8 Speed Auto for HD trucks

Bionic Man wrote:



Or, you could just leave it in Drive, and let the automatic move through the gears exactly as it was designed to do.

On down hills sometimes you what to manually select a gear in conjunction with the exhaust brake to descend a hill at the speed you want. As the truck does not know about curves or other conditions ahead of you.

Chris

MFL wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

MFL wrote:
I use the lock out feature when towing heavy. I just lock out 6th, 5th is normally good, with few downshifts, unless continuing rolling hills, in which case I lock out 5th, stay in 4th. Towing heavy with same truck/FW, but with 10-speed, I'd have to lock out 10-9-8-7-6 until past hilly area, then add back 6-7-8, until headwind, lock out 8-7. Maybe most will just not use lock out, let the 10-speed continuously shift, call it good.

Not against change, or improvement, but my Ford 6-speed is a great, user friendly transmission, with spot on gear spacing.

Jerry

Jerry,
How can you comment which gears you will have to lock out when you don't know the gear ratios of the gears your referring to and you haven't towed with a 10 speed. Your assumption is the 10 speeds gear ratios 1-5 are the same as your 6 speed and I can assure you there not.

You are correct, I have no idea, but was only using the #s as an example. A new for HD 10-speed may not even have the lock out feature.

Time will tell, but my current 6-speed will be a tough act to follow, for heavy towing use.

Jerry

Don't know the about the 10 speed but the 6 speeds are 4 speeds with double overdrives and the ZF 8 speed is a 6 speed with double overdrives.

MFL wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

MFL wrote:
I use the lock out feature when towing heavy. I just lock out 6th, 5th is normally good, with few downshifts, unless continuing rolling hills, in which case I lock out 5th, stay in 4th. Towing heavy with same truck/FW, but with 10-speed, I'd have to lock out 10-9-8-7-6 until past hilly area, then add back 6-7-8, until headwind, lock out 8-7. Maybe most will just not use lock out, let the 10-speed continuously shift, call it good.

Not against change, or improvement, but my Ford 6-speed is a great, user friendly transmission, with spot on gear spacing.

Jerry

Jerry,
How can you comment which gears you will have to lock out when you don't know the gear ratios of the gears your referring to and you haven't towed with a 10 speed. Your assumption is the 10 speeds gear ratios 1-5 are the same as your 6 speed and I can assure you there not.

You are correct, I have no idea, but was only using the #s as an example. A new for HD 10-speed may not even have the lock out feature.

Time will tell, but my current 6-speed will be a tough act to follow, for heavy towing use.

Jerry

Or, you could just leave it in Drive, and let the automatic move through the gears exactly as it was designed to do.

FishOnOne wrote:

MFL wrote:
I use the lock out feature when towing heavy. I just lock out 6th, 5th is normally good, with few downshifts, unless continuing rolling hills, in which case I lock out 5th, stay in 4th. Towing heavy with same truck/FW, but with 10-speed, I'd have to lock out 10-9-8-7-6 until past hilly area, then add back 6-7-8, until headwind, lock out 8-7. Maybe most will just not use lock out, let the 10-speed continuously shift, call it good.

Not against change, or improvement, but my Ford 6-speed is a great, user friendly transmission, with spot on gear spacing.

Jerry

Jerry,
How can you comment which gears you will have to lock out when you don't know the gear ratios of the gears your referring to and you haven't towed with a 10 speed. Your assumption is the 10 speeds gear ratios 1-5 are the same as your 6 speed and I can assure you there not.

You are correct, I have no idea, but was only using the #s as an example. A new for HD 10-speed may not even have the lock out feature.

Time will tell, but my current 6-speed will be a tough act to follow, for heavy towing use.

Jerry

valhalla360 wrote:

Me Again wrote:

So you are saying they are now throw away trucks? A Cummins engine can go a million miles. Wonder how many transmissions that will take?

The "million mile engine" myth...sure you can keep most any engine going that long but at 15k miles per year it will take 67yrs to hit 1 million miles.

Yes, most trucks are throw away before year 30 let alone 67. No manufacturer is designing and building based on million mile assumptions.

"million mile myth"?
it has already happened. I'm sure if you were to google it, you would find the reports.
My truck is almost halfway there, at 408,000 miles. The transmission was rebuilt once, and may need it again soon.
I got a good chuckle out of the "2 speed and three speed" comments. Am I the only one here that ever owned the GM Hydramatic 4 speed that Pontiac, Kaiser, and others used? Surely not. Even the military used it, or a variation of it, in 6X6 trucks. Of course, the M211 was quite possibly the sorriest 6X6 ever built...

MFL wrote:
I use the lock out feature when towing heavy. I just lock out 6th, 5th is normally good, with few downshifts, unless continuing rolling hills, in which case I lock out 5th, stay in 4th. Towing heavy with same truck/FW, but with 10-speed, I'd have to lock out 10-9-8-7-6 until past hilly area, then add back 6-7-8, until headwind, lock out 8-7. Maybe most will just not use lock out, let the 10-speed continuously shift, call it good.

Not against change, or improvement, but my Ford 6-speed is a great, user friendly transmission, with spot on gear spacing.

Jerry

Jerry,
How can you comment which gears you will have to lock out when you don't know the gear ratios of the gears your referring to and you haven't towed with a 10 speed. Your assumption is the 10 speeds gear ratios 1-5 are the same as your 6 speed and I can assure you there not.

I use the lock out feature when towing heavy. I just lock out 6th, 5th is normally good, with few downshifts, unless continuing rolling hills, in which case I lock out 5th, stay in 4th. Towing heavy with same truck/FW, but with 10-speed, I'd have to lock out 10-9-8-7-6 until past hilly area, then add back 6-7-8, until headwind, lock out 8-7. Maybe most will just not use lock out, let the 10-speed continuously shift, call it good.

Not against change, or improvement, but my Ford 6-speed is a great, user friendly transmission, with spot on gear spacing.

Jerry

thomasmnile wrote:
Isn't the number of gears more about improved fuel mileage more than anything? No comparison to a truck of course but the new Camry we bought has an 8 speed slush box and it shifts......... a lot!!! All in the name of that EPA sticker that was on the window proclaiming 39/28 MPG I suppose..........

Yes but another advantage is to keep the engine at its' sweet spot when towing as well.

This week I drove a Jeep Cherokee during a trip and it had a 9 speed. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with the shifting.

Isn't the number of gears more about improved fuel mileage more than anything? No comparison to a truck of course but the new Camry we bought has an 8 speed slush box and it shifts......... a lot!!! All in the name of that EPA sticker that was on the window proclaiming 39/28 MPG I suppose..........

Looks like Ford maybe testing their new HD 10 speed transmission.

Also glad to see David Ives still working on the Power Stroke product.

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