Small TT towing with Manual Transmission

VTR wrote:
Who is towing with a manual transmission? I ask because of a clutch replacement on our F150, I know when we roughed up the clutch and it seemed to go down from there.

However, it occurred to me backing up any slight bump or hill forces you to ride the clutch some. Forward I see not problem. Is a Manual not a good idea for towing. Never occurred to me till now. I thought it would be very favorable way.

Thoughts:

I have been towing 10,000 lbs of travel trailer with a F-250 diesel for the past 7 years (100,000 miles; 90% of which has the trailer behind the truck).

And yes, this was the last of the manual gear boxes that Ford put into their trucks; had to order the darn thing because I could not locate anything within 1,000 mile radius.

Worst case basis, when your clutch decides its time to be replaced install something a tad more "heavy duty".

Frankly, if driving a manual gear box there are two positions for the clutch pedal; all the way to the floor, and all the way out. If it is properly geared there is no reason to "ride the clutch"; do that and your clutch will be ruined in no time at all.

Sitting on a slight incline and "slipping the clutch" to hold your position while waiting for traffic to clear so you can pull forward and onto the highway will definitely shorten the life of your clutch.

This is different from what one encounters when backing up; this is done for a very short "burst" and then it is over. And, I cannot think of being in a position where I have to do this all that often.

The real advantage of the manual gear box is descending steep grades. Get into a lower gear and slowly move down the road in total control while all the guys with automatics ride their brakes constantly.

An example. Going up the road to the top of Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains is easy. Coming back down is another story. I do not know if they are still doing it but many years ago they had someone stop each vehicle about half way down who physically reached down and felt the brake drum/disk to assess temperature.

We had a manual four speed and the guy came up and looked into the car. He could not believe the brake drum could be cold. If hot, a vehicle would be moved to the side of the road into the penalty box so the brakes could cool off. This way they just might do some good on the latter half of the downhill journey.

Regards,

Jim