Afternoon all! Here’s one you might actually enjoy helping me/T&D with…
I’m putting together a list of the top 10 “classic” truck gearboxes of all time that every driver should have heard of. I’ll obviously be including the Eaton Twin Splitter and Fuller Roadranger (which I preferred), but which others are vital for newer/younger drivers to have on their knowledge list? The ZF 16-speed slapover? The David Brown? One - or more - of those with separate splitter or range change levers on the dash? For the heavy boys, what about one of Allison’s torque converters?
Over to you…
Ps. I’m gonna cross-post this in the main drivers’ forum to catch some of the guys that never come in here and vice versa, so don’t worry if you’ve already replied there when you see this, there’s no need to do so twice like I once did in a similar situation!
Personally a 15 speed underdrive Fuller as was fitted in my 1983 Peterbilt 359.More recently I own a Merc 1853 with the “knock across “ 16 speed ZF.Both great gearbox’s imo…
Regards Andrew.
Volvo 16 speed no question easy to use 4 over four with splitter lever up on the dash with green light on high so you knew where you were when tired, needed an expert if they went wrong to pull em apart as loads of spring loaded bearings internally which would fly everywhere to the unexperienced fitter but we had an expert in Basingstoke who we called Doctor Finlay who was mustard on them, Bob was his name and he was in to heavy metal music, another Mary Hopkins moment, cheers Buzzer.
windrush:
Fodens eight/nine/twelve speed (virtually the same box, just a different sticker/label in the cab!) but any new driver is unlikely to encounter one!
My own experiences were the David Brown 6 speeds fitted in ERFs and later on the Eaton/Fuller 9 speeds fitted in ERFs and Seddon Atkinsons even the “wrong way round” installation in the Seddon Atkinson was a decent gearbox and the best gearbox in my own opinion was the Eaton twin splitter good fast clutch less gear changes up and down the box
Happy times
iShift beats everything in today’s marketplace. The Eaton TS and a Fuller Road Ranger are high on my list for simple quick changes. My favourite installation of a ZF 16 speed box was an MAN with comfort button.
The gearboxes I would rather forget are a Spicer in a Roadtrain and a Mercedes EPS
Wheel Nut:
iShift beats everything in today’s marketplace. The Eaton TS and a Fuller Road Ranger are high on my list for simple quick changes. My favourite installation of a ZF 16 speed box was an MAN with comfort button.
The gearboxes I would rather forget are a Spicer in a Roadtrain and a Mercedes EPS
I ■■■■ might beat everything else from a drivers point of view but they’re far from the most reliable!
I suppose T&D’s readership is mainly drivers so costs of operating and repair won’t feature much in this upcoming article
windrush:
Fodens eight/nine/twelve speed (virtually the same box, just a different sticker/label in the cab!) but any new driver is unlikely to encounter one!
Pete.
Never mind blowing yet more smoke up fodens ■■■ how about a vote for the locally grown box by Reg Knowles
windrush:
Fodens eight/nine/twelve speed (virtually the same box, just a different sticker/label in the cab!) but any new driver is unlikely to encounter one!
Pete.
Never mind blowing yet more smoke up fodens ■■■ how about a vote for the locally grown box by Reg Knowles
Yes, but there were only ever a handfull made and the OP asked for the “top ten that most drivers would have heard of” Dan! Hardly anyone outside of Derbyshire will know of that one, and you would only have been a Tadpole when Reg designed it!
windrush:
Fodens eight/nine/twelve speed (virtually the same box, just a different sticker/label in the cab!) but any new driver is unlikely to encounter one!
Pete.
Never mind blowing yet more smoke up fodens ■■■ how about a vote for the locally grown box by Reg Knowles
Yes, but there were only ever a handfull made and the OP asked for the “top ten that most drivers would have heard of” Dan! Hardly anyone outside of Derbyshire will know of that one, and you would only have been a Tadpole when Reg designed it!
Pete.
May be but I had this idea that I’d buy a stroker then ask Pete( not you ) to lend me the knowles box
Punchy Dan:
The Eaton 2 speed axle deserves some credit for transforming lorries with few gearbox ratios .
I totally agree with you Dan’l ( Oh! ■■■■ it what have I said ) your dead right about the Eaton 2 speed “pepping up” a hitherto sluggish performance and my first 4 motors , Trader, D1000 and a couple of Mastiffs were spec’d with the Eaton ! Great Cheers Dennis.
You missed another lemon out Wheelnut , 6 speed Leyland / Albion with the useless splitter that didn’t work on direct top . nothing wrong with the 6 speed box , but that flaming useless splitter , yuk .
The Fuller 9 or 13 speed goes without saying.But I’ll agree with Juddian that the ZF AK 690 12 speed splitter in the DAF 2800 deserves its place.Also liked the Turner box in the Clydesdale and the constant mesh type used in the Leyland FG and the WF whatever that might have been.The rest were forgettable although the Allison torque converter beast of a thing probably deserves the accolade of effective and bullet proof if nothing else.
In order of preference: Fuller Roadranger 9-speed (slick, bullet-proof and a stick-change for every gear); Fuller Roadranger 13-speed, Eaton Twin-splitter – all constant-mesh ‘boxes.
My favourite synchro-boxes were the 10-speed (five-over-five and a stick-change for every gear) in the 2 and 3-series Scanias (much nicer to use in the LHD ones); and the ZF 16-speed ‘box (four-over-four) but only as installed in DAF 95s / 95XFs. Didn’t like any of the slap-across range-change versions of the ZF.
