300+ rebuild

[Freightrain]

9 minutes ago, mowerman said:

always nice to ask questions constantly about oils,,,, i will be doing the same thing soon with a triplex,,,,i would have just put 90 weight in it,,,bob

I got some Sheaffer oil for my Triplex.  Go back to my build and I have it posted.

[BottleHauler84]

2 hours ago, Freightrain said:

I asked the shop I got this from and he explained it to me why not to make a phony 18 spd.  I could have had him do the bearing upgrade for me then but I don't have any real reason to need splits on the low side.

Right. Yeah I actually did the upgrade on a RTLO20913A thats in one of my trucks. Its a simple upgrade and its not terribly expensive to be honest.  It just consists of changing the splitter gear that incorporates the extra bearing, splitter gear, reduction gear and mainshaft (output). 

Here's the parts you change to build the auxiliary box of the 13 to the 18 specs. Then you can split it. Like you said though Larry,  not really needed unless your doing heavy work in my opinion.  

[Joey Mack]

Great info Bottlehauler...  👍 

[tjc transport]

we have an 18 speed in the 2000 Kenworth W900.

i only split the low side of trans once, just to show someone how it was done.

[Joey Mack]

When I was a younger youngster, (1999/2000) I drove a '97 RD Tractor with a 400 and a Mack 18 speed.  That truck out pulled the new to us, E-Techs with the 427's and 13 speeds.  I did split the low side a lot because I was pulling a dump trailer that was off road as much as on road and grossed over 100,000 lbs quite often...   ( according to the Maine State Police) who liked to weigh us A LOT !!!!!

[Geoff Weeks]

I grossed 160K-170K several times with a 13 spd and never felt a need to split the low side. I could have used a lower starting gear, but once I was rolling, it didn't take much to get up on the high side. This was before I had 2 spd rears in anything.

May be if I was in steeper terrain, but I doubt it even then. 

Low side is mostly below 25 MPH. If you can't pull below 25  without splitting, then you likely should stay in a lower gear until you can shift without splitting. 

Plenty of times I wished I had a lower 1st or reverse than a 13 provided but never wished I had smaller jumps between gears on the low side.

My guess that is why we didn't see 18's until 2spd and aux transmission started to become a thing of the past. 6x4 or a 13 with 2 spd would be my choice for hauling heavy.  

[Mark T]

You guys talking about an old 13 (RTO) compared to an RTLO 18 are talking about trucks from back when a 4.11 axle was concidered "high" (fast axle)   These newer trucks with taller gears like 3.36s or even faster (?) the ability to split low range makes more sense and the RTLOs have lower ratios in the 1st and 2nd gears that are even jumps going up (or down) progressively for launching a truck geared that fast.  That's talking about the sticker, not the " low " over by your leg and back.  An old RTO with 3.36s would be almost like shifting a Mack 5 speed in low range.  (well, not that extreme, but less than ideal anyway)  A good amount of the newer trucks are set up with fast axles and an Ultrashift , then road speed is cut off on the top. It'll do it's thing as it's programed. Most guys driving a truck like that ????  they just call it an automatic and hold the steering wheel. I have to admit, I'd like to be around to hear Larry power shift'n that Mack with a straight pipe on it

[Geoff Weeks]

The "old 18's and the RTLO's have about the same low ratio, but I do agree the new have more even steps, in the 17%- 21%. range. I had one truck that had 3.46's and a old 9, Not quite 3.36's but close enough.  It would still be out of low by 25 Mph or so.

 While I have driven a few electronic engines, I never owned one so don't have a whole bunch of long term seat time in one. That said, less RPM isn't always better, in comparison to what others report, my older mechanical had at most a 1mpg "penalty" but that was a few years ago and may be different now.    

[Freightrain]

We're rollin now!

Good enough to roll it out into the driveway so it can be lifted by friends crane.

The plates sticking forward will hold chains going up to spreader bar and will get the chains ahead of the firewall.

The front will have chains hooked to the front motor mount trunion using eyelets.  Yea, it will be in the way of setting it down in the truck but will deal with jacking it up slightly and removing nuts and eyelets at that point.

It's hard coming up with a way to hook onto anything up front.  Besides using a strap around the crank/pulleys.  I can't fudge it too much as it has to be able to be used the day the crane is here.  Can't find out afterwards that I don't have a way to pick it up.  I didn't want to have to remove anything off the motor like I did with pulling the 237.

 

[Mark T]

23 minutes ago, Geoff Weeks said:

The "old 18's and the RTLO's have about the same low ratio, but I do agree the new have more even steps, in the 17%- 21%. range. I had one truck that had 3.46's and a old 9, Not quite 3.36's but close enough.  It would still be out of low by 25 Mph or so.

 While I have driven a few electronic engines, I never owned one so don't have a whole bunch of long term seat time in one. That said, less RPM isn't always better, in comparison to what others report, my older mechanical had at most a 1mpg "penalty" but that was a few years ago and may be different now.    

They're within a quarter turn to the lower in an RTLO, but, the split is there, where it's not in an old 13. You'll see the difference a lot more with a faster rear axle. Then there was th first 18s. They had a little lower in the low side and only a tiny overgear. They were back in the late '80s and weren't around very long.

[Mark T]

Holy cow, that's some nice work on the roll job.