Five speed autobox - how durable?

[mean_in_green]

My Sprintshift 'box has done over 400,000 miles. I get the fluid changed every year. It had the valve block replaced last year, but I think that's fair enough given use.

So, as the Sprintshift is no longer available I may go for fully auto now it's a five speed.

Any experiences or opinions to impart?

[Altered Sprinter]

Sprintshift did blow clutches under Heavy Duty use
Now lives on as quickshift in the New VW Crafter rebuilt to handle the loads new cltches flexiplates and basically rebulit.
I liked them
Richard

[kkanuck]

What is Sprint Shift?


I know Manual, automatic 5 speed with tip tronic, and SprintShift?

I take it not a North America option?


Cheers,


Tibor

[mean_in_green]

It's a manual six speed box, with a hydraulic shifting system.

The theory is that you get the same durability as a manual box with the convenience of an auto. In practice it isn't as smooth as a true auto, infact some drivers have a dislike for Sprintshift.

It took me a few months to get used to it, but once you do it's rather pleasant.

The lever has a fully auto position, which displays an A in the dash, or you choose ratios yourself with an up or down tip style function, in which case the gear is displayed in the dash.

[kkanuck]

Thanks for the lesson Mean in Green!


Cheers,

Tibor

[BMA]

It's a manual six speed box, with a hydraulic shifting system.

The theory is that you get the same durability as a manual box with the convenience of an auto. In practice it isn't as smooth as a true auto, infact some drivers have a dislike for Sprintshift.

It took me a few months to get used to it, but once you do it's rather pleasant.

The lever has a fully auto position, which displays an A in the dash, or you choose ratios yourself with an up or down tip style function, in which case the gear is displayed in the dash.

Cool, many tractors now have clutchless shifting either for the whole range or in sub ranges. It makes field work that much less difficult. You have to shift very quickly or you loose a lot of speed when dragging a plow through a field. The cluthless shifters in tractors allow for full power shifting so no speed is lost. Something tells me I'd just stick the Sprinter into A and forget it. Do they give you a tow/haul mode for when you are heavily loaded?

[mean_in_green]

No, there's no provision for altering the shift pattern, although I understand the load sensing valve inputs to the ECU, altering the shift points according to weight on board.

It works pretty well, especially the nice 'blip' the ECU gives when it changes down in auto to smooth things out.

Although I like it, it doesn't appear to have been one of the factory's technological acheivements: hence it's disppearance from the new model.