

- #13 speed shift pattern drivers#
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Range ShiftĪlways preselect the range shift just before making the selection.

It is used once during the upshift sequence and once during the downshift sequence.

LO range and HI range are selected with the range lever, commonly located at the front of the gear selection knob. However, each of the five ratios (LO-1-2-3-4) in LO range, and each of the four ratios (5-6-7-8) in HI range can be split with the splitter gear giving a total of 18 different ratios.Īfter shifting out of the LO position, you use the common ‘H’ shift pattern. The other four ratios are used once in LO range and once again in HI range. The LO position in the front section is used only as a starting gear, it is never used when the transmission is in HI range.
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The auxiliary section contains LO and HI range ratios, plus a splitter gear.
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Models in this series provide eighteen forward speeds and four reverse, consisting of a five-speed front section and a four-speed auxiliary section. In this article we’ll be using the more modern and common 18-speed Roadranger in our example, however the principles described in article are transferable to other transmissions in Eaton’s Roadranger Fuller range. Roadranger transmissions are a constant mesh style transmission, which means that all the forward gears are constantly in mesh at all times. Jammin’ gears is not, and never has been, the method of how it’s done, although if you stand at a roundabout somewhere near a transport hub in any major city for half an hour, you’ll hear plenty of gears being jammed.
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Swapping gears properly in an Eaton Roadranger transmission is a skill that professional drivers pride themselves in. However, when Haggard mentioned “Jammin’ gears,” it was a slang reference to the time used to describe the action of changing gears in crash or constant-mesh gear boxes, which old seasoned truck drivers mastered, slipping each gear change through smoothly and silently without any grating sound. To a certain degree, his line: “Jammin’ gears has got to be a fever, ‘cause men become addicted to the grind,” is true for many drivers. That song became the theme song for the NBC-TV hit series Keep Movin’ On in the mid-seventies. When Merle Haggard penned the words to his famous single that paid homage to the truck driver, Movin-On, in 1975, he captured the real spirit of trucking that still holds true today: “The white line is the life line to the nation”. However, many believe that being able to change gears in an 18-speed Roadranger gearbox is still a skill worth mastering…
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Times have changed, roughly 50 percent of today’s trucks have auto boxes, and a driver’s ability to change gears in a manual transmission is no longer a prerequisite to becoming a truck driver. It’s worth remembering too, that those old trucks with the 13 and 15-speed Roadrangers were not as powerful as today’s trucks, which meant drivers were constantly required to change gears. Driving a constant mesh transmission like a 13-speed or 15-speed Roadranger transmission correctly used to be a fundamental part of truck driving, and old school truck drivers took great pride in the way they swapped cogs meticulously without grating any gears.
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or if you are trying to maintain speed not lose it.How to drive an Eaton 18-Speed RoadrangerĮaton’s 18-Speed Roadranger Driver’s Instruction manual available for download at end of article. In real life you often wouldn't have time to get through all the gears anyway and it also keeps the engine egaged for longer periods so you can take advantage of the engine brake.Īn exception would be if you think you only need to split it to get up a hill etc. You rarely use the LO shifter position unless pulling away with a heavy load on an uphill.Īs you see by the picture below the manufaturer recommends that you don't use H-L (splitter) when downshifting, just flick to 8L then go whole gears from there. In almost all cases you can just use the L (or direct) gear in the bottom range and drive it like a 13 spd i.e. So you can see that out of the 18 speeds I only used 10 Here is a typical shift pattern I use with a light load from stop to top gear.įrom here you often need to start using the splitter (H-L) So far in game its pretty realistic how you can skip gears. The nice thing is that if you do use all the gears the rpm drop between gears is very low like 200 rpm so the engine is always in its peak power range. The are mostly designed for heavy loads or off road use so you have the maximum amount of gears to choose from. Although the Eaton Fuller 18 spd has 18 different ratios you rarely use them all.
