The Automatic Truck
Well I've been in the automatic now for just under a week and so far so good. I arrived at the company terminal in Carlisle, PA last Wednesday to meet and greet with my new truck. As I was driving the lot in search of it, I got such a thrill when I found it and saw that it was the shiniest truck on the lot, clean as a whistle and all mine!
After having to confirm that the squeaky clean truck was indeed the one I had been assigned to move into, I got the keys and went to formally meet my new road companion. Boy, oh boy! Clean inside and out!
The previous driver, who had been the only driver to have the truck since it came in the fleet in late 2006, kept the truck in great shape. It was lovely. It smelled clean, it looked clean and it felt clean. Which for me is huge because I was so afraid that I was going to get a truck that I'd have to spend three days cleaning top to bottom, inside and out before I would feel comfortable putting my things inside it.
After getting acquainted it was time to start moving in. I parked Trucky and the new truck nose to nose and started transferring my things over. Now that was hot work! It was about 86 degrees and I was soaked in sweat by the time I was done for the day, and I'd only moved in a little over half of my things. The only thing about the new truck that I didn't like right away was the mattress. It was an older style mattress with a cloth covering, not the mattress pad, but the actual mattress was cloth.
With my allergy problems I was not even gonna consider keeping that mattress, which was surely filled with someone else's dead skin cells and dust mites. So I waited until the next day to finish moving in, when I could have a new mattress installed at the shop.
I spent my last night in Trucky that night. Parting was such sweet sorrow.... NOT! hehe
The next morning I had to be up bright and early to take a training course on how to safely and efficiently operate the automatic transmission. The instructor was very informative and very patient. The major differences that I noticed right off were in backing maneuvers and turns.
With the manual transmission, when the truck was in reverse, the engine at idle speed was enough to move the truck without using the throttle pedal. However, in the automatic, you have to actually use the throttle pedal to get the truck to move. And this is where it gets tricky. If you're not careful, it would be very easy to give it too much throttle and in turn give yourself a good case of whiplash, while backing up under a trailer for instance.
Another learning difference was in taking turns. While out on the training drive with the instructor we went through town, through rural areas and had to make some pretty tight maneuvers. In a manual truck when approaching a turn from one street to another at speed with no stop needed, it is instinct to brake and downshift into the appropriate lower gear for the turn.
We were taught 3-4th gear for right turns, 4-5th gear for left turns were good gears to be in on the manual transmission. It is the same for the automatic, but sometimes braking isn't enough to get the automatic transmission to gear down on its own to a proper gear for a turn.
This is where the low and manual override options come in very handy. While driving you are in what is simply called auto drive mode. In this mode the transmission is told by the computer what gear to be in based on the RPM's and speed, it will shift up or down through the gears based on these two conditions. You can put the transmission in auto low mode which will prompt the transmission to gear down at a higher RPM to provide greater engine braking effect, great for going down grades and needing to slow down when approaching a turn or maybe that testy little traffic jam.
Now both the auto and low auto modes are completely controlled by the computer system which is peachy for most normal driving conditions. Then there is what is called manual mode. Manual mode allows you, the driver, to manually shift up and down through the gears without interruption by the transmission's computer operations. The transmission still requires that the RPM's and speed be at the optimal conditions to do a shift either up or down, but it is at the control of the driver, not the computer. *there are apparently circumstances where the computer will still override the manual mode if certain engine conditions exist such as over revved RPM's.
Manual mode is great for heavy and bumper to bumper traffic, city stop and go driving, etc. I found that on my first trip with the new truck, which took me through NYC to Long Island, that manual mode was going to be my best friend for city driving.
The quirks I've found so far though, primarily in the manual mode are that when you've got the transmission in manual mode and have the gear set at 1st or 2nd, if you happen to have your foot on the brake and then release it to give it throttle to move forward, it can lurch really hard on you like you were in a higher gear and jammed it into a lower gear suddenly. Just about any one who has driven a manual (car or truck) knows this feeling. It's not fun, but so far it only happened twice. And if I recall it was also while I was on a slight downgrade, so that might have something to do with it. Perhaps I should have had it in 3rd gear. Just gonna take getting used to.
Anywho.
I was really afraid that I'd hate the automatic transmission, but the truth is that I quite like it. For highway driving, you can't beat not having to manually shift through the gears to pull a hill, the truck does it all for you. You just set the cruise control and let it go about its business. I believe, also that this truck has a little better horse power because I had a load yesterday that was 43K in the box and I was pulling hills where in Trucky I'd have been in 7th or 8th gear and this new truck never dropped below 9th.
As far as city driving goes, it's awesome to put the transmission into manual mode and just do what needs to be done to get through the stop and go scenario.
Backing maneuvers are a little tricky, but will just take some getting used to I think. Once I get the feel for what the truck needs as far as throttle pressure and such for simple backing maneuvers, I think things will go super smoothly. At this point, it's just relearning and reteaching my brain how to manage under these new circumstances.
Over all, I'd say that so far I like the automatic pretty well.
After having to confirm that the squeaky clean truck was indeed the one I had been assigned to move into, I got the keys and went to formally meet my new road companion. Boy, oh boy! Clean inside and out!
The previous driver, who had been the only driver to have the truck since it came in the fleet in late 2006, kept the truck in great shape. It was lovely. It smelled clean, it looked clean and it felt clean. Which for me is huge because I was so afraid that I was going to get a truck that I'd have to spend three days cleaning top to bottom, inside and out before I would feel comfortable putting my things inside it.
After getting acquainted it was time to start moving in. I parked Trucky and the new truck nose to nose and started transferring my things over. Now that was hot work! It was about 86 degrees and I was soaked in sweat by the time I was done for the day, and I'd only moved in a little over half of my things. The only thing about the new truck that I didn't like right away was the mattress. It was an older style mattress with a cloth covering, not the mattress pad, but the actual mattress was cloth.
With my allergy problems I was not even gonna consider keeping that mattress, which was surely filled with someone else's dead skin cells and dust mites. So I waited until the next day to finish moving in, when I could have a new mattress installed at the shop.
I spent my last night in Trucky that night. Parting was such sweet sorrow.... NOT! hehe
The next morning I had to be up bright and early to take a training course on how to safely and efficiently operate the automatic transmission. The instructor was very informative and very patient. The major differences that I noticed right off were in backing maneuvers and turns.
With the manual transmission, when the truck was in reverse, the engine at idle speed was enough to move the truck without using the throttle pedal. However, in the automatic, you have to actually use the throttle pedal to get the truck to move. And this is where it gets tricky. If you're not careful, it would be very easy to give it too much throttle and in turn give yourself a good case of whiplash, while backing up under a trailer for instance.
Another learning difference was in taking turns. While out on the training drive with the instructor we went through town, through rural areas and had to make some pretty tight maneuvers. In a manual truck when approaching a turn from one street to another at speed with no stop needed, it is instinct to brake and downshift into the appropriate lower gear for the turn.
We were taught 3-4th gear for right turns, 4-5th gear for left turns were good gears to be in on the manual transmission. It is the same for the automatic, but sometimes braking isn't enough to get the automatic transmission to gear down on its own to a proper gear for a turn.
This is where the low and manual override options come in very handy. While driving you are in what is simply called auto drive mode. In this mode the transmission is told by the computer what gear to be in based on the RPM's and speed, it will shift up or down through the gears based on these two conditions. You can put the transmission in auto low mode which will prompt the transmission to gear down at a higher RPM to provide greater engine braking effect, great for going down grades and needing to slow down when approaching a turn or maybe that testy little traffic jam.
Now both the auto and low auto modes are completely controlled by the computer system which is peachy for most normal driving conditions. Then there is what is called manual mode. Manual mode allows you, the driver, to manually shift up and down through the gears without interruption by the transmission's computer operations. The transmission still requires that the RPM's and speed be at the optimal conditions to do a shift either up or down, but it is at the control of the driver, not the computer. *there are apparently circumstances where the computer will still override the manual mode if certain engine conditions exist such as over revved RPM's.
Manual mode is great for heavy and bumper to bumper traffic, city stop and go driving, etc. I found that on my first trip with the new truck, which took me through NYC to Long Island, that manual mode was going to be my best friend for city driving.
The quirks I've found so far though, primarily in the manual mode are that when you've got the transmission in manual mode and have the gear set at 1st or 2nd, if you happen to have your foot on the brake and then release it to give it throttle to move forward, it can lurch really hard on you like you were in a higher gear and jammed it into a lower gear suddenly. Just about any one who has driven a manual (car or truck) knows this feeling. It's not fun, but so far it only happened twice. And if I recall it was also while I was on a slight downgrade, so that might have something to do with it. Perhaps I should have had it in 3rd gear. Just gonna take getting used to.
Anywho.
I was really afraid that I'd hate the automatic transmission, but the truth is that I quite like it. For highway driving, you can't beat not having to manually shift through the gears to pull a hill, the truck does it all for you. You just set the cruise control and let it go about its business. I believe, also that this truck has a little better horse power because I had a load yesterday that was 43K in the box and I was pulling hills where in Trucky I'd have been in 7th or 8th gear and this new truck never dropped below 9th.
As far as city driving goes, it's awesome to put the transmission into manual mode and just do what needs to be done to get through the stop and go scenario.
Backing maneuvers are a little tricky, but will just take some getting used to I think. Once I get the feel for what the truck needs as far as throttle pressure and such for simple backing maneuvers, I think things will go super smoothly. At this point, it's just relearning and reteaching my brain how to manage under these new circumstances.
Over all, I'd say that so far I like the automatic pretty well.
Comments
Only good thing is sleeping in motels and not the small mid roof trucks on the rare times we don't make it home at the end of the day. Oh and they turned our trucks speed up for us, nice running 68 mph,
What company are you with Anon? Or can you say?
Im on the Miller dedicated in FT Worth.
Let us know when the truck has decided what its name is going to be.
Gabby