Eaton Autoshift vs allison auto

We have an allison auto in one of our grain trucks. It sees 80% of its time off road, gravel road, soft ground conditions, heavy loads and short moves around the yard. I was a bit worried about the transmission when we got it in 1993. We haven't had an issue with it. In soft ground conditions you don't have to worry about missing a gear and being stuck, which is nice. Loading on the go from the combine is great as well, some times in a truck with a manual transmission you can find your self needing to be at a speed which would be between gears, so you either race the engine or lug the snot out of it. they do transfer the power to the ground well in my opinion. If it was more on highway work that we did i would want a manual. Auto shifts have more electronics and cost more when the break. maybe you would get lucky, but when it comes to electronics, I don't.

Maintenance is important on the allison transmissions. Their are, or at least they used to have 2 filters on the transmission. 1 is internal and the other is external, change them and the oil as recommended and you won't have a problem. The local county uses them on their plough trucks. Mostly because you can stick any one in an auto and have them run it. Where as with a standard you may have to train someone.

I wouldn't have any problem buying another one if I needed something for the conditions that we are working in.

 

I worked for a freight company that had a mixture of manuals and Alison's, the automatics had 6V92s with a 740 Alison. As with most larger trucking outfits they could tell you the costs for every component on the truck, The trucks with the automatics had a lot less break downs, and maintenance costs for everything behind the transmission as well, "U" joints, and diffs.
The initial cost of the Alison is more. It is very important that you go out and test each engine and transmission configuration if you buy the auto shift. Do not believe they all work the same. I can not express enough that all engines are not created equal, when it comes to an auto shift. Take them out for a test drive, or go with another customer that has one as you want to buy it. Some shift so slick it is very impressive, and some are so slow they will scare the socks off you, and if you name is on the side of the truck, you do not want to be always impeding traffic.

 

The problem of U-joints wear, damaged diffs with manual transmissions is that company let car drivers drive trucks. They have no experience to shift well.
Auto on truck is for bad driver (IMO).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PlEJ6XaXiY

Some drivers brake shiftsticks.....

 

I'm on my 2nd autoshift, 1.2 million combined miles, my company runs 9 Mack's with Eaton Auoshifts and 2 frieghtshakers with 9 spd manuals. I'll take my autoshift over the manuals any day, and probably 40% of my work is local P&D and our day cabs, it's probably 90% local P&D.

 

Ive rebuilt a few autoshift Eatons.. no 10 speeds but a few 13 speeds. Good transmission.... just pray the computer and electronics dont fail.. all it takes is one shafed wire on a frame rail and watch the system freak right out!

 

About electronic fail... The weak point is MOSFETs shifting motors are controlled. Bad motors cause transistor to blow. They are hidden inside unit and IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO DISASSEMBLY THIS UNIT!!!!! It is filled with polyurethane inside. No solvent helps.

So if you have Autoshift keep clutch good, transmission brake good and inspect shifting motors if you have shifting problems.

 

I drive a dump truck with an Allison, and love it! It can be as simple as hit the D and drive, or you can use the up and down arrows to have more control over it.
The transmission can be programmed to your type of work (city,off road,otr), it has a mode button for a secondary program for a different environment.
You can use the arrows to "gear down" when stopping. In a emergency situation, hit the down arrow 5 times (takes just a second or two) and the trans is gearing down to first while you work on steering and braking.
Excellent for slick situations, I can go when manuals are sitting there spinning.
You can blow the doors off of 4 wheelers leaving a red light! No other truck ( except another automatic) will be able to keep up with you from a dead start. (see fuel mileage below)
The down side,
The truck I drive, when the jake kicks in the trans jumps down to 4-th gear automatically, which is great for holding the truck back, but really throws the rpm up there!
Fuel mileage.......If you have a heavy foot, it will eat you up. I once had the best fuel mileage of the fleet for a quarter (manuals and autos mixed) but I really worked at it, so good mileage is possible.
Your best bet would be to find some dump or other straight trucks sepc'd out with the two different trans and do some test drives.

 

Allison's are pretty much bulletproof.... I talked to a O/O grain hauler a few months ago and he just installed one in his '07 Pete (took out the 10 speed)... he was happy as a clam.

I sold many medium duties with Allison's and they never came back with problems...

 

I put in 100k yanking a tank regional with a 515 HP and an Allison. Loved it ! Got a little hot and contrary in heavy stop and go traffic which made it shake the truck a little and I had a minor problem with precision backing..... tranny made it hard to ease back a couple of inches, tranny wanted to lunge kinda all or none deal. A little hard on the brakes too, tranny wouldn't downshift unless the numbers were correct.
Mine was a 5 speed with a hi / lo in 1 & 2 and a lock up in drive.

I kept the foot buried in the Yamaha cause the co. needed galloons delivered yesterday so my fuel mpg was bad. Right around 5 but I idled allot too. ( fan blades were biting on my heal, top tank burning my toes )

I'd buy one......... it was relaxing not having to slap stick all day.