What Do You Like Better: Straight Shift or Splitter

[RadarRider]

Well, I've had my CDL learner's permit for a couple of weeks now, & I love driving big rigs. For a while, we've been driving our International with a 9spd with a splitter. It was hard @ 1st getting used to it, but now I'm matching gears on the upshift & downshift without grinding, & double-clutching is pretty easy. Another truck our instructor wants us to get used to is the Sterling we have. It's newer & in better shape than the International, but it has a straight 7spd. As far as driving, the truck runs a lot smoother & it's easier to get it into gear, but I find the straight 7spd is pretty boring. Besides the double-clutching, it's almost like driving a car..........with 7 gears. I guess I like the challenge, or maybe I'm just a masochist, but I personally enjoy driving the International better. For the rest of you trucker; what type of transmissions do you like to drive with?

[ianstew]

The few times I've driven larger trucks I prefer the split shift.

[bockhold]

can i vote?

[lifewitlooie]

I drove only during training. The Hi/Lo splitter for ever gear was fun

[19558077]

hi/low is better but hate our hard shifting fire truck with an eaton 6052 with the two speed axle. its hard to downshift to low range unless your almost to a stop, but i can hit high without clutching it.

[wriott]

split shift, forget about double clutching, jsut float the gears. the real fun ones to drive are the old twin stick macks

[2005F250]

Originally Posted by wriott

split shift, forget about double clutching, jsut float the gears. the real fun ones to drive are the old twin stick macks

Those youtube video's are crazy.

[blacksmokingpowerstroke]

yeah, there really is an art to shifting a two-stick truck. You need to know what you gear you are going for and how you are going to do it at all times. If your in the middle of a hill and get caught in "double nothin'" you are all done, just stop and start over lol. Back on topic, I prefer trucks with a high/lo. No need to double clutch, once you get used to the truck you will be able to shift it perfectly without ever touching the clutch. But, in my experience NO two trucks shift the same, even if they have the same engine tranny...

[RadarRider]

Originally Posted by blacksmokingpowerstroke

yeah, there really is an art to shifting a two-stick truck. You need to know what you gear you are going for and how you are going to do it at all times. If your in the middle of a hill and get caught in "double nothin'" you are all done, just stop and start over lol. Back on topic, I prefer trucks with a high/lo. No need to double clutch, once you get used to the truck you will be able to shift it perfectly without ever touching the clutch. But, in my experience NO two trucks shift the same, even if they have the same engine tranny...

I agree! Looks like everyone's liking the splitter. I also agree on no 2 trucks shifting the same. As a matter of fact, we actually have 2 Internationals that are identical as far as engine, trans, even the paint schemes are the exact same. The one we use for the road upshifts @ 1000 & the downshifts are @ 1500. The other one upshifts @ a around 1200-1100, & the downshifts are anywhere from 1000-900. Weird!

[wriott]

yeah i have 2 autocars that have the 3406Bs with 18 speeds in them and they each like to be shifted at different RPMs