The transmission control method of a small forklift is classified into a pilot control method and a direct control method. In the pilot control method, the complex hydraulic circuit consists of many components, making the production process too costly and time consuming. The direct control method contains fewer components that can be configured to simple hydraulic circuits. As another advantage, the input profile easily changes the shift sensitivity of the transmission. Therefore, this research considers the characteristics of the direct control method in the development of hydraulic system design. This paper will present a simulation of the direct control transmission using AMESim. First, modeling of the direct control method is obtained and simulated with real parameters. The simulation results then are carried out and compared with the experimental results to verify and analyze the characteristics of the direct control method.