Went in to work for the day yesterday. I needed my Mauldin grader and a rubber track mini, so I grabbed the Bobcat E42. It was a solo mission, and things won't really get going until the spring weight restrictions lift next month. Our crew uses an M2 Freight shaker tandem dump truck that hauls my grader and a roller on a tri axle tag along. The trailer was still parked in the winter lineup, and hadn't been used since November. The big float was gone out, but I noticed last years purchase another M2 with the roll off box was hooked to it's tag along, so I grabbed it. So I dropped the air ramps, and loaded the mini and the grader. Well..... I know they have been around for years, and even a lot of highway trucks have them now, but this thing has an automatic transmission. I'm 49,and I have been around trucks all my life. Been driving since I was 14. This was the strangest thing I had ever driven. I must have reached for the imaginary clutch and shifter a hundred times. Far out.
I was running dad dump yesterday at my day job dumped then had to run over to the office. Got in the pickup and punched the radio in the face..... I'm 23
oh I've jumped in my pick up and reached for the Maxi brakes before. I still jump in sometimes and try to pull the wheel into my lap like I'm on the grader
My dads one of the best around with a track loader it quite funny watching him operate a skodloader with pedals
I worked for a sign company that has a 6x6 pole truck with the Allison on the dash/console doohickey. Never quit pedaling the floor on that thing.
We have 3 forage/grain trucks with Allison automatics, 2 forage trucks with manuals and a semi that pulls a hopper bottom with a 9 speed. Hauling grain is a pain as the driver just drops an empty truck in the field, jumps in the full truck, and heads to the bins to dump. You're constantly switching between automatic and manual and trying to find ghost controls all day long. Then I get in my truck and try to smash my foot through the floorboard, trying to press a clutch that doesn't exist. If I just run one of the auto trucks for the day without switching, I don't go reaching for ghost controls.
Many times on my Ford diesel 5 speed I have pulled it out of 5th and tried to pull it into 6th and wondered why it would not go, on the freeway...reverse is there, good thing it has a synchro or the teeth would have been clashing at a very high speed.
A young lady my wife and I know who just turned 14 had her first experience driving. (Birthday present) It was a '66 W 923 with a 5X4 and a 290 Cummins. She did OK, I pointed out to her that 1966 was the first time holding a steering wheel and I was 14 also. That is why I picked that truck. I told her that if she and her parents don't mind, I'll teach her to drive, but it will be with a manual transmission. 100 miles on dirt roads was a long day for her especially with no power steering. She figured things out pretty fast, she is a very sharp young lady and I gave her the talk about if we crash, she will die first because I will strangle her as we crash. But, when she turns 16, and takes her drivers test in her parents Ford Focus, it should be a snap for her.
90 Bronco, aut. shifter on column, F-350, ZF 6spd, manual SHO, 6spd auto, manual shift is paddles on wheel. I can get into some interest physical configurations attempting to get a vehicle to change gears
My first standard was a 80's 924 Porsche, easy to learn on and super fun to drive, first and only car i've ever owned. I am happy with having automatics in my pickups, they've come a long way and give no problems whatsoever and frankly I don't want to shift all day everyday. But in the big trucks I still prefer the standard, the auto's don't know what gear to be in when loaded. I find myself going for the clutch a bit, nothing else.
My sister had been hiring a young man to help in her garden, and I think he later took his driving test in her automatic car. He was at family dinner and i overheard him telling a story of his older sister trying to teach him the clutch. it was a failure he kept killing whatever economy car he was in, and gave up. i said 'lets go drive my truck" . The look on his face was priceless. We were at my sister's farm with plenty of dirt to spin, and he got the hang of the clutch with no damages. Then we took to the road for a while. Thank you for sharing that story, Jumbo. It reminded me of what it is like to give back.
I learned to drive standard in a 1975 Ford Louisville. It was a triple nickel Cummins with a 13 direct. I was just a kid, and never left the shop yard, so I think I might have got on the high side once. First time in a car with a stick, I couldn't stop stalling, as I was used to not having to use the gas to start off.
Mine is an '07 5.9 Ram 3500 with the G56 and really tall gears. 2nd launches pretty fast, so we putzed around in the dirt where a little wheel spin hurts nobody, in low. That idle compensation on a diesel is indeed priceless.
I wrote a little poem about shifting, during a miserable trip to Haines. It’s a Friday treat for the HEF. Haines Twenty-Two Nickel Written by White Bread Thunder 9-23-18 Redux 4-16-21 Eight on the stick and six in the hole, Tee-Tee Twenty-Five is is ready to pull! This new rig has a Cummins nine liter. Twenty Eighteen emissions got me feeling kinda bitter. Delete the the EGR and tank of cat ****. The big exhaust filter, I will not miss. The Cummins nine liter makes all kinds of boost. Shift er' into low and scare the Eagles from their roost! Fish tailing the gravel, with a Haines zip code. A load of number two, while sipping this brew. Get them up, Get them up, if you like big trucks.! With the windows rolled down and the subs turned up! Balls to the wall, a long ways from home. A three compartment tank and a stack made of chrome. Rack er' to the top, the fuel manager say. Headed out the road, you have to make it pay. Fresh paint job, gots me looking pretty cool. Using all the gears, listen to her spool! Get er' racked, get er' racked, with no time to wait. Hurry back to the yard, pick up my Tinder date! Now, I'm happy and a grinnin' with a Kenworth full of women. That keeps the wheels a spinnin' and this road hammer grinnin'.
After a particularly long shift doing snow removal in a grader I find myself reaching for wheel lean when negotiating a turn in my car on the way home. Or thinking the turn signal lever is the gear shift if I was running a loader.
I dot like them but there the future. I have coverted the pickup i have now to a 4speed.