[Captain Dean]

I'm curious and didn't want to Hi-Jack the other guy's thread "Manual Tranny?".

How do our Dodge CTD pickups compare to the big rigs?

Our 4x4s have 5-speed manual trannys with a 2-speed transfer case: 10-speed.

The 18 speed's must be a 6-speed tranny with a 3-speed, uh... What do the big rigs have behind their transmissions to switch between ranges?

 

[Richie O]

They have air operated shift slaves that change ranges. I have a 9 speed in my ford triaxle, a 8LL in my autocar and a 13 speed in my old pulptruck. ( 8v71 detroit ) If you stick your head outside of your house you might be able to here it 6 thousand miles away. Your tranny is syncroed and the big boys are not.On a big your gas pedal is the syncro. I wish you luck shifting transfer case range at speed. On big rigs the ranges and the tranny is same unit. The only ones that are divorced are the 2 speed rear ends in the medium duty trucks like a 7500 chevy or the f 600 fords ect. Some of the old boys had a quadroplex tranny that you had to shift 2 seprate sticks at the same time plus steer. There is about every combanation you could dream up. An old timer here used to have a 3 speed tranny behind a 5 speed tranny and he also had a 2 speed rear end. You do the math on how many gears he had.

 

[Captain Dean]

Thanks Richie,

I've never driven a big rig but the Internet did take me to Wikipedia. It gave me the basics of the all-in-one transmission / range gearbox. Also the clutch brake.

Too bad we can't shift our transfer cases while driving. With the Getrag, I could use a few extra gears or ranges.