I drove an I-Shift today

truck guy

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I'll deny it if you tell anyone, but I like it. Volvo's self-shifter is worlds better than any Eaton offering I have ever driven. It was just a small, local route (well, 350 miles, but only about 17k), but we'll see how it does tomorrow in the twisty hills, with 43,000 lbs in the box.

They sent my usual ride off with someone else, so I guess that was my consolation prize. I do love the new truck smell, especially all the hot stuff when you get out

:shift: there will be none of that.
 
Today, I put 500 miles on a new Cascadia with a DT12 transmission. No comparison to the Volvo. Part of it is probably the sluggish DD13 it is hooked to. Another part of it is that it has an economy mode only, and going uphill and shifting at 1300 rpm just doesn't work. The only saving grace is that it is easy to shift manually, but what's the point in that? Then it downshifts at some crazy rpms with the engine brake on, and it is really loud. And I'm not sure what to think of the 'eCoast' feature. Coasting downhill just ain't right. It is unacceptable in a typical manual transmission, so I'm not sure why it is okay in an automated one.

I know we have another batch of Volvos coming in. I hope there aren't too many of these Freightliners. And I hope I never have to drive one on my regular route. I pretty much hated every minute of it, except for the new truck smell.
 
What's up bro? I see you work for McClane. Is the extraboard as bad as I hear? I'm on extraboard here at Martin Brower in DFW.
 
What's up bro? I see you work for McClane. Is the extraboard as bad as I hear? I'm on extraboard here at Martin Brower in DFW.

It probably varies depending on location. It's not too bad this time of year, as most of it is covering vacations. You would have a general idea of what you would be doing for the week. Winter is harder, mostly covering call offs. Vacations and volumes taper off and the overflow routes go away.

Nobody here seems to be wanting more work. Our extra board gets run ragged at times. When things are slow, we do have a guaranteed minimum. I think it's $1800 every two weeks, as long as you answer the phone and don't turn anything down. I'm not sure if that's company-wide, or just at our center. I know it doesn't get paid out much here. The guys that want to work answer the phone and make more than the minimum anyway, and the rest just get what they get.

I'm pretty sure extra board is rough wherever you go.
 
I drive a 2013 volvo at saia with the I shift in it. I like it. I hate automatics but volvo does make a nice one.
 
Today I had one of those Freightliners with the D-12 transmission or whatever, it was okay I guess, I had a lot of other trouble today to say the least, so not having to shift was kind of nice, so I don't really care.
 
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