Chris Sunkin

The Freightliner has air brakes. Put it in 1st, let out on the clutch until it starts to grab, then punch the dash button.

Automatics don't last as long, cost way more to fix and hurt you on fuel mileage. Downside of a manual is novice drivers lug the engines which beats the $hit out of them

Cattitude

with the 3.90 gear and not super low granny, 17k truck + the trailer it'll stall the slightly tweaked 3126 (920 ft lbs) which is why I have to work it a bit. The dodges you just hold the brake and release the clutch till the gov kicks in and takes you thru the brake- don't even put your fot on the pedal

Wobble

Manuals are the chit to tow with if you know what you are doing especially in hilly areas. I would suggest finding a hilly area to practice starting out with your boat on the back.

Nothing to it when you get the feel for it. If you want to make it real interesting try it without using the parking brake

RollWithIt

I use either a 3500 Dodge dump with deisel and manual or a F250 with V8 and manual to tow my boat with. Dont have any problems pulling it up the ramp or starting out heading up hills. But I also tow Excavation equipement with the same trucks and we do have quite a few hills here in Pittsburgh to practice on. Manual tranny's offer you more options for slowing down going down hills so you dont wear out your brakes. They also allow you to choose when you want to shift up or down. You just need to get proficient with pulling out going up hills.

TeamSaris

Which will hold up better if properly maintained the allison or the 5 speed?

tomtbone1993

It appears by this thread that Texans are man enough for manual transmissions

TeamSaris

I am 13 and can back up trailers and everything with a manual.

nocigarette

buy a auto that way you can still touch your self when your driving..................

no really............. we always had autos, i dont think with tech now it really matters, the lazy bastards on the line can screw up either one.............

haulinvols

Due to only having so much money to go around, I just had to sell my beloved 2005 Dodge Ram Cummins 6-speed and down grade to an older auto-gas truck that I could just pay cash for. It was either that or sell the boat since the wife wants to do a bunch of stuff to the house. The only advantage my current automatic truck has over my old 6-speed is that it is more comfortable as a daily driver and my wife does not mind driving it.

That said, I hate towing with the auto truck. I miss my old hand-shaker truck like you would not believe. The area I live in really makes a manual trans a more attractive option. It allows me to hold gear better going down hill, and eliminates any gear hunting going up hills. With the granny low gear and Cummins engine, starting up hill was child's play. Of all of the heavy duty trucks I have owned, only two have been automatics, my current one, and an older Dodge I had a few years ago. Everything else was a manual shift. The only reason I purchased the current truck is that I got such a good deal on it through a friend at a local dealership. I am still keeping an eye out for a manal shift truck and if I find it, this one will be gone in a heart beat.

In case you wanted to know, my current truck is a 2004 Hemi 2500 Ram 4x4

fountain1fan

2003 dodge qc 2500 ctd 6 speed 4x4 and would not have any thing elese . on ramps jest lock the parking break. let out on the clutch till it starts to pull down the rpm's and relase the parking break. no problem .