Got my first practice big rig driving in today.

Philip d · Nov 19, 2018

A real nice young fella that works at the potato farm I?m going to temporarily help at next year showed me the ropes. It?s an early 2000?s Freightliner with a Mercedes hooked to a Super 10. First time I ever run a transmission like that. Trevor was trying to explain that you use low and high on every shift and you preselect before shifts. I then said ,?so it?s kinda like an old 5 speed with a ruxel and you splitting every gear??. I know it?s not the same at all and no there isn?t really a 2 speed rear end but to me it seemed the same lol. He got me to back in an intersection on a quiet road on the good side,with a couple tries and some coaching I managed to get it in. On a side note I?m still helping my friend wiring a couple days a week and we have 44 nice feeder calves in the old heifer barn.

jacksun65 · Nov 19, 2018

Never liked a sloppy 10, Had those at heilig meyer. Much prefer eaton 13spd or even a 9 over a sloppy 10 or a splicer

Philip d · Nov 19, 2018

I didn?t mind it too bad after I got onto it,I?m pretty used to the 8LL in our dump truck lol

GreenEnvy · Nov 19, 2018

We had a Loral floater that had that transmission. For a manual I thought it was great. I could fly down the field in what would be 8th gear, flip to the low side turning around at the ends of the field, flip it back up to high once I got lined up and punch it.

SVcummins · Nov 19, 2018

A super 10 isn?t that bad but I like 13 or 18 better or even a ten speed if you got over 500 hp . Drove a few ten speeds with a 4 speed auxiliary and a few 5 with a four speed auxiliary you probably won?t ever find one of those you?ll have to drive .

John T · Nov 19, 2018

My stepdad and I used to buy n sell semis and I had to drive them home from auctions. My favorite tranny was a 13 speed. The old Mack Duplex with two shift levers were sort of fun when I had to use BOTH hands lol

John T

hermit · Nov 19, 2018

I have driven about everything on the road, but that Super 10 was the only one I absolutely hated. Maybe if you could ever get used to the darn thing, it would be OK. I always preferred a 13.

SVcummins · Nov 19, 2018

You just have to drive it like a 13 if you were to split every gear on the top

moresmoke · Nov 19, 2018

It don?t take much to be an improvement over an 8ll. The super 10 is actually closer to the 5+2 than you think. The 2 spd is just on the back of the transmission instead of in the axle.

preacher man · Nov 19, 2018

One of the worst ideas for a transmission ever!

showcrop · Nov 19, 2018

I've never come across a Super 10. I like an 18 speed or an Allison automatic best. A Mack duplex is pretty good the way you can start and stop without the clutch.

Ande · Nov 19, 2018

Drove several of my own 13 speed Road Rangers w/45' MuvAll, but I have retired to a 3/4 ton with a 25' goose neck

fixerupper · Nov 19, 2018

I drove a super ten once. Wasn’t too bad upshifting but I got really screwed up downshifting.

Phil H · Nov 19, 2018

I'll take a 4 and 4 or 5 and 4, using 2 hands, any day, over any single stick 16,18,13,10 or what have you. You can walk right around any of those single stick road rangers. That is what shifting is all about. Probably very few of us left that know how to split the gears, down shifting and up shifting. Try climbing Wolf Creek and you will find out just how good a driver you are, and the value of being able to split the gears. Just my two cents worth.

rlp in Co. · Nov 19, 2018

I love the super 10. Sure is a lot less stick moving. The ones that I drove had automatic top two gears that really saved a lot of manual shifting.

Geo-TH,In · Nov 20, 2018

philip ,
Good luck with big rig driving. My big rig driving experience was when I helped drive my BIL's 40 ft diesel pusher motorhome to Florida. I hated every minute and learned to respect Big rig drivers. Motorhome mirrors were 9 ft 10 inches tip to tip. Motorhome's wheels were 8 ft wide. It was a challenge for me to keep it centered between the white lines with a 30 mph cross wind and freezing rain/snow. White knuckle experience was when a semi passed me and our mirrors were just inches apart. Another white knuckle experience was going around Atlanta and snow was on edge of road. Front wheels got in the snow.

Then we pulled into a gas station and had a very difficult time getting out. Rig was too big.

Good luck driving.

Mike M · Nov 20, 2018

I have been around farm tractors most of my life though older models. When I went to work at the Truck dealership parts department in the early to mid 1990's I could not believe semis were still using old school technology in clutches and transmissions. With the hydraulic clutches and power shift transmissions farm tractors were light years ahead.

Destroked 450 · Nov 20, 2018

Drove MD trucks with 4x2 and 5x2 hauling logs in the early 70's, started driving big rigs over the road in 78, retired in 08.
Always liked 5x4 dual sticks and wanted a 6x4 in a big hp rig but for everyday use the 13 spd was my favorite.
Don't care for the super 10 that much.
Still drive my friends 15 spd Pete on occasion but most of my trucking now days is in a F-450 with a 6 spd manual pulling a gn trailer.

BarnyardEngineering · Nov 20, 2018

Give me an Autoshift or Ultrashift any day of the week. Let the computer deal with the acrobatics while I watch out for the braindead soccer moms texting on their smartphones.

Maybe back in the day you could get away with juggling two sticks with both hands as the truck drifts into the oncoming lane, or the ditch, but not anymore. Too many idiots on the road now.

Destroked 450 · Nov 20, 2018

Once you learned how to drive a twin stick you could shift it with one hand and never take your eyes off of the road.
The fewer computer controls a rig has the better I like it.
Electronic control is convenient but just like the old tractors we talk about on this forum, mechanical is more dependable.

Brown Dirt Cowboy · Nov 20, 2018

helig meyer, haven't heard that name in awhile. used to see those pea-green trucks and trailers everywhere.

caterpillar guy · Nov 21, 2018

And with all this business. Why is it if you buy the 13,15,18 spd they shave the warranty back to just a year and if you get a 9,10 or super 10 then they will give you a 5year 500,000 warranty. I mean if you did heavy haul that is what those big transmissions are for. Who would ever think about using a 10 for heavy haul or pulling a set of trains. The pit would eat those 10 and super 10's for breakfast. 160,000 plus leaves a lot to be desired on those lesser gear boxes. Most of the trains have either 13's or 18's in them. If I had to pull heavy with lower speeds I would go with a direct 15 speed the low gear is lower than the 13and 18. If in higher speeds then the 13or 18 has the lower gear.
5x4 is not a bad choice for field work like digging taters or sugar beets where you want to crawl along then be able to move along on the road.

Destroked 450 · Nov 21, 2018

Now that's odd!
Local mill I worked at has a 06 Pete with 10 spd, 07 Pete with 18 spd and 16 Pete with 18 spd, all came with 500,000 drive train warranty.
FYI 13 spd is a 9 spd with added OD, 15 spd is a 10 spd with added low reduction, 18 spd is a 9 spd that can be split in low and high range, all of them are the same basic twin counter shaft 5 spd with different ratios and splitter boxes added.
There are different sizes according to the torque capabilities of the engine their connected to.

Got my first practice big rig driving in today.

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