F-450: Auto or Manuel??

[Dagwood_73]

Gotta get a new truck, Pulling 17 or 18,000 lbs of loaded gooseneck.

Most of the lots only have auto trannies. Does anyone have any info on auto's holding out pulling this much??

And what rear-end ration do you recommend??

[Dagwood_73]

Gotta get a new truck, Pulling 17 or 18,000 lbs of loaded gooseneck.

Most of the lots only have auto trannies. Does anyone have any info on auto's holding out pulling this much??

And what rear-end ration do you recommend??

[mjstef]

You'll get all kinds of opinions on this. The autos in my opinion stink for hauling heavy. If you want a 6 spd come to Montana, There pleantyfull here! No one that really works a truck hard here wants an auto. On the other hand the 6.0 6 spd combo is a gutless wonder!! 6.0's have NO bottom end power!!

[Ray,IN]

Well, as it turns out we spent about 40 minutes on each side of I70 between Indy and Richmond Indiana today. Road work restricted traffic to one lane each direction. Now 40 minutes doing the stop,start, move at 5-15mph thing, convinced us that the new truck we are planning will have an AT. Even the truckers were complaining about leg cramps from all the clutch work. The newer AT's are built much stronger to withstand the torque of diesel engines, and get practically as much fuel mileage. Automatics are not the same as 5-10 years ago. One aftermarket company builds automatics guaranteed to withstand whatever HP you specify, for two years with unlimited mileage, of course you get what your pay for too.

[mjstef]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ray,IN:
Well, as it turns out we spent about 40 minutes on each side of I70 between Indy and Richmond Indiana today. Road work restricted traffic to one lane each direction. Now 40 minutes doing the stop,start, move at 5-15mph thing, convinced us that the new truck we are planning will have an AT. Even the truckers were complaining about leg cramps from all the clutch work. The newer AT's are built much stronger to withstand the torque of diesel engines, and get practically as much fuel mileage. Automatics are not the same as 5-10 years ago. One aftermarket company builds automatics guaranteed to withstand whatever HP you specify, for two years with unlimited mileage, of course you get what your pay for too. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


If people were not in such a hurry to duck in front of you all the time the shifting would not be an issue. A few years ago i was stuck in a terrible traffic nightmare in Nashville. I pulled into the hammer lane with the 5er and had 2 truckers in each lane next to me. We rolled for over an hour with a gap in front of us and NEVER shifted! If we were not holding up traffic (3-4 car lenghts in front of us) it wouldn't have happened............

[gearman]

For hauling lots of weight the auto is the way to go, its a torque multiplier. The auto will out start any manual trans. The luxury of the auto is another reason, if your hauling a rv you probably don't want to 'work' at driving across the country now do you?

With the manual you get a weak clutch and flywheel that will have to be upgraded on short order hauling any kind of weight.

Really it up to personal opinion, both are OK, and both have there problems.

Before the new torque shift 5sp auto came out, ford had been using the E4OD in there super dutys upto the F550, which was rated at 30,000 GCVRW, and the trans did a good job as long as you didn't overheat it, which still aplies to auto trans today.

[Sweeper]

I HATE MY AUTO!!!!!!!!!!!

I WANT'A TRUCK W/A STD, AGAIN!!!!!!

I SHOULDN'T HAVE LISTEN TO YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

and my wife.

[gearman]

Sweeper,

You can't compair a dodge auto to the new GM allison and Ford torque shift 5sp auto tranys!

If I were to go with a dodge TV, I would go with a 6sp manual.

[tnance]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Gotta get a new truck, Pulling 17 or 18,000 lbs of loaded gooseneck.

Most of the lots only have auto trannies. Does anyone have any info on auto's holding out pulling this much??
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, they make auto transmissions that can handle that weight. My trailer weighs in at 17,800 lbs. My truck with Allison auto has an 80,000 lb GCWR. At my gross combined weight of 33,000 lbs my auto is barely taxed.
An F450 with auto and 4.30 gears will do fine.