I randomly wandered over to the official Roadranger page, and checked out the current lineup of transmissions.

It looks like it's impossible to buy a plain ol' 10-speed these days, or even a Super 10. Moreover, it looks like 75% of the offerings are all some kind of automated gizmo, either an auto-shift or an ultra-shift.

That makes me kind of sad. I always did like just a plain 10-speed better than anything else I ever drove.

It makes me wonder what's in store for my future. Probably nothing too radical anytime soon, as I'm not likely to work anywhere that has bleeding edge equipment. Even so, down the line, I guess I have to learn how to drive one of those new-fangled automated whatchamacallits whether I want to or not.

(Still waiting on the TSA letter before I can get back to work. It's really dragging on.)

Manual transmissions will always be a part of trucking, but I'm sure that the auto-shifts will become a larger portion over time.

As for the TSA background for your HazMat, just think: It's all done for 4 years and then you get to do it allllllll over again. At least that's what the DMV in WV told me when I went in to get my HazMat endorsement. That's right - another $100 FULL background check, along with the waiting for it to arrive. He said that when the TSA got involved in the HazMat, it was supposed to be set up so that once you had the full background check done the 1st time, each HazMat renewal would be a quick background check that covered the years after you had your initial background. Not so.

Just get an 18 speed. None of that auto crap on those.

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There has been a push for auto's of some sort the last several years. I don't seen an end to manual transmissions any time soon. It is mainly some of the mega carriers who have been buying the auto's. They buy them and then pawn them off on unsuspecting owner operators before the truck gets out of warranty. It costs much more to repair an auto than a manual transmission. Personally, I don't want an auto.

I do - especially my arthritic knees, shoulders and elbows.

Without going into the pro's and con's auto vs. man debate, I've been driving autos for the last 3 1/2 yrs and see good and bad. The company I drive for was buying/leasing Freightliners and Volvos with autos until last year when they did a survey from the drivers. They found that most drivers didn't mind the autos except for the downtime when they quit working properly. 99% of the units that broke down were the Eaton autoshift in the Freightliners. TCMs, XY shifters and wiring harnesses were mostly to blame and Eaton ended up doing a lot of warranty repair at the tune of about $6k per truck. I haven't heard of very many of the Volvos having any issues and I'm currently in a '07 780 with 630k and it shifts like it should all the time. The company now has 9 and 10 speed manuals in the KWs and Cascadias they received last year. Both were bought with ISX engines too.

I know that feeling! There's time's just reaching for the shifter hurts like the devil, then a few hrs later I pull 2000lb carts off the back no problem, Go figure. Getting old sucks!

I've heard that we're going to automatics. So far, the new trucks we have, are autos. I asked the night time machanic and he told me it was so the new drivers can drive them.

I've driven 3 autos but to be honest, I don't like them. I hate pulling a hill or getting started up a grade from a stop, etc. they work ok on flat ground but any other time, they are a serious pita, lol.