Truck with automatic jon f

[john in la]

I have been on a different route past couple of weeks and since our trucks are assigned to the route and not the driver I have been driving a different truck.

It is a 2019 International single axle with a Cummins and 10 speed automatic.
Rated and licensed for 80,000 lbs.
And yes I can gross 80,000 lbs with a single axle truck.

Across flat ground it will run 67 mph at 1200 rpm.
Its when it gets in rolling hills that it is different.
Under foot throttle it runs as a normal truck.

But with the cruise on it will pull the hill.
As you top the hill and the weight starts pushing you down the hill the transmission will shift into neutral at 68 mph and the engine will go to idle. It will stay like this until you get to 70 mph where the transmission will shift into gear; the engine rpms will come up and the engine brake will come on to try and slow you down.
As you start to pull the next hill it will come back to life and start pulling again.
I assume this is a attempt to try and save fuel when you do not need the engine pulling.

Some other bells and whistles it has.
Collision avoidance system that keeps me at a safe following distance.
Lane deviation warning that sounds a alarm if I get out of my lane.
Speed control where it reads the speed limit sign on the side of the road and warns me if I am speeding.
And what we call the passing gear where it will allow me to drive 70 mph for 3 miles to pass.
This allows my 67 mph truck to pass a 66 mph truck in a timely manner.

 

[Aaron SEIA]

How do you gross 80k on a single axle and be legal?
AaronSEIA

 

[miangus]

I would be a little nervous driving a truck that shifted into neutral going down hill.

 

[Brown Dirt Cowboy]

(quoted from post at 13:21:04 10/03/20) How do you gross 80k on a single axle and be legal?
AaronSEIA

used to gross 80,000 with a single axle when I was pulling two 28' pup trailers.

 

[john in la]

I was nervous at first.
But you would never know it is happening unless you watch the tack and see the engine go to idle.
You feel nothing as it goes threw the process.

 

[john in la]

I can actually weigh 92,000 lbs and not be over on any of my 5 axles.
I am just over gross above 80,000 lbs.

I pull 2 pup trailers.

 

[Brown Dirt Cowboy]

(quoted from post at 13:37:57 10/03/20) I can actually weigh 92,000 lbs and not be over on any of my 5 axles.
I am just over gross above 80,000 lbs.

I pull 2 pup trailers.

pulled pups for 7 years will I was with USF Dugan before YRC bought USF and closed us down.

 

[Brown Dirt Cowboy]

(quoted from post at 13:41:33 10/03/20)

(quoted from post at 13:37:57 10/03/20) I can actually weigh 92,000 lbs and not be over on any of my 5 axles.
I am just over gross above 80,000 lbs.

I pull 2 pup trailers.

pulled pups for 7 years will I was with USF Dugan before YRC bought USF and closed us down.

eant to say while I was with USF Dugan but they would not let me edit it.

 

[john in la]

I worked for OD and casual for Roadway when I was younger.
Gave up pulling pups and went to hauling gasoline for a while.
I have been with Estes for the past 15 years.

 

[Brown Dirt Cowboy]

I went to work for Dohrn Transfer a regional carrier out of Rock Island, Il out of their Cape Girardeaum Mo terminal after Dugan was shut down. Dohrn had 53' vans. Retired from there in April of 2014. That didn't last long, have a neighbor that owns an excavating company and he needed help so I go to work for him as part-time so now work 3 or 4 days a week pulling a 39' frameless dump with a Mack tractor. Still enjoy driving after 46 years and 4 and a half million miles.

 

[Mark-Ia]

In rolling hills with my 2020 Volvo, I shut the cruise off and the engine brake. It will roll down the hill as fast as I will let it until the next hill.

 

[jon f mn]

Some of the things those transmissions do is hard to get used to, but once you do not many want to go back. I really prefer them now. They do need to be set right tho. We got another IH with a 10spd autoshift and it doesn't work very good at all. It likes to jump into and out of gear when backing. That is just a computer setting, but it needs attention in that one bad.

 

[kevinj54]

(quoted from post at 18:08:17 10/03/20) Some of the things those transmissions do is hard to get used to, but once you do not many want to go back. I really prefer them now. They do need to be set right tho. We got another IH with a 10spd autoshift and it doesn't work very good at all. It likes to jump into and out of gear when backing. That is just a computer setting, but it needs attention in that one bad.

We have 2 corn pickers and the 10 speed ultra shift is awful backing up.

The newer one with the 12 speed endurant works quite well.

 

[jm.]

So tell me can you gross 80000 on a federal interstate highway with that single axel tractor or 4 axel rig"?

 

[jm.]

Sorry I did not read to the end and realize you had it on 5 axels with the pulps

 

[Hoofer B]

I run several IH's ( pro stars and LT's ) with auto trannys. The guys like them once they are used to them. Reverse take a bit of practice. Guys say that they feel like they do not have control, the truck does. bill

 

[Paul Janke]

That could be an absolute disaster on Rocky Mountain passes.

 

[retired farmer]

That sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

 

[sotxbill]

I am guessing the transmission torque converter is going into free wheeling while going down hill until it overspeeds... then the computer simply sends a command for it to lock up so it can start controlling speed..

so its not neutral... not runaway.... just letting it try to get some coasting mpg's... when conditions are right. But then I have been wrong before.

 

[jon f mn]

Those don't have a torque converter, they have a regular dry
clutch it's just computer controlled.

 

[J Hamilton]

We have one of those new junk International trucks with an auto tranny at work too. I drove it once and now I absolutely refuse to drive it, it feels like I have no control of it. I'll just keep driving my old faithful, an 86 Mack R688 with a manual 9 speed.

 

[john in la]

absolute disaster on Rocky Mountain passes

Running over a pass you would not be using the cruise.
Like I said turn the cruise off and it drives like a regular truck.

 

[john in la]

I suspect it is not really neutral.
Just the best way I can explain it.

I know the gear indicator (10) starts flashing and the rpms go to idle so you can tell the truck is free wheeling down the hill.

The weirdest thing I have found about the truck is it can read.
I thought it was on GPS at first and it knew this section of highway was this many MPH.
But I went threw a construction zone where the workers had reduced the speed limit.
It read the speed limit 60 sign they had posted on a 70 mph road.
It is a pain sometimes.
It will go to screaming at you when going threw a school zone even if it is 2am on a Saturday morning.

 

[john in la]

J Hamilton

Can you explain......
"it feels like I have no control of it"

 

[caterpillar guy]

You guys can have those fancy things. I'll keep my regular gears. No fooling around where you are with it. 10,13,15,18,spds even a few 5x4 or 10x3,s.

 

[J Hamilton]

It feels like I have no control when I either let off the foot throttle or start downhill. It feels like it's in neutral and won't downshift going downhill and takes longer than it should for the Jake to kick in. I know I can also put it in manual mode, but that means I have to take my eyes off the road to look for a tiny button to push. I guess I just feel like I have better control with a manual transmission because I can easily decide what gear I need to be in rather than a computer making that decision. I have also drove a Mack with the Mdrive auto trans and it was a difference of night and day compared to the International, it shifted quicker and felt like it actually stayed in gear, especially when you start downhill or let off the foot throttle even with the Jake off, you can feel it start pulling you down immediately.

 

[Farmer Rock]

Way too many things to go wrong.I will take a good old reliable manual transmission any day.

Rock

 

[chuck from neb]

i drive an autoshift and going down mountain passes they go into jake brake mood and actually are better then a straight 10 or 13 going down the mountains. They shift down awful quick. This truck has a detroit engine with a 12 speed autoshift.

 

[mark1955]

I don't know what is better, a bunch of truckers carrying on, or a lot of farmers, spouting off, I am turning my cb off for the night.