Eaton Corp. pulled the wraps off its first fully automatic medium-duty transmission at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville.
The “2-pedal” design, 6-speed transmission, which has no clutch pedal, is aimed at medium-duty applications.
“The Eaton Fuller Automatic 6-speed provides fully automatic operation to minimize driver training and maximize fuel economy and safety,” said Dave Leonard, product and market development manager.
“It combines the performance, efficiency and reliability of an automatic with the simplicity and serviceability of a proven manual transmission,” he continued. “These factors should provide a much lower lifecycle cost.”
Building on the company's “3-pedal” design AutoShift medium- and heavy-duty transmissions, the foundation of the new automatic is the Eaton Fuller FSO Series manual gearbox.
To create the automatic, Eaton removed the manual unit's synchronizers and added an electronic control unit (ECU) that enables communication between the engine and transmission via an SAE J1939 data link.
But what really sets the Eaton Fuller Automatic apart from the AutoShift is an oil-cooled, “electrohydraulically” actuated clutch in place of a dry pedal-actuated clutch. This automatic clutch is linked electronically to the ECU and shift controls.
According to Eaton, this innovative technology makes the new transmission a true “2-pedal” automatic.
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