Ford and GMC to produce new 9 and 10 speed transmissions

A long way from the old 2 speed Power Glide.

Almost 2 years ago I made post wondering why they didn't make multi speed trannys like in tractors. The vehicles would be slower on steep grades but overall have a lot better economy. A 10 speed in a V10 MH would be great.

Why would the vehicles be slower on steep grades? I would expect them to be faster on steep grades since the engine speed would be better matched to maximum output with more gear ratios available.

While good news, it's hardly new news. The first press releases were issued 8 months ago. There was a new round of press releases in the last few weeks

I guess they know something I don't. With the reasonably broad powerband of most gas engines it seems like overkill in my opinion. 6 gears seems to be a good number for keeping the engine in the powerband without being as complicated as 9 and 10 speeds. For diesels it makes more sense because of the narrower rpm band, though the current batch from the big 3 seems pretty good with 6 speeds as well. I suppose one thing it will do is give so many ratios only one rear end will be needed, heck they have almost done that with the 6 speeds. With gas engines especially, 9 and 10 speeds is almost a CVT, with more complexity.

I'd need someone who wears a propeller on their head for a living to back my theory but I think that these new the development of these transmissions is being driven by emission standards as much as anything. Allowing computers to tightly control what the engine is doing given any speed, load or condition should help manage emissions and fuel economy and having lots of gear ratios to choose from should assist this. I've heard that one reason manual transmissions are becoming less available is that it's much more difficult to get them to pass emissions because there is no control over one critical aspect-the nut behind the wheel.

I would rather see a two speed rear end.
It would be nice to select between a loaded and unloaded rear gear!

fly-boy wrote:
I would rather see a two speed rear end.
It would be nice to select between a loaded and unloaded rear gear!

Hear, hear!


And on these 9-10 spd trannys, I'll bet you'll never see one in a HD diesel powered PU. Too much stuffed into a small space can't possibly allow much torque.

When I was involved in re-engining a helo from T58's to T700's, the new trannys that had to be developed caused us to have to have to derate the engines from 1800SHP to 1250SHP since the trannys couldn't handle the increased loads.

Trannys have always been the limiting factor in going bigger in just about all technologies.

Seriously doubt they will shift every gear in sequence all the time. They will (just guessing ) start in 3-4 and skip their way to top gear depending on the load,up side is they will always be in the 'sweet spot'

this thread has me noodling 'why' and one obvious is SMOG tune

Most of us here talk about the sweet spot for towing, be it gasser or diesel

For the EPA and their mandated goals for the OEMs says to me, that the OEMs are
going to super tune all ICE's for a specific area of those ICE's RPM vs Torque/HP
curves

Betcha it will be a small RPM range and will do anything to keep those ICE's
spinning within that range in all conditions

Fly by wire everything (throttle, tranny shifter, advance, fueling, etc, etc, etc)
will have the computer control all...if not already there now

Another betcha is that the Tow/Haul button will either be gone, or does little
as the EPA SMOG position #1 on the priority list