Eaton’s bid to return to European heavy vehicle transmission market

Eaton, the manufacturer of the famous Twin-Splitter gearbox that was favoured by many component truck manufacturers in the 1980s, is to make a return to the European heavy vehicle market. At the IAA Show this month Eaton will display the UltraShift Plus two-pedal automated transmission, which is sold in North America in different versions for a variety of long-haul and specialist applications.

A number of different specifications and features are available, including overdrive and direct-top high gear ratios, a hill-start facility to prevent rollbacks and an electronically-actuated clutch.

Three different ‘families’ of UltraShift Plus are offered: the Linehaul, Vocational and Performance.

Linehaul is based on a Fuller 10-speed manual, and has torque capacities ranging from 1966 to 2508 Nm. There are three operational modes: Automatic, Manual (with push-button gear selection) and Low; plus a Creep mode for trailer coupling and docking.

Vocational is intended for trucks operating in sectors such as construction and forestry, where off-highway operation forms a significant part of the truck’s duties. It has the same range of modes as the Linehaul, but is more suited to a wider range of tasks thanks to lower bottom and reverse gears, and its torque range extends from 1424 to 3050 Nm.

Performance is based on the Eaton Fuller 13 and 18 speed manual transmissions. It fully engages the clutch at engine idle to ensure the driver retains control of the truck at very low speeds. Torque range is from 1966 to 3050 Nm, and Eaton claims that in 18-speed form there is no upper limit to the gross weights that it can handle. UltraShift Plus will be pitched as a rival to ZF's heavy truck transmissionsis currently the sole supplier of prorietary manual and automated gearboxes to Europe's heavy truck makers.

Eaton will show other products at IAA, reflecting its diversified capabilities. These include lightweight plastic engine oil sump pans and cylinder-head covers, and innovations in vehicle

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Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by Duck » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:24 pm

Nice box once you got used to it... I learned to drive in a C-series ERF with a Spicer that was nearly the same age as me!! A Foden 4380 with a twin splitter was the first tractor unit I ever drove... Now that's what

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you call driver training... http://www.eastmidlandsrecovery.comDuck

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by Equitran » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:46 pm

Best gearbox ever made, first of the semi autos for those of us that could drive them, I sold an ERF to a guy here and had to spend 2 days trying to teach him how to change gear Equitran

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by Santa » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:52 pm

When I started on the agency in the 90s all of Blake's fleet were EC10s and 11s with twin splitters. I was lucky that someone had showed me how to get the best from them and took

pleasure in getting it right.“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Søren Kierkegaard

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by the maoster » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:44 pm

As many have said, fantastic box with very slick and very quick changes once you found the "sweet spot". Box was that good that once I set off on a Monday in my old Stratos and the clutch went, I never bothered going into an outside garage to get it fixed, I just stayed out as normal all week and got it repaired by our fitters when I returned on Saturday!Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there.the maoster

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by kr79 » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:13 pm

Bking wrote:Retired Old Fart wrote:Bking wrote:Do you mean the twin splitter? Never really got on with those too "faffy" but the 9 or 13 speed Eaton fuller gearbox with the square box change was a joy to drive.Could outshift any crap syncroed unit once you got the feel of it.Another good box was the Spicer with overdrive but they tended to chip teeth if you were a bit rough with them..

Use to love repairing them nearly as much as driving them.Real truck gearboxes even the old crouts used to fit them in MANs rather than the usual ZF rubbish.

Main reason they died out was that there is no way you can link them into an electronic or semi automatic shift system.Like a motorbike you have to match engine speed with road speed and no super dooper ECU can beat a human being at that.Even the split had to be timed right never mind the range.But you could beat any syncro box truck off the line because you actualy shifted the gears not the syncro hubs.Memories!

Remember I once rebuilt a Spicer and got the counter shaft timing wrong.Started the old sedack up all was fine went to get a brew while it was ticking over on the pit,came back and a very strange noise but just was not quick enough to turn the motor off before the gearbox exploded. [zb] Awesum like putting a grenade in a biscuit tin.All that was left was a bit fastened to the prop and the front of the box and bell housing.OH [zb]

If I may be allowed to jog the memory a bit- Eaton DID actually bring out a semi-automatic box using the twin splitter as a base. They had a working mock-up at a Commercial Motor Show in the 1980s and both my workmate and I had a go on it. As long-time users of the Roadranger series, we found the semi-auto box a brilliant piece of kit to use, although I believe it never got into production due to cost and weight. Eaton also had a mock-up of a semi-auto version of the Roadranger 9-speed, but I assume that went the same way, for the same reasons.To return to the original question, I thought the twin splitter (or more correctly, the twin countershaft) gearbox was, and still is, the best thing since sliced bread. But then, I was brought up on "decent" gearboxes without namby-pamby things like synchromesh or electronics.

ALL Eaton heavy transmissions

are twin counter shaft,single input dual output.Only real difference between the twin split and the fuller was 2 torque springs and a logic box.The twin split was really the begining of the end for the crash box.It sowed the seeds of its own destruction.

There was a automated version of it offered called SAMT someone here had a thread going on here about it I think they done an article about the early automated boxes for a magazine. Newmercman had an Iveco fitted with it. Was quite troublesome so was retrofitted with a standard twin splitterYou gotta go there to come backkr79

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by Kerbdog » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:23 pm

My first long term truck was a Seddon Atkinson Strato (with the DAF cab) 325. Its reg was K602 VNA and had a twin split Eaton gearbox. It took me a day to get used to it but at the time it was ok. The best thing of all was that on a rare occasion

somebody else would have to drive it they wouldn't be able to ! The Eaton twin split has to be one of the best anti theft devices on any vehicle ever !

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by Cold Up North » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:26 pm

I think Alan Firmin had one of the 1st SAMT ERF's, it was in one of the magazines in the early 90'sCold Up North

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by fodean » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:44 pm

Loved it in the ERF but not to good in the Fodenfodean

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by tootman318 » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:36 pm

Had a few fodens at Hardstaffs in the 90,s with the twin splitter box. Loved it but it would tell you very quickly if you got it wrong If i,m honest, best box i ever used until i shift i got now

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by Quinny » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:41 pm

damoq wrote:With regards to an earlier post about noise, I found ERFs with the twin splitter used to have a loud whining noise from the gearbox, compared to the ones with syncro boxes in them. So

maybe it was a noise issue that helped kill the twin splitter off.

I had one in my ERF EC14 L925 RDT that I totalled in 2000.

The noise that I got told about, was because a lot of people used to thump them in from a standing start, and you would see the chassis move. If you pressed the clutch all the way to the floor, they had a clutch brake which eliminated it and the whirring noise you mention, and the gear selection while standing was about as smooth as a modern day box.

What I do find noisy though, are modern Scania auto boxes. They seem to make a loud CLACK, when changing up or down. How anyone could say that the twin split was noisy, is beyond me when these make the sound that they do.

Would I have another twin split if given the choice in a modern truck?

Absolutely. But as I'm getting older, I'm also getting lazier, and do like auto boxes.

Ken.Quinny

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Yorkshire (ex Gateshead lad hinny, and proud of it)

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by sdg1970 » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:49 pm

Bking wrote:cruisin comet wrote:Best setup in a truck with a twin splitter was the Ford Cargo 2838 but as has been said, the Fuller Roadranger 9 speed was one of the best boxes, fitted into a Leyland Bison I had.

No other box had that "sweetness" when you got it right.Like driving a racing car but as with all things worth doing it took time and practise. And coupled into a 290 big cam cummins I used to leave those F12 boys for dead.Will never forget the sound of that range button air shift.Music to my ears.

Jesus im going all soft and weepy eyed forgive me gentelmen .sob

Yep, the first truck I drove with an Eaton Twin in it was the 3828 - it's a love affair I'm still 'guilty' of!! The second truck was an ERF E10 325, but it didn't have quite - not quite - the

same punch as the 3828 with the Eaton TS in. My Cargo has an Eaton/Fuller RT11609a 9-speed in it (aka old Roadranger box). It's a nice box, though requires consummate skill to operate; but I'd still have preffered one with the Eaton TS in. Oh well. .Last edited by sdg1970 on Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by GasGas » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:52 pm

The twin-splitter was banned as too noisy (drive-by rather than in-cab noise)

Any one remember the Eaton S16 synchro box that came in to replace it? Nice action by all accounts but there was an assembly problem with it that meant that all the early ones failed, so MAN and the Brit truck makers dropped it for ZF.

Eaton is now trying to get back

into the European heavy truck transmission market,which should at least keep ZF honest with its prices.

http://www.truckingtopics.co.uk/eatoniaaultrashi.htmlGasGas

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by sdg1970 » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:00 pm

GasGas wrote:Eaton is now trying to get back into the European heavy truck transmission market,which should at least keep ZF honest with its prices.

http://www.truckingtopics.co.uk/eatoniaaultrashi.html

Good stuff; as I've noted spares are a [zb]' nightmare to get hold of and I guess the day will come. . . Aren't Eaton based in Poland nowadadays or somewhere similar!???

sdg1970 SENIOR MEMBER 

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by GasGas » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:24 pm

Eaton is massive, and stated up about 100 years ago making axles in the USA...it now seems to make just about everything you can think of.

They used to have a factory in Manchester making Roadranger gearboxes for the USA, I think that one went to France or Poland.GasGas

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Re: Did anyone tyhink the eaton splitter was a good gearbox?

by FarnboroughBoy11 » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:37 pm

Drove one shunting on agency a few months ago for a few weeks. Loved it, never even seen one before until I jumped in it, i got the hang of it after a few days even though i didnt get

above 30mph!! Not that anyone needs reminding but I took a few pics on my phone as I doubt I will ever see one again.

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