Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[WinterDeere]

What does a stick shift do better than an automatic? My truck is a manual 6 speed and I’d way rather drive my dad’s automatic 550.

I own a truck primarily for towing my trailers (boats & firewood logs), but since my other vehicles are of the sportier variety, the truck is also my "bad weather" vehicle. I do not like driving automatic transmission in snow and ice, because I am quite confident I can feel slippage between the tires and roadway much better with a manual, than with any automatic.

I'll admit, auto is nicer for getting a trailer off a dead-stop on a hill. But I weigh the bad weather advantage of manual to be more important than that small convenience of starting heavy loads on hills with less effort or concentration. Besides, I've been driving manual almost exclusively for 35 years, so it's really second nature, at this point.

As to which I'd rather drive, I actually also enjoy manual. That's driving. With automatic, you're just "steering".

BTW the 550 still has a vinyl floor. That truck is a 2018 but I think you can still get them with vinyl floors.

Yes, you can still get a vinyl floor. But if I recall, it really limits you on other options, the way they tend to package options now. I know you can buy a v6 std cab with a vinyl floor and the most basic seating from most brands, they badge them "fleet truck" or "work truck", with the aim of selling them to construction companies, etc. But if you want a V8, or an extended cab, or nicer seats... the vinyl floor option often goes away.

Ram offers some pretty nice thick and deep-welled hard rubber floor mats, which are actually standard on the Outdoorsman package I have. The truck may be carpeted, but you'd only know that by the bit of exposed space on the transmission tunnel, the rest is under these heavy mud trays they call floor mats.

 

[fidowanttobe]

Honestly, bed length and carpet bother me way less than the automatic transmission. I switched brands back in 2005, just because the brand I'd been driving until then stopped offering manual transmission.

If I could buy a 1/2 ton crew cab today with a ~6 liter v8 and a manual transmission, that'd be the brand I'd be driving... but such a thing does not exist anymore, to my knowledge.

I drive and tow with very similar 1/2 tons for personal and work other than mines a stick and they'res isn't.
I would very much rather tow with a stick than auto. Often use my own for work because of it.

 

[Runner]

I own a truck primarily for towing my trailers (boats & firewood logs), but since my other vehicles are of the sportier variety, the truck is also my "bad weather" vehicle. I do not like driving automatic transmission in snow and ice, because I am quite confident I can feel slippage between the tires and roadway much better with a manual, than with any automatic.

I'll admit, auto is nicer for getting a trailer off a dead-stop on a hill. But I weigh the bad weather advantage of manual to be more important than that small convenience of starting heavy loads on hills with less effort or concentration. Besides, I've been driving manual almost exclusively for 35 years, so it's really second nature, at this point.

As to which I'd rather drive, I actually also enjoy manual. That's driving. With automatic, you're just "steering".


Yes, you can still get a vinyl floor. But if I recall, it really limits you on other options, the way they tend to package options now. I know you can buy a v6 std cab with a vinyl floor and the most basic seating from most brands, they badge them "fleet truck" or "work truck", with the aim of selling them to construction companies, etc. But if you want a V8, or an extended cab, or nicer seats... the vinyl floor option often goes away.

Ram offers some pretty nice thick and deep-welled hard rubber floor mats, which are actually standard on the Outdoorsman package I have. The truck may be carpeted, but you'd only know that by the bit of exposed space on the transmission tunnel, the rest is under these heavy mud trays they call floor mats.

Back in the "old days" of 2004, you could pretty much order an F350 ala carte. I specifically wanted a "work truck" but with some options, like camper package, automatic, air conditioning, cruise control, posi-track, V-10, manual hubs, 4.30 rear end, snow plow front springs (just to make it sit level) rubber floors and all-vinyl seats (that was special order because the extended cab normally came with "vinyl weave" front seat which I thought wouldn't hold up as well as regular vinyl). Don't know if you could get power windows (I didn't want them) but I'll bet you could.

 

[Renze]

It appears to me that more than half the 3/4 ton and 1-ton trucks driven around here have never even seen a trailer hitch, and are just driven by guys who think a heavier truck is somehow tied to the size of their genitalia.

That describes the half ton crowd in Europe... anyone who needs a pickup truck for practical reasons, gets a HiLux, L200 or Navara. Oh, and theres that new VW pickup with 3 liter V6 TDI: Amarok its called. Its mostly the company car for a civil construction foreman.
But there is no point in driving a half ton because their GVW is the same as a Jap pickup, which are true utility vehicles where the US half ton has become more of a lifestyle vehicle than a workhorse.

And yes, thats what the American audience wants to buy nowadays: Sorry for the guys wanting to buy used utility trucks, its the guys with the money to buy trucks new, that decide what manufacturers build...

 

[Renze]

That's because you are wrong. People are buying them for what they need. You are free to buy something with an 8 foot bed if that's what you need... As I pointed out in that other thread.

The line between "want" and "need" blurs with the increase of disposable income.

 

[BigBlue1]

That describes the half ton crowd in Europe... anyone who needs a pickup truck for practical reasons, gets a HiLux, L200 or Navara. Oh, and theres that new VW pickup with 3 liter V6 TDI: Amarok its called. Its mostly the company car for a civil construction foreman.
But there is no point in driving a half ton because their GVW is the same as a Jap pickup, which are true utility vehicles where the US half ton has become more of a lifestyle vehicle than a workhorse.

And yes, thats what the American audience wants to buy nowadays: Sorry for the guys wanting to buy used utility trucks, its the guys with the money to buy trucks new, that decide what manufacturers build...

That's such an odd outsider take on things. People aren't buying half ton trucks just because they want to toodle around in one and look cool. People buy vehicles that serve the needs they have for carrying and pulling things. Sure, many folks aren't carrying or pulling things every time they drive the vehicle but they do use them and they need what they need. And obviously there are tons of people who need to carry and pull things that a half-ton is adequate for and they don't need a HD truck. If anything, it is the mini-truck range of vehicles (Ford Ranger/Maverick type) that are the ones people buy for the reasons you mention.

The perceptions non-US folks have are so far out of whack from reality here sometimes... It's kinda sad.

 

[kenmbz]

That's such an odd outsider take on things. People aren't buying half ton trucks just because they want to toodle around in one and look cool. People buy vehicles that serve the needs they have for carrying and pulling things. Sure, many folks aren't carrying or pulling things every time they drive the vehicle but they do use them and they need what they need. And obviously there are tons of people who need to carry and pull things that a half-ton is adequate for and they don't need a HD truck. If anything, it is the mini-truck range of vehicles (Ford Ranger/Maverick type) that are the ones people buy for the reasons you mention.

The perceptions non-US folks have are so far out of whack from reality here sometimes... It's kinda sad.

I see tons of pickups where it's obvious that nothing has ever been carried except people.
Large, jacked up, big tires, solid rear cover. Shiny.

I also see many being used as work vehicles.

So it's a split. Many are lifestyle as paying > 70,000 for a pickup seems a bit steep to shove dirty tools in the back.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Yes, you can still get a vinyl floor. But if I recall, it really limits you on other options, the way they tend to package options now.

It may only apply to cab and chassis models, but I'm pretty sure that you can order even a Laramie with vinyl floor.

 

[Renze]

The perceptions non-US folks have are so far out of whack from reality here sometimes... It's kinda sad.

Your perception of my reply to WinterDeere is out of whack from what i wrote.

He said a lot of 3/4 and 1 ton trucks have never seen a trailer hitch because apparently they are bought for the cool factor, he even mentioned genital inferiority compensation.

I said the same phenomena can be seen in Europe with US grey import half tons: They come with a V8 and the gadgets of an SUV, but they make absolutely no sense in Holland which is basically a well manicured park, most of them never use 4x4 and the legal weight limit prohibits them from towing more than a Japanese truck built for worldwide markets (except North America) is allowed to. Cargo capacity same thing: A HiLux is pretty much equal to a Tundra in cargo capacity, just better built in Japan with a high resale value because Africa offers great prices for used ones no matter how old.

 

[WinterDeere]

That's such an odd outsider take on things. People aren't buying half ton trucks just because they want to toodle around in one and look cool.

Actually, I personally know several people who do exactly that. One guy I know drives a pickup only because his wife told him he should, because "it looks cool". I asked him which engine and rear diff ratio he bought, and he had no clue on either.

Everyday, I see 2500HD and even 3500HD trucks that don't have a single scuff mark in the bed, and all the OEM paint inside their hitch receiver. It's fine if that's what they want to drive, I don't really care, but let's not pretend that's not a huge part of the truck-buying populace.

Renze may be an outsider, but I am not. Born and raised in southeastern PA.

The perceptions non-US folks have are so far out of whack from reality here sometimes... It's kinda sad.

I believe he was actually talking about Euro's who are buying USA 1/2 ton trucks.