Five Days from Our Ford Super Duty Diary

Out in the BradshawMountains of central Arizona, at an altitude of about5,400 ft, journalists from all over the country towed 10,000-lb trailersup narrow single lane highways, testing out the real capabilities of Ford’supcoming 2011 Super Duty trucks at the company’s big media launch. Afterhauling all morning, lunch at the bottom of the mountain was in proper order,and a discussion popped up — what was the more important piece of the puzzlefor Ford’s new power train — its new diesel engines or its new 6R140heavy-duty TorqShift six-speed transmission?

The majority of my lunch table, which at this point wasslathered with barbeque and coleslaw, went with the latter. While the all-newdiesel and gasoline engines are key reasons why the 2011 Ford F-Series SuperDuty maintains best-in-class towing and payload, managing that best-in-classhorsepower and torque is the six-speed transmission, which delivers powerquickly and seamlessly while maximizing fuel economy.

Creating a transmission to serve both diesel and gasolineengines in a Super Duty application is a challenging proposition because thegearbox needs to deliver the substantial low-rpm torque produced by the dieselengine and efficiently use the higher rotational speeds of the gasoline engine.In the end, the solution was to use a proven architecture, but adapt it forheavy-duty use. Ford’s 6R140 TorqShift transmission uses a Lepelletier-stylepower-flow, which is a proven technology in rear-wheel-drive vehicles but nottypically used with larger diesel engines (smart move folks). A key benefit ofthe Lepelletier architecture is that it reduces the complexity in connectingthe gear sets and clutches. The six speeds require only five clutches, and thespeeds of the clutches relative to one another are low, increasing theefficiency of the system. 

The new 6R140 heavy-duty TorqShift six-speed automatictransmission is specifically designed to handle the increased torque producedby the all-new Ford-designed, Ford-engineered and Ford-built 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbocharged dieseland also will be mated to the all-new 6.2-liter V-8 gasoline engine. The six-speedbalances convenience and control by automatically shifting during routine operation and also allowing complete manual control. It features SelectShiftAutomatic transmission functionality, which includes both Progressive RangeSelect and manual functions. For full manual function, customers can just pullthe shift lever into “M” and use a toggle switch to select the gear desired.The display will show the selected gear, and the control system will lock thetorque converter and hold that gear for a full manual transmission feel (goodfor hauling up mountains).

But perhaps the coolest new feature on the 6R140transmission is the segment-exclusive Live Drive Power Take Off (PTO) with thenew diesel engine, which is great for CompactEquipment customers who use PTOs for snow plowing, water tanks, lights oranother other onboard application. On 2011 Ford Super Duty diesels with the PTOprep option, the PTO output gear is linked through the torque converter to theengine crankshaft. This allows the transmission to power auxiliary equipmentsuch as snowplows, aerial lifts, cement mixers, tow truck lifts or dump trucks.The power is available any time the engine is running. The Live Drive feature is particularly usefulwhen mobile PTO function is required during start-stop operations, such as saltspreading or snow plowing, allowing the PTO power to function outside of theengine’s ups and downs. It’s one of the clever new widgets available on the2011 Super Duty Series. Return tomorrow and we’ll discuss Ford’s mobile officetechnologies envisioned in Ford Work Solutions. It’s equally as impressive. – Keith Gribbins, CompactEquipment Managing Editor