As a former truck driver: can confirm. It was mostly freeing because I could actually go to Walmart or do laundry in the city without worrying about where and how to park.
Also, without a trailer it accelerates a lot faster. Like, genuinely spending more time shifting than accelerating. Feels weird.
I don’t know anyone who starts in 1st even with a full load. Maybe some very heavy haul guys.
In a bobtail, I would routinely take off in 4th or even 5th, in a 10 speed.
Another thing to consider is the amount of torque available.
I have on occasion went through every gear without ever needing to accelerate. Did you know that in a semi trucks, bobtailing, in top gear, that idling the engine will still have you doing about 40 to 45mph.
And due to all the torque, it won’t really be lugging the engine either to idle in gear while rolling on flat ground.
The truck I was driving had a DT12 (12-speed) and it would shift 1-2-4-6-8-10-12 if I remember correctly. Even with only 7 gears to go through, it still took forever. Maybe it wasn’t actually more time shifting than accelerating, but it sure felt like it lol.
Because, technically speaking, an 18 speed is just an 8 speed with power dividers.
1L, 1H, 2L, 2H, 3L, 3H, etc up to 8L, and 8H.
So where it gets interesting is low and reverse. Observe:
The gear shift only has 6 positions: R 1, 3 on top, and L, 2, 4 on the bottom. Then you flip the range selector to High and then the gear shift becomes: R-High, 5 7 and Low-High, 6, 8.
But there’s also a power divider on the shift, usually thumb activated that further divides those gears.
Which means Reverse can be split again… But so can reverse High. So you wind up with Reverse, Reverse High, then reverse High low and Reverse high high
And Low becomes even funnier: Because you can split low into low and low low, and low high into low high low…
But what’s even more interesting is that generally, gear ratio of Low high and 4 are very close, almost identical.
As a former truck driver: can confirm. It was mostly freeing because I could actually go to Walmart or do laundry in the city without worrying about where and how to park.
Also, without a trailer it accelerates a lot faster. Like, genuinely spending more time shifting than accelerating. Feels weird.
Do you still start in 1st? Do you skip gears?
I don’t know anyone who starts in 1st even with a full load. Maybe some very heavy haul guys.
In a bobtail, I would routinely take off in 4th or even 5th, in a 10 speed.
Another thing to consider is the amount of torque available.
I have on occasion went through every gear without ever needing to accelerate. Did you know that in a semi trucks, bobtailing, in top gear, that idling the engine will still have you doing about 40 to 45mph.
And due to all the torque, it won’t really be lugging the engine either to idle in gear while rolling on flat ground.
Awesome, thanks for the detailed answer!
The truck I was driving had a DT12 (12-speed) and it would shift 1-2-4-6-8-10-12 if I remember correctly. Even with only 7 gears to go through, it still took forever. Maybe it wasn’t actually more time shifting than accelerating, but it sure felt like it lol.
I don’t drive any more, but I’d start 18-speeds in 3rd and hit every 2nd gear on the way up
Sooo: 2-Low?
Because, technically speaking, an 18 speed is just an 8 speed with power dividers.
1L, 1H, 2L, 2H, 3L, 3H, etc up to 8L, and 8H.
So where it gets interesting is low and reverse. Observe:
The gear shift only has 6 positions: R 1, 3 on top, and L, 2, 4 on the bottom. Then you flip the range selector to High and then the gear shift becomes: R-High, 5 7 and Low-High, 6, 8.
But there’s also a power divider on the shift, usually thumb activated that further divides those gears.
Which means Reverse can be split again… But so can reverse High. So you wind up with Reverse, Reverse High, then reverse High low and Reverse high high
And Low becomes even funnier: Because you can split low into low and low low, and low high into low high low…
But what’s even more interesting is that generally, gear ratio of Low high and 4 are very close, almost identical.
3L