death of the manual in pickup trucks

[ITSec]

Damn my new 06 Baja with a manual was 2 vehicles ago (4 if you count all the ones in the household).

Truthfully I kinda miss it. I might still have it if I'd gotten the turbo. But I was in a "try to be more responsible and conservative" phase... That obviously didn't take. [emoji23]

Great vehicle though. Tough as nails and rock solid in foul weather.

Here's a shot of mine from a few years back - nothing's changed, though 

[Kev m]

Here's a shot of mine from a few years back - nothing's changed, though 

Nice!!!

[Kev m]

So I was having some fun with this today, remembering all my manual transmission "trucks."





This was from a Chilton cover photo shoot. This was a RWD when I bought it, but a 4wd a year later. 😎

[Arizona Wayne]

I used to prefer manual tranny vehicles until I got into pulling RV trailers.  Then I found out a stick shift tranny is not better, and noticed automatics got the same mpg or better than manuals.    Now all my cars/trucks are automatics and I have no regrets as I've had no more maintenance than with the manuals(actually less). 

[Aaron D.]

An auto usually will require less maintenance, the basic design is quite clever and similar to the 3 speed hubs on bicycles, and the torque converter takes a lot of the punishment that kills clutches.

[Murray]

An auto usually will require less maintenance, the basic design is quite clever and similar to the 3 speed hubs on bicycles, and the torque converter takes a lot of the punishment that kills clutches.

That has not been my experience! Regular fluid and filter changes assuming you don't turn it over every couple of years and let it be the next guys problem, rebuilds are vastly more expensive, if they say ZF !@#$ing run away! Even if you go through two clutches over the life of the vehicle and pay someone else to change them I doubt you'll get anywhere near the cost of an auto.

[sign216]

That has not been my experience! Regular fluid and filter changes assuming you don't turn it over every couple of years and let it be the next guys problem, rebuilds are vastly more expensive, if they say ZF !@#$ing run away! Even if you go through two clutches over the life of the vehicle and pay someone else to change them I doubt you'll get anywhere near the cost of an auto.

My experience too!  Autos are $$$.  Manuals are old school simple. 

[Arizona Wayne]

My experience too!  Autos are $$$.  Manuals are old school simple.

I've had the opposite manual/automatic experience of you guys.   Maybe that's because I have pulled trailers that put a burden on stick clutches vs. automatics  if the auto. has a tranny cooler like it should.  It's kind of the same thing with a Guzzi clutch vs. a wet/multi plate MC clutch.  When a Guzzi car type dry clutch goes out it's a major PIA vs. when a wet/plate Jap. bike clutch goes out.   To each their own preference.

It does matter how you treat the 2 designs and their quality too.  If you get stuck in stop/n go traffic an auto. is by far better.

[Aaron D.]

Rebuilds more expensive? Not in my experience, and in fact I've rebuilt a few automatics. And usually it's just a dirty valve body causing trouble. Otherwise easy stuff.

I prefer working on manuals but a problem with a manual often ends up being a more involved issue. That all said, I still prefer driving manuals.

[Rough Edge racing]

 I was "trained" to rebuild Allison AT 540 medium truck auto trannys and GM Turbo 350/400.  Along with the Torqueflite and Ford C4-C6 types these old school autos are not difficult...Modern auto  6-10 speeds with electronic interface are more demanding... Some of the new 5 and 6 speed manuals need special tools and the use of a press...Generally the old 3 and 4 speeds require just hand tools, put a press might be necessary..Automati c  transmission rebuild/replacement in a newer vehicle can cost north of 3000 bucks....A clutch replacement might cost $1000  in some cars and twice that in a Diesel 4x4 pu truck...
 Generally speaking, most won't have transmission problems in a typical time period the vehicle is owned from new... Except for several models know for issues...

[Two Checks]

I understand why they stopped putting manuals in trucks. Nobody reads them.

[gearman]

All of my vehichhillles are autos. Cars,truck ,Honda Gyro,Guzzi Convert. I love them all.

[sign216]

 Generally speaking, most won't have transmission problems in a typical time period the vehicle is owned from new.

I usually keep my cars until about 150k miles.  Buy them used.  So I'm looking for something easy for my mechanic.

Usually I can keep the orig. clutch beyond 150k miles (except when I was trying to teach a girlfriend to drive a standard, big mistake).  My work cars are automatics (not my choice) and they are traded out before the mileage gets too big.  Did have a Chev auto transmission fail at 80k miles, but the dealer covered it.  Kudos to McLaughlin Chev. of Whitman, Ma.  Their service dept. is top notch.

[Lannis]

I usually keep my cars until about 150k miles.  Buy them used. 

I'm probably the one buying your old cars.   I don't consider them "used" until they've got about 150K on them .... 

[old head]

In my 45 years of driving, I have owned more manuals than automatics.  I can only remember one time when 1 time when I had a transmission issue and that was an automatic.

It was an 84-85 Accord that I bought for 300 as it wouldn't go into drive.  towed it home, change the oil and few times and it worked, but just the first 3 gears, still wouldn't go into 4th, but since my daughter used it around town no biggie.

during the summer when she wasn't using it to go to college, I had it rebuilt.  Worked fine until I got rear ended and it was totaled about 6 months later.  But I made money as the car was worth much more than I had in it.

never had a clutch go out on me, had a rear seal leak a couple of times, but that is about it.

Still, I prefer manuals, just a preference.  I think clutches and autos are much better than they used to be, as I have several cars over 200k without clutch issues.  My Saturn and Dodge 2500 both over 300k and neither has had a clutch replaced.

However, the wife says the next one will be an auto, she is tired of shifting in stop and go traffic.  So......

Old Head

[sign216]

While we are remembering....I recall when I was a student with no money, I had a used Honda with their strange Honda-matic 2 speed transmission, that you shifted.  A clutchless auto that was shifted between 1st and 2nd, and those were the only two gears.

That car lasted only a few months due to some other issue that I don't remember.  It wasn't the best car, but it's wasn't the worst.

[screamday]

Here's my last manual trans pick-up. These were taken right after I got it painted.

[sib]

My first car was a used '54 Chevy 6 coupe.  I broke a tooth off 1st gear by trying to impress friends with my clutch-less shifting technique.  After that I was more careful.  I owned several auto trans used cheap sub-compacts while I was a student, then graduated to an auto trans Corvair (talk about unreliable and impossible to tune!), then an auto trans GTO (It could go fast but was impossible to stop!).  Then a succession of manuals including a 1966 BMW 2000-Ti, a couple of VW Rabbits and a Toyota Corolla.  My current cage is a 2004 Prius I bought new and now has 165,000+ miles.  Over the last ~60 years and ~1,000,000 miles, I've learned to adapt to both manual and auto transmissions, and I've never had a problem with any of them, after that first broken gear tooth.  For some reason, I've never owned a pickup, so this whole post is off the thread, sorry.

[Tom]

I understand why they stopped putting manuals in trucks. Nobody reads them.

 :1: My initial thoughts when I first saw the thread title. 

[Kentktk]

Manuals are a hard sell these days when you want to get rid of one. Limited market.
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/10/11/report-only-18-percent-of-americans-can-drive-manual/

[Arizona Wayne]

In my 45 years of driving, I have owned more manuals than automatics.  I can only remember one time when 1 time when I had a transmission issue and that was an automatic.

It was an 84-85 Accord that I bought for 300 as it wouldn't go into drive.  towed it home, change the oil and few times and it worked, but just the first 3 gears, still wouldn't go into 4th, but since my daughter used it around town no biggie.

during the summer when she wasn't using it to go to college, I had it rebuilt.  Worked fine until I got rear ended and it was totaled about 6 months later.  But I made money as the car was worth much more than I had in it.

never had a clutch go out on me, had a rear seal leak a couple of times, but that is about it.

Still, I prefer manuals, just a preference.  I think clutches and autos are much better than they used to be, as I have several cars over 200k without clutch issues.  My Saturn and Dodge 2500 both over 300k and neither has had a clutch replaced.

However, the wife says the next one will be an auto, she is tired of shifting in stop and go traffic.  So......

Old Head

I don't have manual tranny issues........it's the clutches that don't last for me when I own the vehicle for a long time and end up having to abuse the clutch in some situation, which wouldn't happen with an auto.

[MadMike]

Here's a picture of my Manual Truck pulling my Manual Jeep YJ....I had to trailer the Jeep from Iowa to New Jersey

I would never entertain an automatic vehicle ...2/5ths of driver input (clutch and shifter) are taken over by "the machine". Steering, Breaking and accelerator are too boring by themselves.

[Rough Edge racing]

I don't have manual tranny issues........it's the clutches that don't last for me when I own the vehicle for a long time and end up having to abuse the clutch in some situation, which wouldn't happen with an auto.

 What sort of abuse?

[Arizona Wayne]

What sort of abuse?

Like 1 time my 16' RV trailer wheel got stuck in a pot hole and to get it out I had to abuse slipping the truck clutch.   Not too much later the clutch was worn out prematurely. 

[Rough Edge racing]

Like 1 time my 16' RV trailer wheel got stuck in a pot hole and to get it out I had to abuse slipping the truck clutch.   Not too much later the clutch was worn out prematurely. 

 Driver error!  You should stick to two pedal vehicles   

[1Sourdough]

I feel your frustration, but the mfg aren't forcing it, the buying public is.  The American buyers simply don't want sticks.  If they did, the mfg would gladly provide them, all they want to do is sell more units.  It's hard to text and steer and shift all at the same time!

Oh;  A few years ago it was said to be the need to restrict rapid engine speed changes such as are common with manual transmissions, to make the pollution numbers.  Have the manufacturers gotten by that roadblock?

[Arizona Wayne]

Oh;  A few years ago it was said to be the need to restrict rapid engine speed changes such as are common with manual transmissions, to make the pollution numbers.  Have the manufacturers gotten by that roadblock?

Yes, technically it was driver error, but I had just quit my job, my family was living in a house in norCal and I was in Vancouver, Wa., it was cold/wet, I had just backed up my trailer in a trailer park to leave, and managed to put my 13" trailer wheel in a hole I didn't even know about!   At that point I just wanted to get the hell out of there !! 
I did but in the end it cost me a $400 new clutch on my Dodge Ram 50.

[LowRyter]

Ram 50 AND a travel trailer?

That clutch was going to go, just a matter of when.  better the clutch than the engine, tranny or rear end.   

Or the brakes.   

[Arizona Wayne]

Actually I had 2 Ram 50s I pulled RV trailers with.  1 was a `80 2L 4 spd. and the latter 1 was a `84 2.6L automatic.  I pulled a 16' Komfort Lite trailer no problem.

Before those I had a `75 Toyota Chinook 2.2L pop top motor home.  In the snow that rig didn't need chains since all the weight on all it's tires it got traction no problem w/4 ply tires & low 20s mpg w/4 spd. 

[charlie b]

FIL had a Comfort Lite fifth wheel he towed with a Rampage.  Yep, the little FWD pickup based on a car.  5sp and clutch.  He pulled that thing over 15k miles.  Only burned out one clutch.  That was a sharp incline from a campground onto a highway and no room for a running start.  FWIW, I don't think an automatic would have done any better, probably would have burned up the fluid in the transmission if it had tried the same thing.