I have an 18 speed Mack. I do full gear shifts on the low side unless I'm on a hill, and split the gears on the high side when loaded. If unloaded, I usually do full gear shifts on the high side. I guess you can say that I'm skipping gears doing a full gear shift since, technically, I am skipping the gear that would come if I moved the splitter. However, I rarely skip gear HOLES as that would mean I'm actually skipping two or three gears! :shock:
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you might get slightly better fuel mileage keeping the RPM's in the 1200-1400 range
The thing about Macks is they don't like low RPM's. When I bought this truck, I was told by numerous people that Mack engines like to be operated up around the 1600 - 2000 RPM range. :shock: As an OTR driver, I just cannot allow myself to run up the RPMs that high, but I have noticed that the engine (which is an '01 E-Tech 460hp) seems to perform better at the higher RPM instead of the lower RPM, although I keep it in the 1100 - 1600 range when shifting and cruising. The only negative about that, though, is that it tends to get a little hot with the lower RPM's.