Help making decision manual vs automatic
 

Hello everyone! First off I'm new to the diesel world. My husband and I are currently in the very frustrating process of replacing our 05 Ford 150 that has been very reliable with a more fitting truck so the obvious choice is to go diesel now. Our truck is just too small for our family.
Now where we have problems is I prefer an 06 to 08 Ford 250 (mostly bc of my good luck with Fords), whereas my huband is now set on an 06-08 Dodge Ram 2500 but he says he is set on a 5.9L 6 speed manual.
By no means will we be doing any major towing. Not a work truck and it would be used as a daily driver but only 10k miles a year at most. Our current driving is alot of stop and go traffic since we are in the suburbs of washington dc. We will move one day soon.

So diesel know it alls what could you tell me about the pros and cons of our individual wants compared to our needs? Is a manual dodge really the way to go or are the 06 to 08 autos just as good now? I don't want or need a truck that will cost us 25k to start them have to pour 4k into to make it reliable. See so many forums that suggest getting a truck but doing so many expensive upgrades. I'd rather keep my ol reliable if thats the case but we're dying for a diesel truck but need a good one. I understand nothing is perfect though.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Having spent 7 years running 13 transmission repair shops, I feel uniquely qualified to answer this.

Automatics have become more complex as quickly as they have become more stout. In general, they last just about as long as they used to, but cost three times as much to build when they fail.

.... and trust me... they WILL fail.

When speaking about auto vs. manual, I am a big fan of manual. At least if they break, its often a touch cheaper to build. You also usually have plenty of warning, and if you have something like a busted dog ring on 3rd gear, you can still drive... just skip 3rd gear. Often times automatics can give minimal warning and then suddenly just quit.

Having said that... I really love the Cummins as an engine. The 6.4L 'stroke is also a pretty good engine. I'll put this out there from an engineering standpoint: Let's say you have a 240 hp V8 like the powerstroke and a 240 hp I-6 like the Cummins. The V8 makes that power with eight, 30-hp "hits" every 90 degrees of crank rotation. The I-6 accomplishes the same thing with six 40-hp "hits" every 120 degrees of crank rotation. Bigger hits and spaced farther apart in time.

I've seen manual transmissions from stock, 215-hp cummins that just finally rattled apart. There was no evidence of excessive torque being too much for the tranny to handle, just the more violent shakes and rattles ate it faster.

None of this is a massively huge deal, just a counterpoint. I prefer the Cummins engine, but what good is a bulletproof engine if it just limits the life of the typical transmission?

I ended up with a 7.3L stroke in a 99 Van with an E4OD auto. I knew the E4OD wouldn't last forever, so I have plans for a manual swap when it dies. Even if I'm not ready for a manual swap at that time, having an E4OD rebuilt is about half the cost of a 48RE in a dodge.

At our shops, I've seen 46, 47, and 48RE jobs go as high as $6800. The highest 5R110 Ford I saw was $3800 for a unit that we had to buy a used tranny just to make one good one out of two. Parts for the Dodges are a bit more expensive, but the main thing is this: Open up a fried 5R110 and you usually find burnt clutches/steels, and you might have to get a rebuilt pump. Open up a fried 48RE and you'll find all of that, but you'll also find excessive wear on hard parts; splined items, gears, sprags, shells, drums... that's when things get expensive. Most of it can be attributed to the additional vibes coming from the I-6 engine.

Have y'all tried test driving them first?

if you're just going out for fun with your jeep, then get automatic, if you're working or pulling then get the manual

That's a good way to put it. Most of the NV, Getrag, and ZF manuals are more than adequate for the torque. Some are just more or less susceptible to being rattled apart by a diesel's inherent vibrations.

Put it this way... I've seen plenty of automatics with snapped input shafts, stripped planet gears, and other torque-related failures. I've rarely seen a manual fail that way.

In fact... in my 7 years running tranny shops, I've only seen *one* NV5600 that failed, and judging by the 35" tires and the tuner box sitting on the dash (along with the massive quantities of mud under the truck) it was probably abused pretty hard.

A Cummins/NV5600 is pretty hard to beat. The Dodge truck that surrounds it is a matter of debate that I won't enter.

Put it this way... if I were to build a dream truck, it would be a Ford shell with a Cummins 12v and an NV5600. If I *had* to have an automatic, I would use a modified Allison 1000.