Over the years, the trucks have certainly become more sophisticated. Take transmissions for example. At one time the only choices were "three-on-the-tree" or "four-on-the-floor" manual boxes. When ...

One of the greatest innovations of the '80s was the incorporation of overdrive into manual and automatic transmissions. Overdrive has been a terrific means to reduced wear, tear, and fuel consumption ...

When this story was written in 2013, it asked this question about automated and automatic transmissions in over-the-road trucking: "Will they finally be able to make a strong inroads?" According to ...

“The basic question here seems pretty simple,” writes Jack Roberts on the website of CCJ, sister fleet-focused publication to Overdrive. “If you’re running a fleet, which is more important: Your ...

The price of street gas being what it is, even the most hard-core hot rodder must grasp the consequences. Certainly, they can curtail driving to reduce fuel cost, which often precludes traditional ...

It's been said that the only reason transmissions exist is because engines aren't good enough. A typical V-8 can rev up to about 6,000 rpm. If you didn't have a transmission, you'd need an engine that ...

In automobiles, "overdrive" refers to a transmission system with a wide ratio, that is, a number lower than 1:1. That setting allows the engine to sustain a given speed at lower rpm than usual, which ...

Since the health of our planet became a major societal focus decades ago, automotive engineers have been on a mission to find a balance between performance and efficiency. In the past, the two ...