My plea to the big three....

When my manual wears out from going so fast in reverse I am going to figger out how to install one of these:

Clicky

15 years in my last job...started in the corp's federal division...computer
counter measures for black badge agencies...embedded products...then acquisitions

Before that +couple decades in controls industry, robotics/automation/process
control/people movers/etc

I do NOT like computer controlled automotive systems that take over 'my' control
Not even ABS (an old thread had a few who don't get going into ABS vs one who
didn't on dry pavement has the ABS with less braking).

Bottom line is personal preference and my point is that I am FORCED to go auto
tranny these days.

Then wonder if those who ask manual tranny questions on their automatics would
do well with a manual...think not...dumbed down knowledge of the HOW2's of shifting
and not just shifting, but knowing 'your' ICE and the ambient conditions

Over at one of my boy racer forums...dared a kid that he would burn up his auto
tranny the way he was driving. He holds his vehicle on hills with just the throttle
on the automatic just under stall...

Dared him to do that for a longer time...haven't heard back from him...

Like decades ago on another forum...dared a guy who said okay to drive in 4x4
lock on pavement. Dared him to put his truck in 4x4 lock on dry pavement and
turn his steering wheel either way till it hits the stop. Hold it there and
throttle it a full 4 turns (circles). His was lifted and huge tires

Don't know how many turns he did (guess less than 2) till he broke something.
He came back on the forum saying he was going to sue me...another forum member
told him that the advice is worth the price to pay and OBTW...warned him that
he would break something...

NOw that am reminded...going over there to check on that thread to see if that
kid wrote back on how it went holding his truck on an incline with the throttle
just under stall...

Count me out! I thought I might want the manual when I was truck shopping, until I drove GM's 6 spd Allison. Sold me on autos in TVs forever!

I'll take a manual in a sports car. Otherwise, I'm auto all the way.

Heck even farm tractors are not true manuals anymore. No more putting in a gear and pulling throttle open to desired speed. Now it is all computer controlled. My cousin says he sets needed mph and computer selects gear and throttle position for the load. All in the name of fuel savings and emissions.

Stefonius wrote:
Oh, and as for "holding the clutch pedal down at stop lights" . . . You should NEVER hold the clutch pedal down for longer than it takes to slip in or out of gear. That is a quick way to get 40,000 miles out of a clutch that would ordinarily outlast the engine.

I do agree that the Manual transmission gets the nod for simplicity of design. That is only part of the torque transfer system. I will beg to differ that if you wear out your clutch in 40,000 miles from holding the clutch pedal down, you have a problem with the slave cylinder, throw out bearing, pressure plate, or something else in the clutch linkage. Or else you are not doing it correctly. And one of those things is causing to have the clutch drag on the flywheel. If you depress the clutch pedal and it lifts the clutch plate off the flywheel, it cannot wear the clutch plate. However, I will agree that many really do not use the clutch correctly.

When you consider the manual transmission (gears, shafts, foreks, synchro's, bearings, etc), and all the clutch and linkage components, the flywheel, the drivers brain, the drivers left leg, and the drivers arm and hand changing the gears, the auto transmission puts all those things in one encasement. And the automatics computer controls the management of the valves, springs, modulators, pumps and fluid pressures. The torque converter handles the torque multiplication. The computer replaces the drivers brain in the manual transmission application and the torque converter is a fluid/mechanical component that replaces the drivers muscle power on the clutch pedal. The auto does require more maintenance. But if the Auto is maintained properly, it should outlast the total clutch/trans manual system. And the computer and software are much more consistent than any human can be.

All that being said, why don't they put the dimmer switch back on the floor. Since the clutch is gone forever, the left leg and foot have nothing left to do. Although I do brake with it...just so it doesn't fall asleep. And the floor is where the dimmer switch belongs. But then my family car has those automatic dimming lights anyway. And they are amazing.

I'll never buy a stick again unless I get a sports car. Spent 12 yrs working a clutch in stop and go traffic going to and from work. PITA. My new truck has the +/- feature on it and that's as much shifting as I need. Most people don't keep their trucks long enough to wear out a tranny anyway. If you put 250,000 on a truck you're either a hot shoter or you've had it 12-15 years and drive a long distance for work. By then I'm sick of the truck and want something newer.

dahkota wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Not going to happen. Manuals are soooooooooooo much dirtier than autos and have been forever.

Can you reference this? The truth should be the opposite; those with manual transmissions have greater control over RPMs. This control allows for lower CO2 emissions.

The only reference I can post is my experience with smog. To give you an example I know about waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when. Look at 1969 cars. If you ordered a 4 speed you got a smog pump. If you ordered an auto you didn't have to have a smog pump put on. That went on for several years.

It's a fact you give a manual more fuel on take off because you don't have torque multiplication like you do with a torque converter. The same reason you will find lower gear ratios in a manual vs automatic.

Computers control everything with an automatic including the perfect time to shift; (smog wise). With a manual you can't control that, and the EPA does not like that.

Computers do things the same way every time. There is a reason every car I race at the strip is an automatic. And it's not because there aren't any manuals around or people don't know how to drive them. If there are any around they get put on the trailer in the first round because they just can't compete with a computer that does things the same way over and over.

Sorry but you will see Ram drop them in the near future in their pickups.

dreeder wrote:
PLEASE !!!!!! I AM BEGGING YOU !!! Bring back manual transmissions, at least in your base model HD gassers. I know the manual vs.auto thing has been done to death but there has to be enough of a market left that it would still be profitable. I am on my 3rd year now without rowing my own gears for the 1st time in my life, thought it would grow on me, I was wrong, can't stand the autos.

You can still order a Ram HD with the 6 Speed manual but only in the Diesel. Ford only offers an Auto no mater what engine same with GM. Kind of like 2WD trucks, no one oders them and trying to find one on a lot is almost imposable.

Don

Vulcaneer wrote:
These days the autos have as much control as the manuals. On my F350, you just push the +/- button on the shift wand. You can drive in any gear you want, for as long as you want. And do the same to downshift, for engine braking. You want to lock out 5th or 6th gear? You can do that. Want to downshift the 3rd gear? You can hit the "-" button to do that.

Same on my grand daughters Nissan Altima, by moving the shifter to manual mode, and most newer automatic transmission cars and trucks.

I like the manual control of these newer auto's. And don't miss holding the clutch pedal down at stop lights. SO the new automatic's give you all the control, with none of the inconvenience.

I can't say that I agree with you there. Sure, you can force the automatic to shift when you want it to and hold a gear when you want it to, but it's still an enormously complex device when compared to a manual.

The advantage as I see it is that the manual is dirt simple and therefore far less likely to suffer a failure that leaves you on the side of the road. It doesn't have a pump, or a valve body, or a torque converter or an electronic brain. It's just two shafts and some gears. 250,000 miles from now when you're on your second or third automatic, I'll still be on my first clutch and manual transmission.

Oh, and as for "holding the clutch pedal down at stop lights" . . . You should NEVER hold the clutch pedal down for longer than it takes to slip in or out of gear. That is a quick way to get 40,000 miles out of a clutch that would ordinarily outlast the engine.

These days the autos have as much control as the manuals. On my F350, you just push the +/- button on the shift wand. You can drive in any gear you want, for as long as you want. And do the same to downshift, for engine braking. You want to lock out 5th or 6th gear? You can do that. Want to downshift the 3rd gear? You can hit the "-" button to do that.

Same on my grand daughters Nissan Altima, by moving the shifter to manual mode, and most newer automatic transmission cars and trucks.

I like the manual control of these newer auto's. And don't miss holding the clutch pedal down at stop lights. SO the new automatic's give you all the control, with none of the inconvenience.