The price of wanting a "stick"
Not debating manual vs automatic plenty of threads on that already, however for me personally I like a manual and considering I'm a dodge fan they still offer one. But as I look at the numbers payload...
Forum Discussion
The "price" is high if you don't want a Dodge Truck.
When I bought my '01 Dodge 2 series brand new, it was only after shopping for a long time. As my daily drive, I drove in L.A. traffic and accumulated 50K mi. in 24 months. The only thing that saved me was the smooth operation of the NV5600. Of course I was younger then and still have good knees now, but beyond that I was used to driving manual truck transmissions. The Chrysler autos of 15 years ago prevented the full-bore use of the Cummins in series 2, and 3 trucks, so the engines were 'detuned' down to match the torque rating of the automatic transmissions. Enter the NV5600 and the up-tuning of the Cummins. The NV5600 is an cast iron case, all synchro, trailer starting, 360 pound chunk. The max loading for the trans is 26K pounds. Have I ever had woes with it? No. I changed the tranny oil @ 100K miles, but that's it. How about the clutch? No. Original one is still doing fine @ 155K miles. Part of that is due to the small 'clutch interface time' because of the gear ratios. You just let out the clutch and it hooks up with no fuss or slippage. Here is a comparo between the NV5600, the G-56, and the ZF6 :
NV5600: 5.63/3.38/2.04/1.39/1.00/0.73/5.63R used by Chrysler
G-56: 6.29/3.48/2.10/1.38/1.00/0.79/5.74R used by Chrysler
ZF-6: 5.79/3.31/2.10/1.31/1.00/0.72/5.23R used by Ford and GM
The NV and the ZF have a tall 1st gear, suitable for on-road trailer starting and TC moving. However, look at the distance between 1st and 2nd on the ZF. Quite a jump. All of these transmissions start in 2nd gear on the street with no load in the bed. The NV has the best shift points for the highway with the rather narrow band of rpms of the Cummins. There is virtually no situation where one of those gears does not translate into a sweet spot. The G-56 has the only real grannie gear, good for off-road creeping and slow control. The ZF-6 has an extra center bearing on the main shaft which makes up for the aluminum case's contortion. Except for the G-56, all these trannies are being replaced by autos. One reason is the torque put out by newer diesels has surpassed the torque rating of manuals.
Alright! I'll admit it. I'm a tranny junkie! I'm a card carrying member of T&A (Trannies and Anonymous). I'm sorry this post got completely away from me.
With my new Spyntec selectable front hubs, I can move the truck in low range (all manual) giving me 12 gears forward and 2 reverse gears in two-wheel drive, and beyond that a lot of control in sticky situations like backing with a trailer.
I have no qualms with folks who drive autos. Within the last 6 or 7 years Allison and Aisin have made quantam leaps up in endurance and efficiency. I'm just used to a crash box. Dodge is the last holdout feeding the older generation's transmission needs until we're all replaced by newer folks who don't know how to or want to drive a stick.
regards, as always, jefe
When I bought my '01 Dodge 2 series brand new, it was only after shopping for a long time. As my daily drive, I drove in L.A. traffic and accumulated 50K mi. in 24 months. The only thing that saved me was the smooth operation of the NV5600. Of course I was younger then and still have good knees now, but beyond that I was used to driving manual truck transmissions. The Chrysler autos of 15 years ago prevented the full-bore use of the Cummins in series 2, and 3 trucks, so the engines were 'detuned' down to match the torque rating of the automatic transmissions. Enter the NV5600 and the up-tuning of the Cummins. The NV5600 is an cast iron case, all synchro, trailer starting, 360 pound chunk. The max loading for the trans is 26K pounds. Have I ever had woes with it? No. I changed the tranny oil @ 100K miles, but that's it. How about the clutch? No. Original one is still doing fine @ 155K miles. Part of that is due to the small 'clutch interface time' because of the gear ratios. You just let out the clutch and it hooks up with no fuss or slippage. Here is a comparo between the NV5600, the G-56, and the ZF6 :
NV5600: 5.63/3.38/2.04/1.39/1.00/0.73/5.63R used by Chrysler
G-56: 6.29/3.48/2.10/1.38/1.00/0.79/5.74R used by Chrysler
ZF-6: 5.79/3.31/2.10/1.31/1.00/0.72/5.23R used by Ford and GM
The NV and the ZF have a tall 1st gear, suitable for on-road trailer starting and TC moving. However, look at the distance between 1st and 2nd on the ZF. Quite a jump. All of these transmissions start in 2nd gear on the street with no load in the bed. The NV has the best shift points for the highway with the rather narrow band of rpms of the Cummins. There is virtually no situation where one of those gears does not translate into a sweet spot. The G-56 has the only real grannie gear, good for off-road creeping and slow control. The ZF-6 has an extra center bearing on the main shaft which makes up for the aluminum case's contortion. Except for the G-56, all these trannies are being replaced by autos. One reason is the torque put out by newer diesels has surpassed the torque rating of manuals.
Alright! I'll admit it. I'm a tranny junkie! I'm a card carrying member of T&A (Trannies and Anonymous). I'm sorry this post got completely away from me.
With my new Spyntec selectable front hubs, I can move the truck in low range (all manual) giving me 12 gears forward and 2 reverse gears in two-wheel drive, and beyond that a lot of control in sticky situations like backing with a trailer.
I have no qualms with folks who drive autos. Within the last 6 or 7 years Allison and Aisin have made quantam leaps up in endurance and efficiency. I'm just used to a crash box. Dodge is the last holdout feeding the older generation's transmission needs until we're all replaced by newer folks who don't know how to or want to drive a stick.
regards, as always, jefe
