Why do trucks have so many transmission gears?
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To move a lot of weight you need a lot of torque. A small gear (the one attached to the engine in this case) can move a big gear (1st gear) easily, but slowly. The engine can only turn so fast, so you have to shift and “shrink” the big gear. If you shrink the size of the transmission gears too quickly, it can bog down and stall the engine.
In the automatic world, i believe most trucks use 6 speeds, so still the same as a lot of cars. In the manual world, the 10 speed is the ‘workhorse.’ Really heavy loads can get you up into the 18-speed range.
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