New 2025 Ram 1500 with hurricane engine.

[Hay Dude]

I owned several of those 1960/70s trucks. I don’t miss them. Tune-ups of points, condensers and timing every 25k miles, replace plugs at 50k miles, and overhaul at 100k+ miles. Not to mention the shoe brakes that don’t stop the truck in water.

Shockingly, I agree with you!

 

[Hay Dude]

Don't get me wrong, those old regular cab bench seats weren't very comfortable, and a crew or extend cab is almost mandatory now. But as far a an I-6; Ford did a lot of good work with those 4.9L I-6s. Ran them in upto F350 cab and chassis trucks. I wouldn't be shocked if some of the F600s had them as well?

I hope not. At that point it would be almost time to go back to 2 ox and a wagon.

Look, we tend to look back at those old truck with favorable sentiments. Most of them had undersized drivetrains and axles, pathetic towing capabilities, and zero comfort.

Heck, my Ram can tow almost as much as a single axle road tractor from 40 years ago. And it’ll do it with heated/cooled seats, AC & navigation and I can park it in my garage.

If that’s the price to pay for “easy to work on”, I’ll take the modern truck.

 

[deserteagle71]

Engines go in trucks! Inseparable discussions. In fact, I think your OP was mostly asking about the engine.

I missed the politics?

Exactly. Especially when we have bureaucrats out there who have the power to mandate that manufacturers can make only electric vehicles after a certain date. This is especially telling after hearing from my relatives back in Pennsylvania where the power is out due to storms and won't be back on for a week or so. So you'd charge your electrical vehicle how?? These same bureaucrats are now proposing to ban the use of gas stoves and furnaces. This isn't about politics - it is about people in power that have no common sense.

The only thing I can legitimately say I miss is manual transmission, I do wish I could still buy that, but the new vehicles always end up winning on literally every other point.

I have a Dodge/Cummins dually with the manual 6 speed transmission. Super stout unit - I have no doubt that transmission will never give me a problem. But...in stop-and-go traffic, in a city with a lot of stop light and stop signs, I find myself wishing the truck were an automatic. That old 6 speed is not a slick shifter - slow and deliberate is how you shift it. I find myself holding up traffic, trying to get the truck up to speed. In slow speed maneuvering I have to shift the transfer case into low range to keep from slipping the clutch too much. Something the torque converter would alleviate, with the automatic. And from what I read, the new automatics they are putting in the heavy duty trucks these days are excellent and will hold up to the torque the engines can put out. The last few years that Ram put manual transmissions in trucks, the engine power was derated to protect the transmission. Not so with the automatic.

 

[paulsharvey]

On automatic vs manual; my first truck, a 1995 Dakota, was 5 speed stick. In sand, you either had to slip the clutch on take off, or you would break traction and bury down. There are or were some areas where you needed to go almost stalling out in first.

Sure, a stick shift is more fun, but I just don't see them as practical in this era.

 

[Hay Dude]

On automatic vs manual; my first truck, a 1995 Dakota, was 5 speed stick. In sand, you either had to slip the clutch on take off, or you would break traction and bury down. There are or were some areas where you needed to go almost stalling out in first.

Sure, a stick shift is more fun, but I just don't see them as practical in this era.

Not with todays automatics
Today will pull anything you put behind them.
The he Allison in my IH7500 is rated to 80,000 GVWR.
The automatics in the smaller trucks like my Ram are well over 40,000lbs
I routinely haul 45,000 + hay trailer loads with it.
The also have manual mode if you need to control the shifting

 

[paulsharvey]

Not with todays automatics
Today will pull anything you put behind them.
The he Allison in my IH7500 is rated to 80,000 GVWR.
The automatics in the smaller trucks like my Ram are well over 40,000lbs
I routinely haul 45,000 + hay trailer loads with it.
The also have manual mode if you need to control the shifting

Even in the full sized semi industry. I was superintendent for a medium sized trucking companies trailer shop (200 tractors), the owner said he went with all automatics, just to make getting drivers easier. He also had every truck governed at 65 mph, and ran super singles. Dump trucks too, the autos are good on dirt/sand

 

[WinterDeere]

Sure, a stick shift is more fun, but I just don't see them as practical in this era.

You make good points. But I prefer a stick shift mostly due to using the truck as my “bad weather” driver. I can respond more quickly and knowingly to a loss of traction with manual transmission on snowy and icy roads, than with an automatic.

But yes, I will admit the auto’s are stronger and better for “crawling”.

 

[ponytug]

You make good points. But I prefer a stick shift mostly due to using the truck as my “bad weather” driver. I can respond more quickly and knowingly to a loss of traction with manual transmission on snowy and icy roads, than with an automatic.

But yes, I will admit the auto’s are stronger and better for “crawling”.

I learned to drive with a stick, and I loved the control compared to the automatics of the time. With modern vehicles with ABS and traction control, I know that I can't manually respond as fast to a loss of traction compared to modern automatic traction control systems. Modern automatic transmissions also have some really amazing sensors for load, and are coupled with the engine ECU for what I think is great optimization of power, engine braking, and overall mileage.

I do like limited slip, or locking differentials for sustained poor traction weather, but, for me, that's rare, and with traction control, really something that I only need to get moving from a dead stop. (And it has saved my bacon more than once.)

Different strokes for different folks.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Hay Dude]

You make good points. But I prefer a stick shift mostly due to using the truck as my “bad weather” driver. I can respond more quickly and knowingly to a loss of traction with manual transmission on snowy and icy roads, than with an automatic.

I like ya bro, but you lost me on that one. I’ve driven manual plow trucks and automatic plow trucks and automatics were way better in snow.

But yes, I will admit the auto’s are stronger and better for “crawling”.

I have an auto in my Rubicon and lots of guys I rock crawled with disputed which was better.

 

[Hay Dude]

I learned to drive with a stick, and I loved the control compared to the automatics of the time. With modern vehicles with ABS and traction control, I know that I can't manually respond as fast to a loss of traction compared to modern automatic traction control systems. Modern automatic transmissions also have some really amazing sensors for load, and are coupled with the engine ECU for what I think is great optimization of power, engine braking, and overall mileage.

I do like limited slip, or locking differentials for sustained poor traction weather, but, for me, that's rare, and with traction control, really something that I only need to get moving from a dead stop. (And it has saved my bacon more than once.)

Different strokes for different folks.

All the best,

Peter

Very well said. The vehicle can figure out (ones equipped with traction control) where you need brakes & where you need power when coupled with an automatic.
Other nice thing is almost all modern automatics have a manual feature if you want to hold a gear, which I will do on hills when loaded pretty often.

What we would encounter with manuals on slippery roads would be a sudden “screwing sideways” problem with the back ends of trucks if you didn’t clutch/shift perfectly. Automatics just kinda shift softly (or not at all if you lock out) and there’s never a “break” in the traction as you have when you depress the clutch in a manual.