forktrkman is absolutely correct. Nacco is in serious trouble with this truck.

Most Hyster dealers sell the entry level units that don't have the higher priced features and transmission so the problem has been mostly unheard of. These units in question were sold through major accounts. As a Hyster regional rep told me a couple of years ago the Fortis was a try at copying the Linde hydrostatic drive units with its outstanding features but they tried to accomplish it with software not a hydrostatic drive. When I was with Hyster in the 80's before Nacco the plan was to bring out hydrostatic drive forklifts due to its superior drive system. But non the less to keep pricing low they abandoned that idea.

Are you sure? If NACCO was having these problems wouldn't they have surfaced sooner? This is the first I've heard of this.

Hyster is having major problems with this transmission. GP is sending units back and looking at legal action if needed. Hyster tried to emulate a Linde hydrostatic design with poor results.

I believe that for the cooling system in these trucks there is a two piece radiator, an upper and lower, that can be replaced individually with the trans cooler on the bottom. So basically, the engine cooling and trans cooling are completely independent from each other.

Absolutley.
The trannys can be set up to do what ever you want.
You can drive them just like an electric.
You can set them up so they can't spin the wheels when dumping the inching pedal. (a big change in tire wear)

The duramatch plus trannys go a step further. The engine will rev to specified rpms when you use the hydraulics, without affecting travel speed.

The Duramatch transmission drives like it is an AC electric truck with a tailpipe. The clutch packs are running in oil, so no clutch noise is produced during operation. Fuel consumption is directly related to how hard you drive the truck. Inch/brake overlap is fully adjustable without tools since it is electronically controlled. Try one, you'll like it.

Regards,
Leon

Has anyone driven this truck?
What about the first experiences?
From my understanding: beside the heat produced in the clutches you should have a much higher fuel consumption.
What about noises coming from the slipping clutch?
What about fine tuning when accelerating and breaking? Is it as good as with a normal torque converter with traditional break/inch pedal?

It is essentially a transmission clutchpack braking design. Instead of the brakes doing the braking, a controller (brain) regulates pressure in the clutchpacks. That is why they say they have heavy duty clutchpacks and a big cooling system. All that extra clutchpack friction (heat) needs to be addressed somehow. Interesting concept and interesting approach, but unproven in the field so far. Wonder what the cost is to replace/repair a clutchpack or a radiator in this new model. May offset the break wear cost? I guess we'll all see soon enough.