License issue (1 Viewer)

[DanielFord]

You have my sympathy at £4,000 a pop with a clutch we get through one a year minimum always the same new trainee races gearchanges but can't name the tune..........I can it's called a cash register............never had this problem with a crash box was going to like your post somehow didn't seem appropriate when you got to replace a box

All the best Rick

Luckily, our dealer has agreed to strip the gearbox down and do a tonne of other work that I insisted upon at a fraction of that cost. When we have the van back and I am happy, I will be naming the dealer - so far they have been excellent.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I'm not a fan of auto trucks, the tech is getting there but slowly, when they first started appearing they were very dim witted, wouldn't downshift as you slowed and the throttle in reverse was basically an on/off switch, backing onto a bay was tricky. As they progress things are getting better, they now have much more 'feel' when reversing but they are still very dim witted when pulling away fully laden, they take an age to change gear which can leave you stranded on roundabouts etc, and the are even worse on a hill, a lot of the time it's better to take over and hold it in a gear until you have enough forward momentum. The problem is they are programmed for fuel efficiency which is fine but when you need to pull out of a junction or onto a roundabout they want to change up too soon and jump too many gears, leaving you not going anywhere fast and fielding a barrage of abuse from car drivers.

Trouble is drivers are the last people to be consulted when companies buy new trucks, often the buyer doesn't know one end of a truck from another and only cares about price and fuel efficiency when deciding and are seduced by marketing BS from the salesman, yes an auto may be more fuel efficient empty but def not when full and any good trucking firm runs its trucks full most of the time.

Give me an auto for rigid multi drop work but manual every time in a artic, if you are running heavy you need the control and the gears and it will be more fuel efficient.

And I stand by my statement that I find it disturbing that you can learn to drive a truck in an auto. Last 3 places I've worked ran all manual trucks.