr79:
I wonder if older drivers in the 40s said the jobs dumbed down now you dont have to start a fire and build up steam to get going.
Yes, almost certainly.
For the record, I’m 42. I just about caught the tail end of “the old days”, having started driving full time in 2000. But I love things with wheels, I despise modern cars and I just happen to enjoy getting the best out of machines. I genuinely did like the Eaton twin split gearbox, and the modern breed of autos is nowhere near as engaging to drive. If people like autos and modern trucks, that’s great, but they’re not for me.
My boss wont buy autos, even had to make sure our Euro 6 CFs actually came with a manual 'box. And my CF is better on fuel than the contract hire FM with IShift.
nearly there:
Can i ask what age you must be to be a proper driver.i assume it must over 60 as by the sound of it yous had to hand crank the truck every morning and had wooden wheels.your beds were a plank of wood over the day cab seats and unless you wore overalls with oil on your face it wasnt a real shift that day.i find it rude that newer drivers are deemed less of a person if they strap loads and are not old enough to hav drove a eaton
Age immaterial, no one was born knowing how do drive, some can some can’t and never will.
What too many fail to grasp is that now the job is so easy, and deskilled that any idiot can and wants to do it, hence oversupply of people with licences, then supply and demand dictates lower overall salaries.
As most of my driving is in london im quite happy to drive an auto although my current truck is manual although if it has to be manual id rather have a 13 speed fuller over any other manual.
A lot of the problem is drivers putting it in auto and leaving it. Its an automated manual and a bit of manual override can make the drive a lot more enjoyable.
Having started on manuals in 1995 then on to autos as trucks evolved etc, I’m now back on analog tacos and manuals. At first I thought ffs am going back in time here, but over the weeks I got back into the habit. As mentioned above, manuals are great for shunting, reversing etc. But sometimes the auto is handy too, yes it makes the job easier and for new drivers coming into the job it’s one less thing for them to worry about. Suppose that’s progress, I’d still prefer a modern auto (with any badge on the grill) to the Ford Cargo I started with!
kr79:
A lot of the problem is drivers putting it in auto and leaving it. Its an automated manual and a bit of manual override can make the drive a lot more enjoyable.
Yes, that’s true. I always drove my DAF 105 in manual mode, and even now, when the only driving I do is shunting the units around the yard when the trunkers get back, I flick it into manual mode. I just prefer to be in control of when the thing changes gear.
nearly there:
Can i ask what age you must be to be a proper driver.i assume it must over 60 as by the sound of it yous had to hand crank the truck every morning and had wooden wheels.your beds were a plank of wood over the day cab seats and unless you wore overalls with oil on your face it wasnt a real shift that day.i find it rude that newer drivers are deemed less of a person if they strap loads and are not old enough to hav drove a eaton
I’m 51 and been driving for 30 years this June.
My first job driving did involve sleeping on a piece of hardboard across the seats, I had a Guy with a 220 RR engine and a 6 speed crash box which I got taught how to use, driving round & round Michael Wood services one night.
I managed to get it there from Penzance, Christ knows how the gearbox was still in one piece, then met another driver in our company, who spent an hour or so teaching me.
I’ve never looked back since.
Onto Twin Splitters, I had one first for 2 years on a Seddon with a ■■■■■■■ and I thought it was absolute sh€$e, then an ERF with a ■■■■■■■ and thought the same, then I drove a Foden with a CAT engine & twin splitter and it was like it they were made for each other, I never was a fan of ■■■■■■■■ the revs use to take forever to build up and die down, but those are days gone by and I much preferred the Synchro boxes after that.
Now I have a Freightliner with an 18speed Auto, I am delighted with that.
In USA/Canada there are no Synchro, only Crash and Auto’s are a relatively new thing here.
I’m not one that wishes we could go back to the olden days.
