Test Drive: Paccar’s New Automated Transmission
The transmission control is well-positioned and very intuitive. It’s easy to grip and manipulate and won’t require a steep learning curve. Photo: Jim Park
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The transmission control is well-positioned and very intuitive. It’s easy to grip and manipulate and won’t require a steep learning curve. Photo: Jim Park
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Paccar is the latest North American truck manufacturer to bring a proprietary automated transmission to market. Called the Paccar Automated Transmission, it’s a 12-speed, twin countershaft design that was designed from the ground up as an automated transmission. It’s not a manual box fitted with add-on shift-actuators. Paccar says it’s the lightest automated transmission currently in production. At just 657 pounds, it is nearly 200 pounds lighter than Eaton’s Advantage AMT.
The new transmission completes Paccar’s goal of a fully integrated proprietary powertrain. Paccar says it has been performance-optimized for MX-series engines and the new 40,000-lb drive axles that were unveiled in October 2016.
“Last year’s launch of the Paccar axle was certainly a statement to our customers that we were moving toward our own integrated powertrain,” says Kenworth Marketing Director Kurt Swihart. “We have spent a lot of time over the past few years working on proprietary calibrations for the transmission and the MX engines. The result is a deeply integrated powertrain that will deliver everything customers would expect from such a design.”
Swihart says the AMT take rate for the T680 has more than doubled since its introduction, going from 25-30% in 2013, to currently more than 70% of T680 on-highway builds. He calls that a rapid and dramatic change in customer preference, and he believes this new transmission will push the take rate even higher. “We think moving from the Eaton Fuller Advantage series transmission to the Paccar automated transmission will be a game-changer.”
Let’s dispense with the big question right up front: Eaton designed and will manufacture the transmission, but the calibrations and features are proprietary to Paccar and its truck brands Kenworth and Peterbilt.
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