Equipment

Vocational trucks on a dirt road course (and more)

Nov. 9, 2015

Check out vocational trucks reporters drove on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at Eaton Proving Grounds to test new features of the company's automated manual transmissions.

Aaron Marsh

Eaton had available a number of vocational trucks for reporters to drive on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at its proving grounds facility to show off new features of the company's automated manual transmissions. The features made the trucks — including a Kenworth T880 Mixer loaded to 42,000 lbs., a Peterbilt 567 dump truck loaded to 61,000 lbs. and a Western Star 4700SB dump truck loaded to 63,000 lbs., all with Eaton UltraShift PLUS transmissions — very easy to drive and handle.

Also on hand was a Western Star 4900SB heavy hauler with Detroit Diesel 16 600-hp engine towing a flatbed trailer and loaded to 125,000 lbs. Reporters took the heavy hauler up and down 8% and 15% grades.

Click here to learn more about Eaton's transmission technologies and watch video from the event.

About the Author

Aaron Marsh

Before computerization had fully taken hold and automotive work took someone who speaks engine, Aaron grew up in Upstate New York taking cars apart and fixing and rewiring them, keeping more than a few great jalopies (classics) on the road that probably didn't deserve to be. He spent a decade inside the Beltway covering Congress and the intricacies of the health care system before a stint in local New England news, picking up awards for both pen and camera.

He wrote about you-name-it, from transportation and law and the courts to events of all kinds and telecommunications, and landed in trucking when he joined FleetOwner in July 2015. Long an editorial leader, he was a keeper of knowledge at FleetOwner ready to dive in on the technical and the topical inside and all-around trucking—and still turned a wrench or two. Or three.

Aaron previously wrote for FleetOwner.