Firstly, I have been lurking here for a while, I have recenty passed my class 1 and class 2, used TRUK in Bolton, would highly recommend. Thak you for all the information supplied here, I found it extremely useful!!
I am fortunate enough to have been given an opportunity to start with a local haulage firm, with a fleet of 14 mercs, they are also going to pay all my ADR fee’s, I know I am lucky, especially as I have no previous commercial driving experience.
I was curious as to the procedure for a hill start with an automatic, having not even driven an autoamic car before!
I’ve only driven auto’s on cars and vans, but I believe on commercial vehicles, they have a clutch pedal for setting off and stopping, so I would have thought hill starts are the same as in a manual, then once going, you just let your left leg go to sleep
If you are concerned that it will not hold once the handbrake is released then you can always use your left foot to hold it on the foot brake until you feel it start to pull - that way you are using the footbrake a bit like using the clutch on a manual.
iif the merc has eps then youwill have a cluch and it it just as a manual if a power shift then you have selcet drive give it a little power then release the hand brake but try not to over rev on the merc power shift when you get to a hill to stop it will not hold like a car does so be carefull if it esp you pre select the clutch down wait for the click then release if you don’t get the gear it will make a clicking sound just press clutch down again should then be ok
delboytwo:
iif the merc has eps then youwill have a cluch and it it just as a manual if a power shift then you have selcet drive give it a little power then release the hand brake but try not to over rev on the merc power shift when you get to a hill to stop it will not hold like a car does so be carefull if it esp you pre select the clutch down wait for the click then release if you don’t get the gear it will make a clicking sound just press clutch down again should then be ok
If its the merc gearbox I drove then to put in reserve you need to press the two buttons and pull back on the gearbox. It took me half an hour and 2 phone calls to find out.lol
I also found the tacho to be totally different to the norm aswell.
The six wheeler Volvo tanker i drive is an auto. I usually just keep my foot on the brake until ready to go then move it quickly to the accelerator unless its a very steep slope then ill use the parking brake. I drove an Iveco auto once. That was like driving a dodgem car All the lads used to call it the bus . One thing i will say for auto’s is they take a lot of stress off your left knee. Especially in heavy traffic situations
Personally, whenever I’ve driven an automated manual such as the Volvo I-Shift or the ZF AS-Tronic, when pulling away I’ve always applied pressure to the gas pedal Before releasing the parking brake - never ever failed me! The hill-hold feature(s) were a very welcome driver aid though I must say.
An auto wagon is nothing like an auto car, except for only having two pedals.
An auto car has a torque converter clutch, an auto truck doesn’t.
When doing an up-hill start in an auto truck, do it exactly the same as in a manual truck, ie handbrake on, a gentle press on the throttle pedal and listen to the engine, when you feel the clutch start to bite - release the handbrake and give it some more rev’s, accelerate away.
An automatic truck has virtually the same drive train as the manual version, including a clutch. It’s actually called an automatically changed manual transmission. It’s for runner was the SAMT, semi automatic etc.
The difference is that in the auto truck, the complete gear change is handled by computer. It dips the clutch pedal for you, when you come to a halt. It decides which gear you need to pull off in. It decides when and how many gears to change, as you drive along. It then does the gear change, the same as a driver would. Most gear changes are done without dipping the clutch, it matches rev’s to road speed and desired gear so the gear simply drops in. A computer can do this quite easily, a driver takes a while to get the hang of it.
Most auto trucks also have a manual gear change lever or button, for you to tell the truck to change gear now. For example, when approaching a steep hill.
All the lads used to call it the bus 