Best tutorial I've ever seen on shifting an 18-speed truck transmission

[ebinmaine 67,432]

 

[pfrederi 17,729]

Interesting...but sort of explains why when the gas drilling support companies buy new Tri axle water bottles they get automatics....

 

43 years ago trying to teach a bunch of GIs (about 35% female) how to drive 5 speed 2-1/2 tons   wonder that any of the clutches survived.  one of my company clerks (female) almost put me through he windshield of the M-151. 

 

I should add the Army gave up... When the Deuces were overhauled and upgraded to M35A3  they got Automatics.  3/4 tons were replaced with commercial utility Dodges later GM's all autos.. Jeeps by Hummves also autos

Edited January 11, 2023 by pfrederi

[Ed Kennell 38,145]

We used both arms back in the day.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,535]

And I thought the Millennial Theft Protection Device was adequate. Ain't nobody stealing @ebinmaine's truck... 

 

 

[pfrederi 17,729]

8 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

We used both arms back in the day.

 

 

Try that in a Deuce driving cross country and when the wheel kicks you might have a broken arm

Edited January 11, 2023 by pfrederi

[ebinmaine 67,432]

38 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

We used both arms back in the day.

 

 

I've seen some that the owner/driver modified the sticks to be  closer to each other so they shift while sliding the same hand from one knob to the other.   

That's slick.  

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

We used both arms back in the day.

My first gravel truck 5 and 4 awesome transmission combo, backing up on a muddy site had plenty of speed to make it through the soft spots.

 

My buddy had a Kenworth highway tractor with 5/4 air shift on the auxiliary..

 

One day Ernie a scrap yard owner asked me to drive a load into Calgary, the morning i  was to leave the 80 year old owner climbed into the jump seat. The trip was uneventful just a normal road trip but on our return Ernie said, your the first to never miss a shift on the grades and never seen anyone shift without using the clutch.

 

The other drivers who had missed a shift on grade usually had to come to a complete stop to find a gear.

[ebinmaine 67,432]

5 minutes ago, bc.gold said:

My first gravel truck 5 and 4 awesome transmission combo, backing up on a muddy site had plenty of speed to make it through the soft spots.

 

My buddy had a Kenworth highway tractor with 5/4 air shift on the auxiliary..

 

One day Ernie a scrap yard owner asked me to drive a load into Calgary, the morning i  was to leave the 80 year old owner climbed into the jump seat. The trip was uneventful just a normal road trip but on our return Ernie said, your the first to never miss a shift on the grades and never seen anyone shift without using the clutch.

 

The other drivers who had missed a shift on grade usually had to come to a complete stop to find a gear.

 

People get freaked out by having too many speeds. Seen it quite a few times.

Easy enough to find one.

Some folks "get"  machinery. Some don't.

 

That's perfectly fine. There's things I shouldn't do either.... 

[lynnmor 7,305]

I think truckers have plenty to do keeping the cell phone jockeys at bay so the effort devoted to stirring in a gearbox might be an overload.

[bc.gold 3,403]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

People get freaked out by having too many speeds. Seen it quite a few times.

Easy enough to find one.

Some folks "get"  machinery. Some don't.

 

That's perfectly fine. There's things I shouldn't do either.... 

Keep your hands in your pockets with both feet planted firmly on the ground.

[ebinmaine 67,432]

1 minute ago, lynnmor said:

I think truckers have plenty to do keeping the cell phone jockeys at bay so the effort devoted to stirring in a gearbox might be an overload.

Nowadays there's more logic to that than you could know.... 

[ri702bill 8,316]

15 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Some folks "get"  machinery. Some don't.

 

Yeah - like twacters.....

[Handy Don 12,214]

1 hour ago, bc.gold said:

The other drivers who had missed a shift on grade usually had to come to a complete stop to find a gear.

Took my driver’s test in our 3-on-the-tree truck. Tester complimented me on being smooth on the clutch and I replied “When your whole family is in the car ready to criticize any mistake, you get good or else..."

Failed the first test for making a left turn from the right lane of one-way street. Duh.

[ri702bill 8,316]

Back when I got my drivers license in the early 1970's, you could either do the Road Test on a car you brought or use one of the DMV supplied 1968 Chevy Biscaynes - 6 cylinder, 3 on the column.

There were 2 Test sites - the DMV Inspector dediced which one. I took mt test at Neutaconnicut Hil in a then new Plymouth Sattelite from the Driving School - no problem. The other site was College Hill Downtown - still cobblestone at the time - narrow two lane hill, with a turn -  I would be hard pressed to pass that test in the Biscayne today....

Edited January 12, 2023 by ri702bill

[WHX?? 48,815]

Grind em if ya got em ... I'll take a pound...

Get on that rat...

No smell no clutch burn...

Spin them rubbers...

Sry... flashback to HS days... 

Edited January 12, 2023 by WHX??

[8ntruck 6,998]

Back when I was taking summer driver's ed class, one of the road drives was in a stick shift.  That year, the stick shift car was a '72 Cutlass with a 350 and a 3 on the floor.  Was really looking forward to that drive.  Unfortunately, the car got broken before it my turn came up.

[c-series don 8,689]

At 18 years of age I learned to drive a 5/4 speed, 20 gears but you didn’t really need all of them. I was a passenger in this truck since I was a little kid, so after watching my uncle and cousins shift it for many years I kinda knew what had to happen to make it go when my time came.It was a 1970 L8000 with a Cat (3408 I think) Ten wheel dump. Maybe only a few times did I use all the gears when loaded and pulling a Cat 941B track loader on a tilt-top trailer. I quickly learned to skip gears especially when empty because otherwise you’d go a hundred feet and shift five times!  I remember that I couldn’t wait to see people I knew so I could wave to them! At 18 I really thought I was somebody driving that truck! 

[ebinmaine 67,432]

7 hours ago, c-series don said:

At 18 I really thought I was somebody driving that truck!

At 52 I really think I'm somebody driving the bigger trucks at work !!!

 

 

[Ed Kennell 38,145]

At 13, I was jammin gears in these.     Dad had three of them on the road that I shuttled to and from the Gulf station where I worked..   I changed oil  and greased them every weekend.

[c-series don 8,689]

@Ed Kennell Hey Ed, this is parked outside the Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum in Colonial Heights, Virginia. It’s right off I-95, if you have not been I would encourage anyone to stop by and check it out. Be prepared to spend time there, this is no half hour stop. Perhaps this is why they have a fifties style diner inside! I have more pictures but they do not do this incredible place justice. 

[lynnmor 7,305]

1 hour ago, c-series don said:

@Ed Kennell Hey Ed, this is parked outside the Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum in Colonial Heights, Virginia. It’s right off I-95, if you have not been I would encourage anyone to stop by and check it out. Be prepared to spend time there, this is no half hour stop. Perhaps this is why they have a fifties style diner inside! I have more pictures but they do not do this incredible place justice. 

 

 

So Ed's dad was late on that delivery?

[bc.gold 3,403]

4 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

At 13, I was jammin gears in these.     Dad had three of them on the road that I shuttled to and from the Gulf station where I worked..   I changed oil  and greased them every weekend.

Do you recall which engine was in in the beast

[Ed Kennell 38,145]

31 minutes ago, bc.gold said:

Do you recall which engine was in in the beast

Not really, of course they were inline sixes.      I do remember Dad blew one of the sixes and we replaced it with a Buck V/8.  He made one run with it and replaced it with a six.

His comment...all he got done was shifting gears, and the noise.

[bc.gold 3,403]

3 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Not really, of course they were inline sixes.      I do remember Dad blew one of the sixes and we replaced it with a Buck V/8.  He made one run with it and replaced it with a six.

His comment...all he got done was shifting gears, and the noise.

 

One scrap yard I worked at had a semi with a V12 GMC running on gasoline, very thirsty engine.

 

[ebinmaine 67,432]

2 minutes ago, bc.gold said:

 

One scrap yard I worked at had a semi with a V12 GMC running on gasoline, very thirsty engine.

 

Awesome engine.