Standardized Manual Transmission Control/Shift Patterns for Trucks

A typical manual truck transmission can vary in complexity from the 3 speeds of a light pick-up to the 20 speeds of a class 8 tractor/trailer combination. A lack of shift pattern standards, increased transmission complexity, and design/manufacturing cost constraints has resulted in many shift pattern designs. This paper will detail most of the existing patterns, the variable components effecting the patterns and explore new pattern configurations and driver ergonomics which could become the standard for all future transmission and control designs.