Ducato nine speed auto announced

[Lofty1]

And column change?

Bedford dormobile 1959

 

[Electraglide]

Bedford dormobile 1959

First job in 1966 was in a Vauxhall dealers. We had a list of all the bushes and shafts needed to replace all the items that wore for the CA vans gear linkage

 

[tonyidle]

Unlikely IMO. All the twin clutch box drawings I've seen use conventional gears but are definitely NOT robotised manuals. Robotised manuals are totally conventional (just like a manual box) innards with a conventional clutch all operated by servos/software. Nine speeds certainly cannot be achieved in a compact space using a conventional gearset so the new box will need epicyclic gears. These can only be installed in a compact

Don't know what happened there - that's about half of the stuff I typed. I went on to say (roughly) that a 9 speed epicyclic gearset requires multiplate clutches within the gearset and can only sensibly be controlled by hydraulic (or nowadays electronic) logic and a torque converter. So it will be a torque converter auto.

 

[thebriars]

In addition to cost I wonder if there is a weight penalty to be paid? A torque converter auto could well be heavier than a robotised one and the AdBlue system that I think comes with Euro6D is also heavy. Weight comes at the expense of payload and in the sub 3500kg category this can be critical.

Love the torque converter box in my Ford, its always in the right gear, and gear changes are very slick. It has Adblue, and the auto box adds 20kg to the overall weight. The exact same model as mine, but on a current Fiat manual chassis weighs 20kg more than the Ford.

 

[thebriars]

And column change?

Our torque converter auto cars have paddle shift as standard. Almost round full circle!

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[jockaneezer]

We had a few Bedford Midi's with column change, a couple of weeks after moving on to Toyota HiAce's, one of the lads snapped the indicator stalk off going for second at a traffic light drag race

 

[Electraglide]

We had a few Bedford Midi's with column change, a couple of weeks after moving on to Toyota HiAce's, one of the lads snapped the indicator stalk off going for second at a traffic light drag race

I bought a Midi new in 1985, gear change was about the only thing that did not break. It spent most of the four years I owned it broken down and rusting away

 

[Guigsy]

If it fills the yawing gap between 3rd and 4th on the manual 6 speed box, I'll consider it.

 

[tacr2man]

These multispeed boxes are being necessitatated by the way engines are going , smaller engines , with need to operate in a small rev range , all down to meeting emission requirements. The total opposite to electric motors .

 

[addoaddo]

Most HGV sold now are auto boxes as they have proven to be more reliable that manual and save on fuel. I expect this trend is moving down to the "van" range.
The auto box design would therefor more likely follow this requirement rather than all the features you expect from a car auto box.

Truck Auto boxes are efficient and reliable but not as smooth as a car box. DSG will arrive with the flying pigs..

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