Eaton updates transmission range, announces Neutral Coast feature

Eaton announced the expansion of its Fuller Advantage Series transmissions with nine new variants available later this spring, including three direct-drive manual transmissions, two direct-drive automated transmissions and four automated transmissions with new overdrive ratios.

In addition, the company announced the new Neutral Coast Mode to the Fuller Advantage Series and UltraShift Plus automated transmissions. The announcements came during a press conference at the 2015 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.

The Neutral Coast feature disengages the truck’s driveline and drops the engine speed to idle during certain downhill scenarios depending on a variety of factors –including vehicle weight, grade and vehicle speed – to improve fuel consumption up to 1 percent.

Neutral Coast works with the engine and other ECUs to determine the appropriate time to engage or disengage the driveline.

“This new option promises to bring fuel efficiency improvements to line-haul fleets typically traveling on roads where hills and grades are present,” said Ryan Trzybinski, product planning manager, Eaton. “The gains will vary depending on the amount and severity of grades encountered.”

The new Neutral Coast feature will appear as SmartCoast when paired with a Cummins engine, Fuel Efficient Coast when paired with a Navistar engine and Neutral Coast when paired with a Paccar engine. It is available on all vehicles with a 2013 or newer Cummins ISX1, Navistar N13, or PACCAR MX-13 engine later this year.

With these announcements, Eaton says it is reaffirming its place in the evolving transmission marketplace

“I think the market dynamics have certainly changed with the level of innovation in the market, and we recognize that,” said John Beering, senior vice president & general manager of Eaton’s Commercial Vehicle Transmission Business. “We have a game plan that we’re working on with partners and collaborators and we feel very strongly about the breadth of our portfolio, the innovation of our technology and capabilities and we feel good about how we stack up to the competition.”