One of my previous tow vehicles was a 1988 Chevy Silverado G 30 with a 454 engine, SM-465 four speed manual, 208 transfer case, Dana 80 axles with 4:11 gears. The four speed's gears were spread too far apart to be effective on mountain grades, so crawling a grade with a heavy trailer usually meant getting stuck in second gear at 20 MPH. I installed a US Gear 20% two speed trans kit, which made the four speed have eight foreward gears and two reverse gears. The truck would pull the same grades with the same load at 45 MPH. I kept the truck for about two years after buying the 2001 F350 with the 4R100 slush box, and then the 2002 F-350 with the 6 speed. At one point I considered transfering the unit to the the 2002, which would have made a 12 speed out of it. it would take a fair amount of work as the unit bolts between the transmission and the transfer case. After driving it some, it did not seem like it was worth the time, aggravation, and expense. Six gears with the torque of a 7.3 PS, and one has all of the power and control to get the job done. A couple of posters have noted that they fear not being able to sell a manual transmission equiped truck if they decided to at a later time. My F350 currently has 51K miles on it. We bought it new in September 2002. That works out to be about 4K miles per year. I am currently 58 years-old. If I luck out and live to age 80, 22 more years at the current rate I will add about 90K more miles on the truck than it has now. A well maintained garage kept 34 year-old 2002, CC, Dually, 4x4 with a 7.3 PS with 150K miles on it will probably still be a truck that someone will want. It might sound crazy, but my dad just passed last year at age 81 and his 78 F-250 is still in his garage. People asked my step mom weekly if she wants to sell the old Ford. In the mean time I'll just keep shifting gears on the 02. My kids can figure out what to do with it when I'm dead... If no one can shift it, it ain't my problem.

 

You are the same as me (I'm a few years older)! 2002 4x4 F250 Reg cab 5.4 with the 6 spd and 60K on it. I factory ordered it. At the rate I'm going it will probably last longer than I will!!! Sad to see the demise of manual transmissions...I like doing the shifting ( 89 5.0 Mustang LX with manual also).

 

A manual is for the joy of driving .... an automatic is just transportation.

Drove the 56 f600 today .. two stick.. 6sp main + 4sp aux. .. always a pleasure to drive it.

 

My 03 Ranger came with an automatic. Bought the truck in 2010 with 42,000 miles. Had constant transmission problems for the next 40,000 miles. The transmission finally started to puke clutch material in January.

I decided to ditch the automatic in favor of a 5-speed. It was a large amount of work to make it as close to stock as possible, including a new computer with matching PATS components, engine wiring harness, and other small things. But man was it worth it! The truck is now much more fun to drive, and I don't have to worry about any dumb electronic failures throwing the truck into limp home mode!

Swapping to a manual is one of my favorite modifications I did to the truck, and I would never go back to an automatic Ranger.

It's sad to see automatics becoming the 99%, but I'll gladly buy the 1% and be the odd guy out.

 

I guess manual transmissions are going the same way as a single cab ?
Last fall I had a young sales person from a local dealership call me to say she had a new regular cab F 350 in stock, it had a diesel with an automatic trans-BUT, she said "It has manual hubs that you like so much"



I took it for a ride, it was an automatic on the column and the 4x4 turned on with a switch on the dash like a heater switch-I didn't like it.

 

^^^^ Those aren't manual hubs. They're manual LOCKING hubs. You can't unlock them manually. Which means you have no "2 low" option.

When I can stop a runaway with an automatic, when I can roll-start an automatic, when I can lock the engine to remove the crank pulley bolt with an automatic (etc.), I'll consider one.

 

YEP, You're right !
Mine is either lock or free-if I chained my truck to a tree and eased out the clutch all four tires dig in.



I plow the dirt road from my house to the paved road about a half mile away.
I start from a dead stop in low range on the transfer case and 3rd. gear on the trans, get it up to about 8 m.p.h then shift into 4th. gear, that will be 12 m.p.h the engine is right at 2 thousand r.p.m.'s and that will throw the snow 6 to 8 feet off to the side.
It takes me 3 passes to do the whole road in less than 20 minutes . The plow takes 5 minutes to put on or take off. At that rate I'd bet it could do that job just fine for another 20 years.

 

There is a mod to unlock the auto-hubs which allows one to use the transfer case in low range and 2WD. I have thought about doing that mod to my truck, however we don't have enough snow here to warrent a plow. The only time I really need a low gear is on the boat ramp with our 22 foot sport boat. First gear is so low that the truck will pull the 5K boat up the 14% ramp in first gear at idle. The 4:10 gears in the diff may make a difference in that ability. One thing I don't understand about our truck is that the dealer ordered it with a six speed stick shift and electronic shift on the fly 4x4. I love the truck but would rather have a lever to operate the transfer case. With the electronic version, the TC has no neutral. If the transfer case ever comes out of the truck, I will make that mod, otherwise I will leave it as is. The whole truck is sort of an odd ball. The dealer ordered for someone and they refused it. It was obviously ordered wrong due to someone's mistake. We got one heck of a deal on it. The dealer ordered an CC, Dually, XLT with every possible option one can get on an XLT. Back-up sensors, duel six way power captains chairs, top of the line stereo, all of the frills just like a Lariat except for fabric seats. The truck also came with the wrecker package, which includes the wrecker wiring harnase, a digital PTO controller, and some other goodies that we don't use. The truck looks just like any other CC dually pickup on the outside.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but why do you plow in 2WD low and not 4WD low?

Is it because it is less wear and tear on the drivetrain?

 

Maybe the road surface is providing good enough traction to bind the driveline with the hubs locked? I broke a u-joint in a Dodge truck once using low 4x4 on the transfer case to back a heavy trailer on a grassy surface. The truck had solid hubs that stayed engaged all of the time. They called it full time 4x4, but it was mostly BS, becuase they were too cheap to install locking hubs. The rear was spinning, however there was enough traction to bind the driveline once I engaged the transfer case. The u-joint was the weakest link.

 

Our F-350 with a six speed stick shift was ordered with the 4:10 gear. I have owned trucks with all sorts of gears and this seems to be a good choice for this truck. Above 60 MPH towing a trailer the rig runs quite comfortably in OD. It does rev up quicker on the highway then the same rig with a taller gear, but it is not as bad as one would think. It tachs 2350 RPM at 70, and 2450 RPM at 80 MPH. Usually when towing, as soon as I hit the foothills, I shift to 5th gear, as the speed limits are 55 MPH in those areas. The truck has enough torque that I can set the cruise control at 58-60 MPH, and the truck will hold a steady speed up and down hills. I can't say enough good things about the ZF6. That unit seems to have the best ballance of low end grunt when you need it and the ability to stretch out on the high end without over reving the engine. It is a shame we won't be seeing any more of them... The only advantage that my 01 4R100 equipped truck had over the 02 manual trans equipped truck is accelation from a traffic light. A ZF will not shift as fast as an automatic, and the 4R100 truck was a lot faster off of the line. I'd still rather have full control of the gears with the manual.

 

I'm not sure if you were referring to my comment, Dakster (?) but I do have my truck locked down in 4 wheel drive when plowing snow-being a 6 speed manual trans. and then with the high/low range on the transfer case it gives me 12 forward gears. Please pardon the dirt-it is a work truck

The transfer case lever has 2wheel/4 wheel high/neutral/4 wheel low positions.
I ordered it with rubber floor cover and a cloth seat because the carpet gets soaked with snow and sand then the floor gets rusty underneath from having the wet carpet. The rubber floor cover is a lot easier to clean...not that I have cleaned it in a while


BUT on a lighter note, I have a friend that has a brand new Chevy one ton dually, 4 door with a diesel and an automatic trans, and it has that automatic front hubs with shift on the fly transfer case. We always go back and forth about the whole Ford vs. Chevy thing. He always tells me that my manual hubs are a pain because you have to get out of the truck to lock or un-lock them.....he says the automatic hubs/shift on the fly transfer case is better.
So he called me on the phone and starts telling me about how he was on his way home from work, it was an 80 degree day-he was going about 60 m.p.h. on a nice paved road when his transfer case started locking it's self in and out of 4 wheel drive-at 60 m.p.h on dry pavement that couldn't be a good thing. He took it to the dealer and it turned out to be an electric solenoid on the transfer case went bad-he had another Chevy that did some what the same thing except on that truck the light came on that said he was in 4 wheel drive but the transfer case/front wheels were not working (but the light was on ..LOL )
He had it stuck up to the bumpers when he called me to come pull him out-he had to climb thru the mud to hook up the chain to his truck, I put mine in 4 wheel low range and pulled him out with no effort.
As always, he asked "what do I owe you?"
I took no money from him but made him sing a few verses of "Like a Rock"

 

This is turning into a Ford vs the competition thread. Let's stay on track please.

 

I'm sure it was bound to happen, though I wish it didn't. I'm on the fence about it, but I have a good reason,... I think. I drive a truck for a living, shifting a ten speed all night over the mountains. For me, I get enough rowing the boat at work to satisfy any "fix" I might have. Once in my personal rig, I just want to put it in gear and blast for home. I would hope that the manual remains an option, but if nobody is buying, then we lose. And then there's the factor of the "dumbing down" of America that I think contributes. I will be teaching my kids how to drive carbureted cars with manual transmissions, because I refuse to let them slip into that statistic. I'm even going to round up something with a column shift before they get too ahead of themselves! But here's a positive thought to leave you with:

When the rest of the world can't drive a stick, your stick shift car is much less likely to be stolen.

 

But it's more likely to be mishandled or damaged by a car wash employee, a porter who works in an auto repair facility (including the dealer), or a valet parking attendant. (I avoid letting anyone else drive my vehicles whenever I can prevent it...)

George