Durable truck transmissions help minimize vehicle downtime for Wyoming state agency

The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) has wide-ranging functions and responsibilities – all centered on providing a safe, high-quality and efficient transportation system.

Bernie Kushnir, fleet manager of WYDOT, is responsible for maintaining more than 3,600 pieces of equipment that operate over roughly 16,000 lane miles of road surface in the nation’s 10th largest state, which typically sees about 200 inches of annual snow.

He’s also responsible for new truck orders that he likes to complete after the vehicles have accumulated around 350,000 miles or 15,000 hours of road service.

In one of Kushnir’s recent orders for new heavy-duty international tractors, he decided to specify Eaton’s latest line of automated manual transmissions. Known as UltraShift PLUS, the transmissions include intelligent shift selection software that employs grade sensing, weight computation and driver throttle commands to make precise shift decisions.

Kushnir believes the transmissions have contributed to improve the fleet’s reliability and efficiency.

“Since making the move to automated transmissions, we have had minimal downtime – practically none really – and that’s pretty remarkable considering the duty cycles we put these trucks through year after year,” Kushnir says.

“The new transmissions shift more smoothly than the units that we were using, which we were told is due to the electronic programming,” he adds. “It is also the perfect solution for putting new drivers with minimal experience behind the wheel.”

Kushnir says that Eaton has followed up the order with field support by providing hands-on classes, including question-and-answer and general training sessions for everyone in his department.

Click here to learn more about Eaton Vehicle Group.

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