The Business Magazine of Canada’s Trucking Industry
LIVING LEGEND Louis Tolaini took TransX from 1 truck to 1,700.
Advantage:TransXThe Cummins-Eaton SmartAdvantage powertrain as purchased by Winnipeg’s TransX offers fuel and weight saving as well as superior driving experience.
TTTTTThhhhhhheeeeeee CCCCCuuuuummmmmmmmmmiiiiiinnnnnsssss---EEEEEEaaaaattttttooooonnnnnn SSSSSSSmmmmmaaaaarrrrrttttttAAAAAAAdddddddvvvvvaaaaannnnnttttttaaaaaggggggggeeeeeee ppppppppooooowwwwweeeeerrrrrttttttrrrrraaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnn aaaaaasssss pppppppuuuuurrrrccccchhhhhhhaaaaassssseeeeedddddddd bbbbbbbyyyyyyyy WWWWWWWWWiiiiiinnnnnnnnnniiiiiipppppppppeeeeeegggggggg’’’’ssss TTTTTTrrrrraaaaannnnnssssXXXXXXX oooooooffffffffffffffeeeeerrrrsssss fffffffuuuuueeeeelllll aaaaaannnnndddddddd wwwwwwweeeeeiiiiiigggggggghhhhhhhhttttt ssssssaaaaavvvvviiiiiinnnnngggggggg aaaaaasssss wwwwwweeeeellllllllllll aaaaaassssss ssssssuuuuuppppppppeeeeeerrrrriiiiiiooooorrrrrr dddddddddrrrrrriiiiiivvvvviiiiiinnnnnggggggg eeeeeexxxxpppppppeeeeeerrrrriiiiiieeeeeennnnncccceeeeee....
Advantage:TransXThe Cummins-Eaton SmartAdvantage powertrain as purchased by Winnipeg’s TransX offers fuel and weight saving as well as superior driving experience.
SHOWROOM FRESH
The brand new Peterbilt Model 579 loaned to us by TransX Ltd. had
less than 60 km on the clock. The SmartAdvantage powertrain makes
it a very nice place to work.
TODAY’S TRUCKING
Advantage: TransX
CUMMINS and EATON may
have finally nailed it with their
SmartAdvantage Powertrain
combo. The closer-than-usual
collaboration between the two engineering
groups has really paid off, leaving precious
little to complain about.
SmartAdvantage brings together
Cummins’ ISX15 and an automated ver-
sion of Fuller’s new Advantage 10-speed
transmission. Together, they make for a
smooth-shifting, low-rpm powertrain set
up for fuel savings and drivability.
I had a full day to get to know this new
combo a little better back in early June. I
visited the Winnipeg terminal of TransX
Ltd. The company had ordered a signifi-
cant number of trucks equipped with the
new SmartAdvantage powertrains, and
graciously delayed putting one of them
into service so I could drive it right off the
showroom floor, literally. I picked up the
Model 579 from Peterbilt of Manitoba on
Brookside Blvd. with less than 60 km on
the clock. TransX has about 1,700 trucks
and about 4,000 trailers running across
Canada and all through the lower 48. The
company sits in the number-three posi-
tion of Today’s Trucking’s Top 100 List of
Canadian carriers.
Company president and owner Louie
Tolaini, a veteran driver who started
trucking in the late 1950s, says he’s quite
impressed with the SmartAdvantage
combo so far.
“It’s the first time I can remember a
manufacturer promising something and
the product performing even better than
they said it would,” he notes. “I haven’t yet
heard a single complaint about this new
engine and transmission.”
Starting from the front, SmartAdvantage
offers Cummins’ ISX15 with SmartTorque2
(ST2) and Vehicle Acceleration Manage–
ment (VAM). The ST2 feature senses
vehicle weight, grade, and operating gear,
then selects the optimum torque for the
best fuel economy and performance in a
given gear.
VAM manages the acceleration rate of
the engine, optimizing fuel consumption
while giving the driver very reasonable
performance.
The SmartAdvantage powertrain uses
an interesting transmission that has a lot
in common with its fully manual cous-
in, called Fuller Advantage. Eaton’s Ryan
Trzybinski, product planning manager
for NAFTA Commercial Vehicle Business
says the Advantage concept for both the
automated and manual versions is based
on a new Precision Lubrication system
that sprays lubricant directly into the gear
mesh rather than relying on the traditional
oil bath to splash lubrication throughout
the case.
“The reduced churning losses with the
precision lube system can improve fuel
economy by 1.5 percent to two percent,”
Trzybinski told Today’s Trucking. “On top
of that, the oil cooler has been eliminated,
saving more weight and up to 12 feet of
tubing. We also changed some non-stress-
bearing parts of the housing from cast
iron to aluminum, saving a total of about
82 pounds.”
Smaller StepsThere are significant differences between
the manual and automated versions of
the Advantage transmission: the final gear
ratio and the step between 9th and 10th
gears. The manual version has a 0.73:1 final
ratio, while the automated version used
in the SmartAdvantage powertrain has a
0.80:1 final drive. Also, the step between
the top two gears is 26 percent rather than
the 37-percent step found in the manual.
The step between the top two notches in
a 13-speed is 17 percent, just to complete
the comparison.
While the intermediate-sized 26-percent
step between 4th and 5th and 9th and 10th
might baffle an inexperienced driver using a
manual shifter; it’s just another gear change
for the computer. The reason for the small-
er step between the gears is fuel savings.
“We wanted a smaller step between the
top two gears to keep the engine speed
within the sweet spot of the engine’s fuel
map as much as possible,” says Trzybinski.
“Drivers will notice that it shifts between
9th and 10th more often than a traditional
overdrive, but it’s designed to do that.”
Adam Whitney, a National Account
executive at Cummins Canada, says
the recommended engine speed for the
SmartAdvantage combo is in the 1,150-
1,240-rpm range at the vehicles, intended
cruise speed.
For TransX, we elected not to go down
into the 1,150-rpm cruise range as these
units would be hauling across Western
Canada with grades and wind to over-
come,” says Whitney. “As the cruise rpm is
Powertrain
Specs Cummins ISX15 450 hp @ 1,800 rpm / 1,550-1,750 lb-ft @ 1000 rpm SmartTorque2
Fuller Advantage 10-speed Automated
1810 HD driveline
Dana DSP41, 40,000-lb axles, 2.93:1 ratio
65 mph max in top gear, 62 mph max cruise speed
GVW as tested: 36,780 kg
REACHABLE MOMENTS: Eaton’s Advantage driver interface is easy to use and the upshift and downshift are in exactly the right place.
a function of not only the rear axle but also
the tire revs and road speed, the axle ratio
selected will differ between customers and
truck specs.”
The truck I drove had a rear-axle ratio
of 2.92:1 rather than something like the
2.64:1 you might find on a truck spec’d to
run on fairly flat U.S. interstate highways
exclusively. I noted engine speeds of about
1,200 rpm in 10th gear at 62 mph, 1,060
rpm in 10th gear at 55 mph, 1,500 rpm in
9th gear at 62 mph and 1,200 rpm in 9th
gear at 50 mph.
Cummins says peak torque in the top
two gears is 1,750 lb-ft at a fuel-sipping
1,000 rpm. Cruising at 1,200 rpm gives the
engine plenty of latitude before downshift-
ing. Cruising on level ground, the ISX15
usually pulled down to 1,050 before down-
shifting at 58 mph.
I wanted to test the engine/transmis-
sion combo’s tolerance for low-rpm oper-
ation in a hill climb, but since there are no
hills anywhere close Winnipeg that would
demand a downshift from 9th to 8th I had
to make do with a railroad overpass.
On the east side of Portage La Prairie
there’s an overpass near the junction
of Hwy 1 and 1A that I estimate has a
two-percent grade. I made several passes
over that at different speeds to simulate a
sustained pull.
The first time around from 62 mph
it downshifted into 9th at about 1,050
rpm at about 58 mph. The next time,
starting into the hill at 50 mph in 9th
gear at 1,200 rpm and it downshifted into
8th at 1,050 rpm.
SmartAdvantage ShinesFrom a full stop up to cruise speed, this
transmission proved to be the smoothest
shifting Eaton automated I’ve ever driven.
I don’t think it ever exceeded 1,300 rpm
under normal, unhurried acceleration. With
my foot right into it, it climbed to 1,400 a
couple of times, but that was the exception.
The truck I drove had an rpm limiter
set to 1,600 rpm, but it only went that high
once. This proved problematic on one
occasion when I was looking for a faster
takeoff, where 1,900 or 2,000 rpm might
have helped. The engine wouldn’t let me
go there. Cummins says the rpm limiter is
a customer-preference setting.
The VAM feature, a huge asset when
it comes to fuel consumption, is hardly
noticeable to the driver. It limits power
output very judiciously, thus eliminating
fast launches. A diligent driver of a loaded
truck would never notice the difference.
A hot dog driver on a lightly loaded truck
might suspect his or her fuel filters were
partially plugged. It takes off a little slower
than might be expected, but it gets up
through the gears quickly enough.
During a spell of city driving, I never
noticed the transmission hunting for a
gear. Every gear choice was the right one
and all the shifts were in exactly the right
engine speed range. When coasting into
a traffic light, for example, it downshifted
low in the rpm range which made for a
nice smooth ride. On occasion, when I was
looking for a little more action from the
engine brake, I’d hit the downshift button
and I had all the revs I wanted. Several
attempts at this allowed the engine to rev
all the way to 1,900 — two taps of the but-
ton in most cases.
I did have to slide the fifth wheel for-
ward, and I found that exercise a little
awkward without a clutch pedal. The
clutch engages as the throttle pedal is
depressed, so modulating the torque to the
drive wheels was a bit tricky.
Trzybinski admits it takes a bit of
getting used to, and said fleets would
be wise to explain to drivers how it should
be done before the need arises.
“It would be very difficult to damage the
clutch doing that because we’ve added the
ability to sense clutch abuse,” he says. “If
it overheats, a ‘clutch abuse’ (CA) warning
light comes on. If the abuse continues, the
transmission will eventually not go into
gear until it cools down. It’s a logged fault
code, so drivers with high incidences of CA
warnings can be coached.”
Eaton’s product literature says the
SmartAdvantage automated transmission
weighs just 850 pounds (dry weight, includ-
ing clutch), making it the lightest auto-
mated manual in their portfolio. It uses
roughly half the lube of its competitors
(based on literature comparisons), and it’s
much tamer than some of Eaton’s past
automated manuals.
Eaton and Cummins claim the Smart-
Advantage powertrain offers fuel savings
of three- to six-percent compared to a
baseline 2013 Cummins ISX15 mated to an
LAS model UltraShift-Plus transmission.
The ISX15 in SmartAdvantage trim is
available in two ratings: 415 hp with 1,450/
1,650 lb-ft, and 450 hp with 1,550/1,750
lb-ft. Both ratings include SmartTorque2 as
well as Vehicle Acceleration Management.
The ISX12 (diesel version) Smart-
Advantage package will come to market in
the third quarter of this year with ratings
of 370 hp with 1,150/1,450, and 425 hp with
1,350/1,650 lb-ft.
A package for higher GVW (110,000 lb)
combinations is in the works.
The Cummins/Eaton SmartAdvantage
powertrain is available from International,
Paccar, Volvo and Freightliner.
— BY JIM PARK
OCTOBER 2014
Advantage: TransX
PUNCHING BELOW ITS WEIGHT: At 450 hp, the big-block ISX isn’t exactly working up a sweat. It’s adequately powered, but the 1,750 lb-ft of torque in the top two gears make it feel a whole lot bigger.
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF:
SmartAdvantage™ PowertrainIntroducing the
Cummins and Eaton® have joined together to deliver fully integrated powertrains with unprecedented
performance and fuel economy. The SmartAdvantage Powertrain takes the effi ciency of Cummins ISX15 and
ISX12 with SmartTorque2 (ST2), and combines it with the smooth-shifting Eaton Fuller® Advantage™ 10-speed
Automated Transmission, for 3-6% better fuel economy for the ISX15 and 2-4% better fuel economy for the
ISX12. The engine and transmission share critical data, determining the torque required to deliver the power
level that drivers need. Error-free, guessproof shifting makes every driver in your fl eet as effi cient as your
best driver — so you save more money on every haul.
The Smart Way to Get 3-6% Better Fuel Economy.
Learn more at SmartAdvantagePowertrain.com
©2014 Eaton Corporation. All rights reserved. Eaton and Fuller are registered trademarks of Eaton. Cummins and the “C” logo are registered trademarks of Cummins Inc. All trademarks, logos and copyrights are those of their respective owners.