Anyone know if ford plans to go to a six speed auto ? Chevy and Dodge are going to have six speeds but wondering if I should have waited to order until next year.

 

NO Ford 6 speed this year for sure. The Torque shift has been updated for 08. I read the details of the changes and they have made to an already very strong transmission the strongest in the industry according to the publication I read (non ford publication). Ford made some significant torque converter changes and a new valvue body. If you notice the 6 speed auto has two overdrives in the Chevy and the comming Dodge. Instead of an approximate 30% reduction in RPM in over drive the 5th grear is between the 1 to 1 and the 30% OD reduction. Acceleration is not aided with a 6 speed just cruising speeds. The top gear in the Ford is 31% reduction and thats about the same as the 6 speeds from Chevy and Dodge.

 

great info, now I feel better, Thought that it would have made a bigger difference and in mpg.

 

NO MPG will not be aided with the 6 speed auto's. The only benefits is a slight gear reduction at interstate speed climbing steep grades. Instead of shift out of OD to a 1 to 1 drive...the Chevy and Dodge with shift down ONE OD grear...then Shift to 1 to 1 if it needs to. Benifets? not sure how much that means????

 

i talked to a guy with a new duramax with the 6 speed he said he gets worse mileage then the previous tranny..... so i wouldnt worry too much

 

Not sure if this is anything important but I read somewhere in a tech article that the auto trany(Torqueshift) has also been modified to handle 700 Ft pounds of torque . thats all I know right now.

 

I read the same sort of thing in a Ford Technical letter although they did not give numbers they did give some detail on the updates for the torqueshif. Also I was surprised to hear that last when when the torqueshift was tested against the Allison it withstood more torque and hp than the allison did. That is the second article I have read where the claim has been made that the torqueshift is actually a stronger transmission. For the 08 torqueshift they added a new valvue body and stronger yet torque converter. It is definitely upgraded from last year. Also the clutch band material is SIGNIFICANTLY BEEN IMPROVED according to the article. The Torqueshift was good..now its better.

I have talked to two people who have driven the new 6.4. Both of them owned a 6.0 proyour. Both of them were very impressed with the new engine and transmission. AS one put it....it supposed to be 25 hp more and 80 lbs of torque....HE said it felt like a whole lot more than that. He told me he put a 150 torque chip in his 6.0 and the new 6.4 felt stronger than HIS 6.0 with the big chip in it.

The 450 pickup is 325 hp and 600lb with the 4.88 gears. I finally got an answer from my local dealer as to why they did that. He said Ford felt that with the 4.88 gearing the power would be similar to 4.30 with 650 torque....and in testing...HERES the biggie...it got better fuel mileage slightly deturned...about 1 mpg better. Thats significant. Anyway...it will all come out in the washing. But one thing...if you chip the new trucks....and ALL the manufacturers are putting this in their owners manual....you will not be convered under warrenty. The computer will know if the chip was put in and taken out. So..if ya chip it...forget warranty. In the past ...most of the chipped trucks were still under warranty because of the way the warranty was written...but from now on..YOU damage an engine an transmission and you have an aftermarket chip in it...YOU out of luck. This again is going to be true with all three of the manufactureres. Sooo...with that being said...lets see how the aftermarket chip manufacturers deal with that???

http://www.motorcraftservice.com/vdi...superduty.html

This is a good video...the part about the warrenty and putting aftermarket chips in them is in this video.

 

You can bet your life that in the not too distant future, Ford will release an upgraded version of the Torqueshift Transmission that is at least a 6 speed auto (they are working on it right now). With that said, it doesn't always make sense from a product development and or marketing standpoint to release all the new features at the time of a major redesign. If they wait until the FY09 (or beyond) model, this gives them something else to talk above and beyond new trim packages, etc. Plus, their development capacity on trannys may be tapped at this point in time. The weighed the potential downside (or upside) and scheduled it for a later date.

While not the same, the Expedition now has a 6 Speed and the F150 will get one as well - especially now that Toyota has one in the new Tundra.

You can talk all you want about all the technology in the current 5 speed , but the only thing that most customers understand is #s. Eventhough it isn't always the case, in the consumers mind, the bigger #, the better it is.

While not at all related to trucks, look at the electronics industry. 1080p is all the rage and people think that it is automatically better than 720p. While this ture in some cases, there are many display devices that are 720p that are clearly better than the 1080p devices but 99 out of 100 customers want 1080p cause the # is bigger. The same holds true for HP, Torque and Transmissions.

Anyway, enjoy your 08, I am sure you will love it and of course, as we all know, there will be something new coming around the bend. There always is...

Fish