Considering automatic for towing heavy maybe new Ford's auto

[Hemmen1]

I currently have a 01 Dodge with 6 speed and 99 f-350 with 6 speed manual. These are work trucks that employees drive, clutches have been lasting 30-50K, If I drove them I feel I could get a few more miles before replacement of the clutch. We haul on avg. at 19K gross and as heavy as 26-27K gross, any advice on auto's when that heavily loaded "durability" should I just stick with the 6 speed manual -- I thought with employees driving these trucks the auto would shift for them at the proper time vs. them slipping the clutch, lugging, overreving ect...



What is you opinion



The new Ford with the 6. 0 and the new auto sounds tempting

Maybe a F-550



Darren

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Over in the Ford group, reported auto transmission and injector problems seem to running unusually high - you might wanna wait or reconsider...

 

[rob10858]

our business pulls about the same weights with auto and manuals in the chevys dodges and fords. a couple of warnings about going to the 550. first they are geared very low, so forget top end speed. our manual and auto max out at 72-76 mph empty. second your're going up to 17500 gvwr , so combined with your trailer and load , you've got 6000 lbs more right off the bat [on paper, anyway and that's important] i can ltechnically [as far as the dot regs go] pull more with my 2001 3500 ram, because it's gvwr is only 10500. think of it this way an identical trailer and load of 15000 lbs combined with my ram would be a combo weight of 25500, with the 550 it's 32500, with that, you start getting into ifta regs and that's a real pain. our first 2001 ram got about 50000 miles before the clutch went out, i'm at 60000 with no problems, yet. after initial problems, our 550 auto has done well, and pulled alot of heavy loads. it has 64000 miles most of it pulling. the allison in our duramax seems to be a better designed auto than the ford, and goes thru the gears better, but it's still too early for me to suggest that its more dependable than the ford. autos have come a long way in trucks, but i'd always prefer a manual... imho

 

[Chris N5CWM]

I've heard so many rumors regarding the new soon-to-be released automatic available with the new Cummins HO. Things like "it's a copy of an Allison" to "it's a redesigned 47RE". Once

it does hit the lots, the next 1 to 2 years of actual towing and

comparisons to the Allison and the new Ford 5 speed AOD... the

next couple of years should be very interesting! I also have read

on the GM DMax forum that the 2004 DMax will have a higher rating, somewhere in the neighborhood of 350HP/700 Ft Lbs and

a NEW bigger 6 speed Allison to go with it!



We'll see... fellas it's just starting to get good!

 

[gcorron]

I bought my CTD from my brother. He used it to tow the largest skid steer Case makes, as well as lots of misc. materials before I bought it. He put nearly 90 k on it and has had no transmission problems, and it still seems to work well for me at 98 k. No comparisons, just an opinion

 

[kevincook]

With any new product I would give them a year to work out the bugs!



KC