The Endurant 12-speed automated transmission, the first product from Eaton and Cummins’ joint venture, has been named standard equipment on International LT Series, RH Series, and LoneStar heavy-duty trucks.
Made available on International LoneStar and LT trucks spec’d with Cummins’ X15 engine in May last year, Tuesday’s announcement adds coverage for International’s A26 engine along with the regional RH tractor.
The first “purpose built” heavy-duty automated transmission on the market when it debuted in 2017, Endurant features torque ratings of up to 1,850 lb.-ft.
Automated manual transmissions (AMT) are bred from a manual gearbox. Even though the process of shifting is automated, the shift pattern isn’t changed. With a true automated transmission like the Endurant, Eaton’s Manager of Program Management Matt Erdmann told CCJ during a test drive ahead of Endurant’s debut in 2017, says many conventional design restraints were removed. For example, Endurant features linear shift rails – a departure from the standard sideways shift pattern required of manual transmissions and AMTs. Linear shift rails also help optimize the design for speed and reliability since there’s no wasted sideways motion.
