Yeah true who races a diesel truck is right its just stupid they arent meant for that

 

no kidding... throw 10ooolbs behind them all and see who makes it up a 25% grade the smoothest... not necessairly the fastest, but the smoothest... load not shifted, nothing getting heated, that kind of stuff...

 

Usually those magazines like Diesel Power and the like will test them on that, likely in response to reader demand unlike the comments here. I have read lots of them and I cant remember once where whoever was the fastest empty didnt also win the pulling game as its power that does the job both times. One magazine did a real juicy test about some hard grades and shifting - some of the trucks didnt have the correct splits in the transmissions as they could have done better but the split between gears was too wide - pulled easy in one gear but couldnt hold in the next one. I guess thats why most of these are going 6 speeds now. I have 5 gears and its actually damn good, but rode with a guy with a six speed Allison and its amazing how that extra gear makes things work (regardless of brand). The rpm doesnt drop back as far and the tach needle just goes up, down, up, down - a vast improvement in an area where you would think a torquey diesel wouldnt benefit from that - I think the cmmins uses a 6 speed too. I somehow dont recall if they are utilizing all 6 gears in the Torqshift I will find out! yes, the five speed Torqshift in my truck has 6 gears but based on sensor input it will only use 5 of the 6 but not necessarily the same 5 each time - cool eh??

 

That is pretty cool about the torqshift, i can honestly say I dont know much about them.


But in all reailty, if you really wanna tow, and haul get yourself a manual tranny. I know that the autos are usually rated to tow a little more, and they can be fairly smooth shifting and whatnot, but theres just something about being able to choose when you want to shift when your towing a heavy load that makes it much nicer with a manual.

 

I used to think that but after towing with the torqshift and allison, I have changed my mind. I think someone said that on the new 6 speed behind the 6.7 in the Dodge it has a 'paddle' type shifter that you can bang away at but its fuzzy in my memory so I was probably either drunk or mesmerized by some woman at the time!

 

Well I have limited towing with the t/s compared to a 6 speed, but from what ive done its made a huge difference.

The one work truck we had was an 03 ford with a 6 liter torqshift, and i usd to haul/tow tires of all different sizes and weights around.
It didnt do bad, but i have towed a few heavy loads with my dads 7.3 with a 6 speed and the power distribution through the 6 speed made that 7.3 seem like it could walk all over that 6 liter.

Ive also towed some medium and heavy loads around with our works trucks in alberta, and those cummins pull real nice, I would love to see the 6 speed paddle shifter too, that would be pretty deadly.

 

Paddle shifter it sure as heck could be in the Dodge Ram but in some of the Chrysler vehicles and maybe others i only saw it in the Chrysler cars they where a automatic but it was called a manumatic like there was P R N D at the bottom there was a + sign and - sign the + would upshift the tranny and the - would downshift it neat

but not the same as an actual manual with a clutch etc

 

Hmm that does sound pretty cool.

 

I now remembered who was telling me about this shifter - it was my cousin with a Dodge Cummins telling me about his friend with that newer 6.7 truck. I will talk to him in the next few days to get the story right!

 

I guess a guy could always go check out a dodge dealer. If you could manage to go in one of those places haha