pevaguy

In my opinion, a 10 speed or 9 speed are the simplest and easiest to drive. Less to keep straight in your head as to where you are and less to tear up. While I prefer a 13 speed for myself, some "drivers" will pre-select splitting gears (moving the splitter while still keeping their foot in it then later letting it shift by letting off the throttle) and damage the back box. The 6 speeds tend to be geared too high in 1st and especially reverse to suit me. Once you get past five gears in the "low" side, the pattern is too easy to skip two gears accidentally by missing the shift gate.

RollOver Pete

Heres a Chevy 30?, Detroit 453T with a twin stick 4X2.

Hotshoter

Guys, he's looking for an easy trans to haul a load so light the tractor will hardly know its there. He doesn't need 18, or 13. He could easily haul what he wants with a 9. All those gears in an 18 are to help pull heavy loads which he wont be needing.
I'd suggest a standard 10, or if you want, a super 10 but there's more to go wrong. My last one was a 10 speed auto shift. For local work it cant be beat, just clutch to get started and then let the trans do all the work. Hell for a friendly easy tranny thats the one to get, or a full automatic. The only problem is repair costs when something breaks...

Darryl&Rita

And I can't steer with my belly I've been trying to follow those (and other you-tube) videos as the sticks are flying. It would be nice to have them call out the gear position as the shift is made. In the Detroit video, I think I followed up to 3rd under( I think that's the name) and then the title cut in for his favourite shift(both sticks forward). Definitely looks like fun, but not what I would want in a relaxation ride.

pevaguy

Hotshotter is right, a simple 9 or 10 speed Road Ranger is all he needs. Anything extra would just complicate the situation and give him more to tear up.

Russ Roth

I totally agree but in the original post he asked about all the others.

03 ant a hemi

I am partial to a 18 speed as that is all I have ever driven for any period of time.
No matter what situation your in the 18 has the proper gear to be in, The down side to this is it also has more gears to not be in.
When pulling with the 18speed you dont have to split all your gears so you can drive it like a 9 speed, With 7high being your last gear for highway.
The advantage to the 18 is putting the power to the ground with in the narrow ranges your engine has. Where I drive this is very usefull.

Now the 10 speed is very simple to shift as is the 9 speed. Some times I found a person can be in to high or to low of a gear and not have the choice to shift to get into a better power range. A good friend of mine who hauls b trains of cement wishes he had a 18 speed every day due to stop and go traffic and the ability to have more options for speed and range of rpm.

Can you tell I am biased. Yupp. I love the 18 if I had the money, time and the space my 05 Dodge would have one in it.

If you dont want to split gears you dont have to, but if you need to you can in all ranges and gears unlike the other trannys whom don't split or only spilt the top half.

Darryl&Rita

True, but I didn't know about the aux. tranny setup. I was thinking about boxes like a LDT 3,4,5,6 speed setup, all in a similar box, but different beasts. I remember the first GM 5 speed that I tore the synchros out of by shifting without the clutch, ala GM 465 4 speed. Similar box, totally different internals. Now that I know how some of these units transfer power, I am leaning towards fewer gear positions, with the bigger steps in power. The 18 speed is incredibly common around these parts, but I haven't followed the power flow/shifting steps yet

Russ Roth

They went out because you were shifting without the clutch. No glory in that, IMHO. Shifting without the clutch, that is.

The 18 speed just has a splitter for each gear position. It's a 9 speed that splits each gear. Been about 15 year since I drove one.

Darryl&Rita

Yeah, I know why the synchros went so fast. Problem was, this was early in the change over to New Venture transmissions, and the interweb was a baby. I'm looking for help in selecting a transmission, as much as "don't do this....." tips, as I don't have any experience with a $10,000 transmission that probably won't be suburban driveway serviceable. If I end up gutting it because I didn't know something simple, like to use the clutch for a NV4500, you will be able to hear my tears when the wind blows through your neighborhood.

1-5-3-6-2-4

so I'm kind of confused now............ are you a seasoned class 1 driver like you eluded to in the summer. or are you. "not a truck driver, barely even pretended as a kid" like you say now?


which is it? since you made such a big deal about it to me in the summer.

DmaxEter

I second the basic 10 speed. Its the best all around trans out there. That or a basic spicer 6 speed. I think the 10 speed eatons are some tough and simple transmissions. Thats why its seen in so many fleet trucks.

I would also want one with as tall of an overdrive as available. I like something in the .69 to .65 range but a 10 speed Eaton wont get you that so the rear end ratio needs to be matched appropriately.

Russ Roth

Sounds like a 10 speed is what you should be looking for. JMHO.

pevaguy

If you are looking for higher road speed, there is a 10 overdrive. I can't remember the designation, think it is something like RTO--10. It is simply a 10 speed roadranger with 9th and 10th gears turned arround. You have a big jump between 3rd and 4th gears and also between 7th and 8th. It can be confusing in shifting because the two top gears in the high and low sides swap positions in shifting. But you end up with a very high overdive. Not my favorite transmission by a long shot. But a good gear man can build one out of a standart 10 speed roadranger.

EClancy

you certainly dont need 9 or 10 speeds to get a light load of a camper/jeep moving. in reality, a good one ton truck will do that fine, and would be no sweat for an f550-like truck. a "small" international or freightliner with a 5 or 6 spd would be more than sufficient for his needs. you'd also be surprised how many automatic "big" trucks are out there. my last service truck was an f550 w/ a 6 spd, and it would laugh at his camper as a load. its 3 times the truck than an f350; big brakes, big frame, heavy rims/tires, big suspension, yet still fairly "driver-friendly", and could be driven w/out the clutch or w/it like normal.

my first big truck was a '70s mack r model single axle road tractor, 237 w/a 5 spd. it pulled alot of heavy farm machinery, millions of round bales, etc. it could handle 10 times what a 1-ton pickup could, and only needed 5 gears to do it. i have since moved up to an 18spd, but i do 175k lbs loads, so i need them

a 9 or 10 spd is way overkill for what the OP wants to do, especially since he admits to not really having any experience. i'd stay on the look out for an automatic. i can buy them all day for cheap around here