Selecting Gears
Reverse
Reverse (R) is at the upper end of the four-position selector switch located at the end of the SmartShift control lever. To select R, press in the neutral lock button and move the selector switch upward to the position above neutral.
UltraShift DM has two reverse gears, reverse low and reverse high. To manually shift between them, use the shift lever as described for MAN mode. There is no AUTO mode for reverse.
When reverse low is selected, the letter "R" displays on the current gear indicator. When reverse high is selected, the letter "H" displays on the current gear indicator. See Fig..
Fig. 1, Reverse Gear Display
Important: Under normal conditions, do not select reverse with the vehicle moving forward.
The vehicle must be moving at less than two miles per hour (3 km/h) before selecting reverse. If reverse is selected when the vehicle is moving faster, an audible warning will sound and continue sounding at three-second intervals until the control lever is returned to the "D" position or the vehicle slows to the proper speed.
If necessary to rock the vehicle, use the selector switch to shift back and forth at low speed between reverse and drive.
Neutral
Important: Always start the engine with the transmission in neutral, the parking brake set, and the service brakes applied.
Neutral (N) is directly below R on the four-position selector switch located at the end of the SmartShift control lever. To select N, press in the neutral lock button and move the selector switch to the position below R. When neutral is selected, the letter "N" displays on the current gear indicator. See Fig..
Fig. 2, Neutral Display
Warning: Do not coast in neutral. Coasting in neutral can cause an accident, possibly resulting in severe personal injury or death.
Neutral is always available during operation, whatever the vehicle speed. When in neutral, requests to upshift or downshift are ignored. If the selector switch is moved from neutral to drive while the vehicle is moving, the transmission will shift into a gear within the engine's operating torque range.
Before shutting down the engine, return the selector switch to N. When the ignition is turned off, the transmission will reset to neutral in a few minutes regardless of the position of the shift lever.
Drive
Drive (D) is directly below N on the four-position selector switch located at the end of the SmartShift control lever. To select D, press in the neutral lock button and move the selector switch to the position below N. When drive is selected, the number of the currently selected forward gear (1 through 10) displays on the gear indicator. See Fig..
Fig. 3, Current Gear Display
When in drive, requests to upshift or downshift are enabled. Either manual or automatic mode can be selected on the slide switch.
More than one starting gear is available. To change the starting gear, press the brake pedal and select D with the vehicle stopped. The current gear indicator will display the starting gear. Move the shift lever up or down until the desired starting gear is displayed.
The UltraShift DM TCU adapts to the working conditions of each vehicle and its driver. After power up or a load change, it needs to learn the new conditions. While learning, it may hold a gear too long before upshifting. Start the upshift manually. It may take three or four shifts before UltraShift succeeds in learning the new load-based shift points, but after that it will handle the shifting automatically.
Low
Low (L) is located at the lower end of the four-position selector switch located at the end of the SmartShift control lever. To select L, press in the neutral lock button and move the selector switch to the position below D.
When in low, the current gear is maintained. Requests to upshift are not enabled.
Important: If the engine is approaching overspeed, the UltraShift DM TCU will override the current gear setting and upshift to prevent engine damage.
To enhance engine braking, downshifts are performed at higher rpm than normal.
If L is selected from neutral while stopped, the vehicle starts up in first gear and stays there until the engine approaches overspeed.
Upshifting
To request an upshift with the transmission in drive, pull the control lever up (towards you). If the gear is available, the transmission upshifts and the new gear displays on the gear indicator. No skip shifts are available while upshifting.
No upshifts are available in low, except to prevent engine overspeed.
If the transmission does not upshift quickly enough after power-up or a load change, begin the shift manually. The UltraShift DM TCU will learn the new load-based shift conditions after three or four shifts.
If the gear requested is unavailable, a tone will sound. An unavailable request to upshift is not stored in memory. The upshift must be requested again.
Downshifting
Note: The driver can manually downshift at any time, even when the slide switch is set to AUTO mode.
To request a downshift with the transmission in drive or low, push the control lever down (away from you). If the gear is available, the transmission downshifts and the new gear displays on the gear indicator. Skip shifts are available while downshifting.
For best engine braking, select low while moving. In low, downshifts are performed at higher rpm than in drive.
Important: If the engine is approaching overspeed, the UltraShift DM TCU will override the current gear setting and upshift to prevent engine damage.
If the gear requested is unavailable, a tone will sound. An unavailable request to downshift is not stored in memory. The downshift must be requested again.
When coasting to a stop, the UltraShift DM TCU does not finish the downshift until the driver presses down on the throttle pedal again.
Important: A downshift request can never result in a shift into neutral, even if the vehicle is in the drive position in the lowest possible gear.
Before starting down a hill, slow down. Downshift to a speed that you can control without hard pressure on the service brakes.
Before entering a curve, slow down to a safe speed. Downshift if necessary. This lets you use some power through the curve to help the vehicle be more stable on the turn. It also allows you to regain speed faster as you come out of the curve.