Have any of you ever driven?
 

the old macks with the double shifters in them? If so I have always been curious as exactly how did they work?

My grandpa had one on the farm and I TRIED to drive it when I was 15......man what a lousy job I did. Can't remeber the exact shifting on it, but its not easy.

I believe you are talking about a 4 x 5. You rarely use all of those gears. It has been quite a few years since I have driven one of them. If I remember correctly, if you want to go through all the gears, then you start the one with the range in the first position. You shift through all the gears in the second shifter then go to the 2nd position on the first shifter while putting the other shifter in first. You go through all the gears again and repeat. It can be a challenge trying to shift both shifters while holding onto the steering wheel. You really need 3 arms. :wink:

Here's a vid if you haven't seen it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G-aDqAWkZHQ

Aren't those called brownie boxes? Anyhow, from my understanding they are rare.. and outdated. I'd say for good reason as well..

That's the one I learned on, about 1971 I was working for a South Texas Land Clearing and Earth Moving Company running Cat D-8 36a Dozers doing root plowing and tank building. I moved the tractors and equipment with a Mack B-77. I don't remember what year it was, but it wasn't new by any stretch. Air Conditioning provided by the holes in the floor boards. It had what was called a 5 speed with a 4 speed BrownLight. When fully loaded, Tractor, Dozer Blade and Root Plow was 127,000 lbs. Main Shift into 1st then run the 4 speeds of the brownlight. Then nuteral on the brown (very imprtant to shift the brown to nutral then shift the main, then back to 1st on the brown, or the gears won't mesh) and second on the main, then run the 4 speeds with the brown light. By the time your up to top speed its time to down shift by doing the routine in reverse. Sounds pretty complex, but in practice was a piece of cake. No clutch, except to start off in low 1st. My partner was real bad about twisting the drive shaft on it trying to start off. Fun times. Wish I was there again.......... The Good Ole Days??? :lol:

Also you needed a strong elbow to hold the wheel while you used two hands shifting. Oh how I miss those days, NOT :D

Maybe that's why to this day my elbows are tender and have sharp pains in them.............. :?

I had the chance of driving one of those ONCE. That was more than enough for me. I think I'll stick to my autoshift :wink:

SlacTrac that will do it :)
As late as 82 I had a heavy hauler in Alaska that had a 5x5 with two speed rears, that can get confusing :) :)