Manual vs Automatic transmission in TV
Would it be beneficial to have a manual transmission in the TV to help with getting the trailer up steep mountains?
Forum Discussion
RJCorazza wrote:aftermath wrote:
Nobody has talked about driving backwards! I had a small PU with a manual and I towed a small tent trailer years ago. Getting down the road, up the hills and down the hills wasn't a problem. Backing the trailer into tight spots was really tough. I think I burned up a good part of the clutch over those years.
Stick with an automatic. You will be glad you did, especially when you back into your first campsite.
Very true. I do recall hacking the 4wd LO in my F150 manual so that I could backup in low with a landscape trailer. I gave up on the idea when I realized the transfer case was still turning. Anyway... Yes, backing up with a load is much harder on the clutch.
Not so with a manual and the '03 and up Cummins forward or backward.
Cummins gives us a zero throttle launch system. The G56 manual tranny has a 6.29 very low 1st and reverse gear which means with a 16k GN stock trailer fully loaded with 1st year heifers we just let the clutch out without touching the go pedal while the Cummins keeps the rpm up with no killing the engine.
The Cummins idles in the 380-390 ft lb range for launching a load so no need to keep the rpm up for hp.
Agree a small block gasser needs rpms to launch which is hard on a clutch.
As I mentioned in my above post the big auto take more power to operate vs the ZF6 in the GM/Ford or NV5600/G56 in the Dodge/Ram. Some dyno numbers for the big auto trannies and a manual tranny behind a diesel have very similar numbers at the wheel which reflects that power drain.
