The trap of modern education is it is so often divorced from practical application.
In the world of heavy vehicles, theory won’t survive without real world validation.
Murray Seymour, as an educator, is certainly qualified to both teach and train.
He brings with him a loaded resume. His extensive background begins in engine reconditioning, mainly on cars and agricultural equipment.
That was followed by a long stint at Detroit Diesel. In 1997, he moved off the tools when he landed with ZF where he was employed as technical support for Victoria and Tasmania.
Sales at the time were largely for boats and other bits and pieces. In that role he touched on training with bus operators for the automatic transmissions around Melbourne.
“That was in the days of the overhead projector and transparancies,” he recalls. “I didn’t really have a style per se, but I gave it a crack.”
It was when another colleague, who sat in on one of Murray’s first sessions, informed him, to his surprise, that he was “really good at it” that the possibility of a career started to take shape.
“The other trainer that day was like a strict school master,” he says. “He didn’t land so well with the audience.”
Murray put his hand up to take over the training manager/trainer with IVECO subsequently revising that program extensively.
By 2015, he had moved to Fiat Chrysler mainly supporting Fiat commercial vehicles that mostly went into motorhome applications.
In the wake of COVID, Murray arrived at Eaton Mobility Group, where he is now the Training Manager and Specialist Technical Support.
At the same time key players were readying to launch products to market, some of which had been eagerly anticipated prior to the global upheaval.
Eaton, whose new automated Endurant XD Pro transmission was one such product, rolled out in the midst of what became a transitional period for both industry and newly manufactured heavy vehicles.
As Eaton’s dedicated trainer, Murray travels the country conducting workshops on both the latest and pre-existing Eaton product in a formalised setting on average every second week.
Leading fleets and dealerships like Inland Truck Centre, to name one recent example, are often in attendance.
Murray’s first port of call at Eaton was a successful training module he created for the RoadRanger transmission, legendary for its role in heavy duty applications.
Operators of outback roadtrains still swear by it. Despite the product being well established continuous education is crucial with high staff turnover in industry and people coming in from overseas who have never seen an Eaton transmission before.
The manual version is 25 years old while the automated UltraShift PLUS counterpart, in its current format, has been around for a decade.
“In the older product we will see a large variation in the current knowledge,” says Murray. “There might be people in the training who are a bit wet behind the ears versus people who are experienced who are great to have because you can drag information from their experiences with the product.”
The training program is also a key foundation at Eaton in helping to develop the next generation of truck technicians.
Having new products that are purpose-built clean sheet designs like the Eaton Endurant XD Pro transmissions was an enticement for Murray when he joined Eaton.
“There’s nothing like a new product to create a whole new buzz in the learning environment,” he says. “People pay attention and are generally more interested. That’s a good thing.”
Training on the new Endurant XD has recently begun being rolled out chiefly across the Kenworth dealer networks given it is, at present, exclusive to that truck platform in Australia.
“These training sessions across the product range are in high demand,” says Murray.
“So far with the XD Pro product they’re basically sending their experienced mechanics and diagnostic people and service managers because it’s brand new. I’m not having to tailor it too much. Everyone is basically at the same level when we talk. So that’s not really an issue with the new product as it can be for the older product that has been around for some time.”
In his presentation Murray will discuss the technical aspects of the product from weight savings, ratio spreads, to the immediate benefits it will bring.
Also, he touches on the pitfalls particularly in reducing the risk of malfunction caused by incorrect maintenance and handling procedures.
“We talk about some of the pain points we’ve already seen,” Murray says. “For example, making sure when you install a clutch you do it exactly to our instructions in the service manual. If you don’t do it, you will in high likelihood cause a problem for yourself and the owner.”
The Endurant XD Pro Series features a clean, contained design with internal wiring and sensors to minimise exposure and corrosion to wires and connectors for improved reliability.
It’s even 102 kilograms lighter than comparable UltraShift PLUS models.
Murray also talks about the pneumatically operated transmission, which makes for a change, as it is not driven by electric Servo motors like the UltraShift PLUS models.
Many are the advantages of having hardware purpose-built to match with the automation rather than it being an add-on with a manual transmission as was the case, previously.
“There’s a whole lot of information we go through,” he says.
“We examine the power flow through the transmission and when we get to a certain point where interest leads to the guys asking lots of questions, we will pack up the computer and head out to the workshop area depending where we are.”
At Eaton’s Rowville facility, there’s a purpose-built training room with an overhead gantry.
Without stripping it to its last bolt, Murray will pull down the Endurant XD Pro far enough so that those in attendance get to diagnose it and perform external vehicle repairs with confidence.
The front covers are removed so that all the different areas that technicians are likely to eventually to see are exposed.
The Mechatronic Transmission Module (MTM), in essence the lid of the transmission, is inspected with all the solenoid caps, sensors, pistons, shift forks and rails that action the changing within the transmission.
Murray will then pull the rear end of the transmission to look at the range change to set high or low range.
“We look right into the back of the transmission to better understand how it’s constructed,” says Murray. “Some people will need to see it as a diagram on a PowerPoint and other people will physically need to see it. There’s different styles of learning for different people.”
With the transmission half-stripped, Murray will take attendees through a PowerPoint presentation, so everyone understands how the Endurant XD Pro functions before he starts the reassembly process.
That includes some of the critical areas like reinstalling the MTM to ensure it’s done correctly. Once the transmission is assembled, they return to the classroom environment to go over the electronic service tool called Service Ranger.
Murray will power it up off the transmission on the bench and connect up the diagnostic service tool before going through the different areas of interest ahead of a potential service.
Specific areas for calibrating the shift elements within the transmission are viewed. The same goes for clutch calibrations.
“We’ve got a series of ten questions,” explains Murray. “They get the ten questions at the start of the day, and they get the same questions at the end of the session to assess the knowledge participants have grasped.”
Balancing the theoretical and mechanical parts, the training session also provides a notable section on computer networks.
There’s very little the driver can do, according to Murray, to damage the transmission.
“They can still trash fuel economy of course by driving it manually and overriding the logic the transmission uses to shift gears,” he says.
“But getting back to maintenance, the benefit of this transmission, apart from changing the oil and providing a supply of clean air from the vehicle, the savings are already there because it’s very much a low maintenance item.”
On Eaton’s previous transmissions, the clutch was a maintenance item with external harnesses and wiring. Now it’s all basically integrated into one module protected from outside elements.
“From the maintenance concern, it’s very easy to maintain,” says Murray. “Our aim for the training is to make sure if a vehicle rolls into the dealer the technician is adequately training and conduct the appropriate servicing to maintain reliable trouble free operation.”
