Author Topic: Pick Ups and the Manual vs Automatic Transmission. (Read 9015 times)

booksmart · « **Reply #25 on:** October 01, 2018, 10:08:05 am »

I prefer manuals, as well, but if I'd known I would be moving to Atlanta when I bought my Subaru, I would very likely have opted for the CVT, instead.

Manually shifting (constantly) during the s___ty traffic we have here suuuuuuuuuuucks.

If traffic isn't a concern for you, go with whichever you decide suits you. May be worth looking for an automatic with shift paddles on the steering wheel, if such a beast is within your budget.

WeTheArmed.com

coelacanth · « **Reply #26 on:** October 01, 2018, 12:27:30 pm »

Yup. Stop and go city traffic and a manual transmission - especially one with a fairly long clutch throw and strong springs - gets old in a hurry.

I absolutely hated getting caught in a freeway traffic snarl in that old F-250. Creeping forward forty or fifty yards at a time at 10-15 mph and then stopping for twenty or thirty seconds and then doing the whole cycle over and over again - never getting up enough speed to out of first gear or enough to even get a reliable breeze coming in the windows - is its own kind of hell. Especially in the summer in Phoenix.

It always seemed to me that the best solution to that problem would be to keep the truck and ditch Phoenix but alas, it was not to be.

ZeroTA · « **Reply #27 on:** October 01, 2018, 01:49:55 pm »

If I had a sports car I'd definitely want a manual, because that'd be just for fun and not at all practical. For a daily driver truck, automatic is the way to go. A lot of my driving is short trips through or between towns and I don't want to mess around shifting. There's not too many hills around here, I never tow more than a light trailer, and if I was faced with a combo of the two you could just put it in Tow Mode and keep the RPM's up (hell sometimes I do that anyway

).

Auto makers love automatics because they can set it to shift at lower RPM's and get better mileage, even on trucks...even if you don't want it to.

ZeroTA · « **Reply #28 on:** October 01, 2018, 01:58:40 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on September 30, 2018, 05:21:13 pm

OK - here goes . . . "pumpkin" is slang for a differential housing, owing to it's rounded shape similar to well, a pumpkin. The 9" Ford rear differential is recognized as a very strong, capable piece of machinery that can take a lot of punishment and still deliver the goods. The "4.11 gears" reference refers to the axle ratio ( actually 4.11 to 1 is more technically correct ) where the numerically higher number refers to the number of times the drive shaft has to rotate through 360 degrees to equal one turn of the wheels. The axle ratio is determined by the number of teeth on the pinion gear and the ring gear respectively.

This. Most current light duty trucks run appx 3.4-3.5 ratios, 3/4 tons might be 3.7-4. My '17 Silverado is 3.08

but like I said, I don't haul much with it (basic jobsite loads, tools, etc) and I don't notice a difference hitting the gas. So it handles normal 1/2 ton payloads and light off-road (jobsites) just fine. I would definitely not want that ratio if I did anything halfway serious with it.

MTK20 · « **Reply #29 on:** October 01, 2018, 03:27:23 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on October 01, 2018, 12:27:30 pm

Yup. Stop and go city traffic and a manual transmission - especially one with a fairly long clutch throw and strong springs - gets old in a hurry.

I absolutely hated getting caught in a freeway traffic snarl in that old F-250. Creeping forward forty or fifty yards at a time at 10-15 mph and then stopping for twenty or thirty seconds and then doing the whole cycle over and over again - never getting up enough speed to out of first gear or enough to even get a reliable breeze coming in the windows - is its own kind of hell. Especially in the summer in Phoenix.

It always seemed to me that the best solution to that problem would be to keep the truck and ditch Phoenix but alas, it was not to be.

cpaspr · « **Reply #30 on:** October 02, 2018, 01:10:01 am »

When I was younger my uncle ran dump trucks and backhoes. He would stockpile gravel during the fall/winter, keeping the farmers creeks cleaned out for free (sweet deal for both my uncle and the farmers). Kept their fields from flooding, and he had the gravel to sell when road projects started up in the spring and summer.

One weekend I was helping by keeping the trucks full. He'd take the manual into town with a load, and I'd load up the truck with the automatic. I'd them move it out of the way, and when he got back he'd park the manual tranny truck for me to load, jump in the auto and go. I had no idea how that thing worked. I remember it had a four-speed with a 5-speed gear box behind it. I was somewhere around 14, I think. Come to think of it, I still have no idea how to run that particular combo.

sqlbullet · « **Reply #31 on:** October 02, 2018, 11:26:17 am »

I feel bad that I am late to this party. All the relevant comments have been made.

Plebian apparently owns the object of my lust and desire in a 78 Bronco. First year of the "big" Bronco, and last year that had no federal emissions requirements, though they did come with the 351M/400 which were smog specific engines.

I personally like to drive manual trannies. But, I no longer have any vehicles with a manual. This is due to a couple of factors. First, my wife doesn't drive stick and really discourages purchase of a stick shift since she can't drive it. Two, I mostly drive in the city, and an auto is easier to drive around town. Three, while it is true in absolute terms that a manual is more reliable than an auto, in practical terms of the driving and buying habits I have, a modern auto is just as good.

Someday I plan to buy a clean 78 Bronco and build my dream SUV. Two years ago there was no doubt that I wanted a manual tranny. Preferred was an NV4500, but I would have settled for a NP435 or an SM465. But lately I have been thinking more along the lines of a really hardcore E4OD build instead of rowing myself.

coelacanth · « **Reply #32 on:** October 02, 2018, 02:54:50 pm »

Quote from: cpaspr on October 02, 2018, 01:10:01 am

When I was younger my uncle ran dump trucks and backhoes. He would stockpile gravel during the fall/winter, keeping the farmers creeks cleaned out for free (sweet deal for both my uncle and the farmers). Kept their fields from flooding, and he had the gravel to sell when road projects started up in the spring and summer.

One weekend I was helping by keeping the trucks full. He'd take the manual into town with a load, and I'd load up the truck with the automatic. I'd them move it out of the way, and when he got back he'd park the manual tranny truck for me to load, jump in the auto and go. I had no idea how that thing worked. I remember it had a four-speed with a 5-speed gear box behind it. I was somewhere around 14, I think. Come to think of it, I still have no idea how to run that particular combo.

Sounds like a split axle. That's what we had on our heavy farm truck. Good set-up for that kind of thing.

booksmart · « **Reply #33 on:** October 02, 2018, 03:24:52 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on October 02, 2018, 02:54:50 pm

Sounds like a split axle. That's what we had on our heavy farm truck. Good set-up for that kind of thing.

So how does it work?

Plebian · « **Reply #34 on:** October 02, 2018, 04:29:37 pm »

Quote from: booksmart on October 02, 2018, 03:24:52 pm

So how does it work?

There are just multiple gear choices in the axle. The ones I have driven were not shiftable while moving. You had to stop and choose gear you wanted.

We had a truck for hauling cotton burs at my Grandfather's cotton gin. It had a 7 speed tranny then a hi-lo axle. I used it much the same way you to a transfer case in a 4x4 truck. If you were dumping burs in a field you used low to creep around, and then used high once you hit the pavement again.

coelacanth · « **Reply #35 on:** October 02, 2018, 04:44:42 pm »

Yup. A lot of them worked similar to that. Later ones could be shifted while moving. They were intended to allow very low speed, high torque usage and also something that was highway capable once you left the fields. A modern picture of these in action takes place in the midwest and plains states at harvest time when the trucks with grain beds on them drive alongside combines and get loaded while the combine is still moving through the field and continuing to harvest the grain.

MTK20 · « **Reply #36 on:** October 02, 2018, 05:36:38 pm »

Quote from: sqlbullet on October 02, 2018, 11:26:17 am

I feel bad that I am late to this party. All the relevant comments have been made.

Plebian apparently owns the object of my lust and desire in a 78 Bronco. First year of the "big" Bronco, and last year that had no federal emissions requirements, though they did come with the 351M/400 which were smog specific engines.

I personally like to drive manual trannies. But, I no longer have any vehicles with a manual. This is due to a couple of factors. First, my wife doesn't drive stick and really discourages purchase of a stick shift since she can't drive it. Two, I mostly drive in the city, and an auto is easier to drive around town. Three, while it is true in absolute terms that a manual is more reliable than an auto, in practical terms of the driving and buying habits I have, a modern auto is just as good.

Someday I plan to buy a clean 78 Bronco and build my dream SUV. Two years ago there was no doubt that I wanted a manual tranny. Preferred was an NV4500, but I would have settled for a NP435 or an SM465. But lately I have been thinking more along the lines of a really hardcore E4OD build instead of rowing myself.

luke213(adamsholsters) · « **Reply #37 on:** October 02, 2018, 08:24:12 pm »

I'm late to the party too as said most everyone mentioned the points.

My 2 cents, I've owned and driven a bunch, everything from old muscle cars, 3 on the tree Chevy trucks, etc. My 78 Chev is a granny 4 on the floor sitting 25 feet from me;) But my Jeep Grand Cherokee's are both auto's(not sure they ever made a WJ manual, I've never seen one). None the less the biggest difference I'd say is control, if you want to control the RPM for shift points for whatever reason the manual is a good route to take. It's why I'd prefer them for any sort of performance driving and for fun. Granted auto's have come a very long ways in recent times and you can have fun with an auto also or at least much more than the old ones. But it's still one of those things.

Places I don't care for a manual tranny, in traffic as mentioned it gets old. No matter how light the clutch is if you spend enough time in stop and go your leg will get tired eventually;) Plowing snow, this pains me since the manual is more reliable in this application and would be alright if you just pushed roads. But if you're plowing and backing up allot an auto is SO much easier. And even on the road it's far easier to get the "right" speed for plowing with an auto. Manual the speed you want always seems to be between gears never fails.

It's certainly a skill to know, and it's not something that really drives me one way or the other unless that vehicle happens to fall into a category like plowing that I take that into account. But overall I'd say learn it, but don't worry much more unless you've got specific needs for it.

Luke

RetroGrouch · « **Reply #38 on:** October 05, 2018, 11:56:23 am »

I know how to drive a stick, but I haven't done it in ages. Our sports car has a 6 speed auto with paddle shifters, which according to the car magazines will shift faster than a human can shift a manual. Our F-150 has a manual mode which does lock the tranny in whatever gear you select, and it has a separate radiator for the tranny to keep it from overheating. I don't take it rock crawling or mudding, I just use it for hauling stuff in the bed and going off road to hiking trail heads or shooting spots.

Mikee5star · « **Reply #39 on:** October 05, 2018, 10:26:36 pm »

I love manuals for towing, but hooking up a trailer by yourself in a manual with a non-functioning parking brake is a special sort of hell.

I will likely only have a manual transmission on a toy vehicle from now on. Most new auto's are reliable, and durable. Newer engines are making so much power and torque that clutches have to be so heavy that they are a pain to shift, or are complicated systems in their own right.

That said I will keep one so that the kiddo will learn to drive a stick.

Mikee5star · « **Reply #40 on:** October 05, 2018, 10:29:16 pm »

Also don't forget my dad's advise, "Learn to drive a stick in a vehicle you don't own, and don't have to fix."

MTK20 · « **Reply #41 on:** October 05, 2018, 11:52:24 pm »

Quote from: Mikee5star on October 05, 2018, 10:29:16 pm

Also don't forget my dad's advise, "Learn to drive a stick in a vehicle you don't own, and don't have to fix."

Not sure I get this. Are they high maintenance? Or is me learning to drive my friends vehicle fluffing it up? Cos then I'd just feel awful

.

coelacanth · « **Reply #42 on:** October 06, 2018, 12:16:04 am »

Hell, don't ask me - I learned on a tractor.

MTK20 · « **Reply #43 on:** October 06, 2018, 12:51:06 am »

Well, I'd practice on a beat up pick up if I could, but all I have available to me is a Camaro.

I just try to keep an eye on my RPM's (my buddy taught me keep it somewhere between 1500 to 2000 before shifting. It's his vehicle, so what he says goes) and to engage the clutch all the way before shifting. Other than that

.

Mikee5star · « **Reply #44 on:** October 06, 2018, 01:47:21 am »

Don't ride the clutch and you should be okay. Get the clutch in or out. Letting the clutch slip while starting, and riding the pedal while going down the road, so the clutch is not completely engaged are the easy errors that wear a clutch out prematurely.

Quote from: MTK20 on October 06, 2018, 12:51:06 am

Well, I'd practice on a beat up pick up if I could, but all I have available to me is a Camaro.

I just try to keep an eye on my RPM's (my buddy taught me keep it somewhere between 1500 to 2000 before shifting. It's his vehicle, so what he says goes) and to engage the clutch all the way before shifting. Other than that .

RPM's for shifting are vehicle and engine specific, and are not going to hurt the clutch unless you rev it up and dump the clutch. Failing to have the clutch all the way in can hurt the transmission. It also makes a horrible noise that makes most people try to never repeat.

Quote from: Mikee5star on October 05, 2018, 10:29:16 pm

Also don't forget my dad's advise, "Learn to drive a stick in a vehicle you don't own, and don't have to fix."

This was more of a joke than anything else. Remember all his kids learned to drive in HIS car. My sisters and I learned to drive in a Chevy Citation II with a 4 sp manual. It was quite high geared in first and reverse, and we had a hill in our driveway. I guess we all learned well enough, as it had 155,000 on the original clutch when he sold it.

RMc · « **Reply #45 on:** October 06, 2018, 05:03:04 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on October 06, 2018, 12:16:04 am

Hell, don't ask me - I learned on a tractor.

My first experience with a tractor taught me to always ask the most important question about operating a vehicle first!

Plebian · « **Reply #46 on:** October 06, 2018, 07:28:44 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on October 06, 2018, 12:16:04 am

Hell, don't ask me - I learned on a tractor.

I learned to drive a tractor first as well. When I first started I had to hold onto the wheel and hop off the seat to depress the clutch fully. It was before I was 8 years old for certain since we moved when I was 8, and I already had been driving for sometime.

I first started driving pick-ups at around 10. It was following dad in the tractor on dirt roads as we moved fields, and I sometimes got to move trailers of hay from the field in my uncle's diesel pick-up when uncle was 'too tired'(drunk).

My main transport before I was legal to drive was a horse tho. We were about 13 miles from town. So if I needed to go town badly I just saddled the ole steed up and rode in. There is no legal age to drive a horse it seems.

coelacanth · « **Reply #47 on:** October 07, 2018, 01:02:02 am »

So, I can still ride when I get too old to drive then?

MTK20 · « **Reply #48 on:** October 07, 2018, 01:21:33 am »

Quote from: Plebian on October 06, 2018, 07:28:44 pm

I learned to drive a tractor first as well. When I first started I had to hold onto the wheel and hop off the seat to depress the clutch fully. It was before I was 8 years old for certain since we moved when I was 8, and I already had been driving for sometime.

I first started driving pick-ups at around 10. It was following dad in the tractor on dirt roads as we moved fields, and I sometimes got to move trailers of hay from the field in my uncle's diesel pick-up when uncle was 'too tired'(drunk).

My main transport before I was legal to drive was a horse tho. We were about 13 miles from town. So if I needed to go town badly I just saddled the ole steed up and rode in. There is no legal age to drive a horse it seems.

That's a pretty unique childhood! Especially considering, aren't you in your late 30's/early 40's?

MTK20 · « **Reply #49 on:** October 07, 2018, 01:22:12 am »

Quote from: Plebian on October 06, 2018, 07:28:44 pm

I learned to drive a tractor first as well. When I first started I had to hold onto the wheel and hop off the seat to depress the clutch fully. It was before I was 8 years old for certain since we moved when I was 8, and I already had been driving for sometime.

I first started driving pick-ups at around 10. It was following dad in the tractor on dirt roads as we moved fields, and I sometimes got to move trailers of hay from the field in my uncle's diesel pick-up when uncle was 'too tired'(drunk).

My main transport before I was legal to drive was a horse tho. We were about 13 miles from town. So if I needed to go town badly I just saddled the ole steed up and rode in. There is no legal age to drive a horse it seems.

That's a pretty unique childhood! Especially considering, aren't you in your late 30's/early 40's?