Automatic va Manual

I see a lot of stuff about 3rd gens and the "preferred" manual tranny.

Looking at the raw facts, can you guys please help me understand why?

The claims people have made is it's better for towing and offroading.
Now assuming an automatic is working within its design parameters, meaning it won't be overheating, shouldn't a torque converter almost always be better? No worry about clutch slipping, ease on the power as you see fit so you don't jolt the truck if your offroading and trying to ease up to a rock to climb, smooth acceleration when towing and especially if you have horses or livestock so they don't get thrown around, easy to climb a steep hill if stopped.

Yes, I understand you control exactly what the truck is doing with a manual, but some people use the downshift argument which all I can figure is they are ignorant since you can downshift in an automatic. The low years aren't as high of a gear ratio in the 3rd gen, but I've never had issue with that. Likewise you can downshift and force the engine to only shift so high in an automatic if you want to stop searching or need more torque without just pressing the pedal all the way down.

Manuals are more simple and thus more efficient, but aside from the efficiency aspect I don't see how a properly designed automatic is ever inferior to a manual.

Am I missing something?

IMHO its all about what you like.  Mine is a manual some days i'm glad it is and someday's I wish it were an auto.  The only time I wish I had an Auto is when i'm on a steep hill or rock and wish I either had an auto or 3 feet to run the gas, brake, and clutch!  In all our J***s we fixed that with a hand throttle.  That is the plan with mine.

snivilous wrote:

Am I missing something?

I don't think you are, each has plusses and minuses.  My personal preference is a manual - in our trucks, they suck less power, return better mileage, and are just more fun to drive.  But there's advantages to the automatic, too.  It's way easier to wheel with one, that's for sure.

Sometimes I wish mine were a manual during daily driving.  I do like having the automatic when wheeling, I think it makes it a little bit easier.

One big difference between the auto and manual trans in the 3rd gen is avoiding the "pink milkshake" with a manual. The auto requires a trans cooler and with it being integrated into the radiator if it cracks, that ruins everything. The manual trans requires no external cooler, so I know a lot of guys prefer the manual simply to avoid that problem.

An external cooler takes care of the milkshake problem.  My biggest complaint with the auto is that it eats power.

dutchman wrote:An external cooler takes care of the milkshake problem.  My biggest complaint with the auto is that it eats power.

Yea, I had never thought about the power loss. Obviously all that heat the auto puts out is just lost power. Thanks for all the info guys!