I probably missed this cause have not been very active here in a while, but a couple years ago there was talk of an 8 speed trans for SD maybe in 17-18. Any news on that lately?

 

A 10 speed should show up in the 2019 or 2020 model year.

 

Thanks. I wonder why the delay? It was first reported a few years ago that GM & Ford were working together on this project. Kinda hard to believe that.

 

GM and Ford worked together to build a 9 speed FWD transmission which is now starting to show up in GM cars. GM took the lead on this tranny. Rumor has it Ford is going to drop a gear and make it an 8 speed in their cars due to shifting issues. They also worked together on a 10 speed RWD tranny (Ford took the lead here) which was in the F150 (with the 3.5L EcoBoost only) for 2017, and across the board (except for the 3.3L) for the F150 in 2018. It's also in the Camaro ZL1 as well, it will likely show up in the GM half ton trucks next year.

As far as the Super Duty 10 speed, it will likely take some tricks from the light duty version, but will be vastly different due to needing to support 500 HP and 1000 ft-lbs of torque (plus more in the years to come).

 

While I like the idea of more gears and keeping the engine closer to it's peak power band I'm skeptical of all this gear changing with the torque management (or whatever it's called when the engine defuels during a shift). Perhaps they've refined it but it's very noticeable on my 2011 and very annoying when I'm aggressively accelerating unloaded.

 

It’s not as bad I you M shift. The 2011-2014 trucks have the most firm shifts in M mode, the 2015 and up are a little more sluggish.

I like to roll into the throttle in 1st gear and then go WOT while shifting 2-5 making sure the rpms stay between 1600 and 2200 but don’t go WOT until you feel the torque converter lock up. This gives me the best drag race using M mode. In D the shifts happen way too late and the torque converter doesn’t lock up until you’re leveling off at your cruising speed.