Automatic Transmission

Bearcat

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Anyone have the Allison 6 speed automatic tranny in there truck? Looking for oppinions (good or bad). Also maintanance and mpg info. Could you also state if you bought your truck with it in or had it installed. Thanks
Randy
 

Weave

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
I have not owned a truck with one of these. I do know some things about it though. There are many versions of it, both mechanical and electronic. They are most commonly used on city and highway busses. For the most part, they are quite reliable.
They operate much like an automatic in a car. They cost you a few MPG. The upshifts are great. The downshifts do not offer the compression braking you will feel in a standard tranny though. This is due to losses through the torque converter.
Although reliable, Allisons cost BIG $ to repair if something should go wrong due to their complexity. The choice is yours.
I would stick with the "stick" myself.
 

BigB

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Hey randy,WE have an allison in a fl 106 w/detroit 50.runs good came factory installed.Get 9-1o agal.It will cost you more to run it because service on it is about $240 a shot. Every 25-28,000 miels.It holds about 38 qts atf,and 2 filters.WE like it We deal with the detroit /allison shop in stonyridge o.h a lot there very helpful.good luck.
 
G

guest

Guest
We have an Allison MD-3060 in our 2001 International 4700. This is how we speced the truck which we bought new. The trans has 6 speeds (top 2 are OD), but ours is configured as 5 speed. With the 230 hp. DT-466E engine we are currently getting 9.36 mpg. We do a fair amount of local cartage and it sure is nice in city driving, not to mention going through constuction areas or around a wreck.

Yes, the maintainance is more costly. I was a mechanic for 30 years, so I have been doing most of the PM myself. I went to the Trans Synd brand of synthetic oil which is good for 100,000 miles in line haul type service, but it costs $30/gallon and takes 5 gallons to change + the $80 filter kit. The original cost of this trans over a 5 speed manual is about $8,000, I'm not sure how much it will add to the resale.

As to braking, we also have a Jake exhaust brake which is interfaced to the trans computer, so it down shifts when the jake comes on. The torque converter is in lockup in 2nd gear and up, so the braking is pretty good. I can go down Mount Eagle and never apply the service brakes.
 

geo

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Navy
in my last truck i had auto matic and it was great but it cost
alot to keep it up, what you might want to look into is eaton
slect auto shift, it is a 10 speed tranmission and cost alot less
and does same thing as auto, but all you have to do is use the clutch to start and stop, and lot less maintance to
getting same mile as my last truck as in my new western start
if it's not a star it's not a truck
call bill at tsi and he can put you in a new western star
for about 85,000 no is 800 388 3850
 
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