Is this topic back? Let's make this simple: The manual is gone because Ford didn't sell enough for it to be profitable. This is what a company does that wants to stay in business. You don't keep dumping money and resources into something that isn't selling. This is why Ford has a 6 speed automatic now, it's what the customers were asking for. If people had been screaming for manuals, there would still be one.

BTW, the auto's have manual capability, that's what the "2" and "1" positions are for. They allow you to climb/descend steep grades without over-revving the engine. It does this by locking the tranny in whichever position you've selected. It also works great to get a load moving on level ground by allowing you to maximize the powerband for that gear instead of it shifting out where the PCM figures it should.

 

The 6 speed has these 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear trans locks as well. But your right that no one wants the manuals anymore. Whats the point when auto's can get better MPG than a manual! Some get as much as 2mpg improvement over a manual version. The Mazda 6 gets 21
city 30 hwy and thats a Auto and a manual gets 20 city and 29 highway. The days of auto's being less efficient have gone.

 

Unfortunately your wrong. Ford didn't sell any because they only offered it behind a V6. People out here in the mountains are pissed. If they would offer it behind a V8 they would sell a bunch. If someone would make a computer chip that would make the pig slush-o-matics hold gears instead of shifting constantly i think the acceptance would be better. I guess the other thing is nobody keeps anything long enough to have to dump $$$$ in trannys. A clutch is 3-400$ and whats an auto overhaul? 2-3K?? I don't have that kind of money to spend on repairs and i keep a vehicle a long time. And as far as off road mountain driving goes the slush boxes are really easy to fry. Hell i boiled the tranny fluid in the wifes beater explorer off roading last summer as the TQ Converter is constantly slipping!! It has the towing package and extra cooler in it to boot!! You flatlanders just don't get this! My final comment is i want fuel economy. I had a 2001 Powerstroke Diesel 6 speed and ran for Horizon Transport with a friend of mine in an 02 PSD with a 4r100 auto. Both crew cab, 4x4, 3.73 gears. I consistently did 2+ MPG better than him running the same speeds. After Katrina i ran 5 months to the gulf coast with him. My overall average loaded and empty was 16mpg and his was 14mpg Thats over 900 gallons more fuel burned in 100,000 miles with a slushbox! Sounds like a bargain to me!!! on a side note he got 80K out of his brakes and mine had the originals on it when i sold it with 140K on the ticker.

 

Well i live in the mountains and have zero problems not having a manual and i tow 8k lb daily! I been driving manuals for the last 15 years and there's zero problems with the 6 speed and it has zero problems around the mountains here. Perhaps you have special mountains the 6 speed don't work with but you really need to stop comparing an almost 10 year old transmission to the updated trans that get at least the same of better MPG compared to a manual. Better get used to the fact that manuals are being phased out of every vehicle.

 

wow.

 

So your telling me you can drive without the auto constantly shifting up and down??? I call BS on that. It comes down to Americans are lazy and have to be on the phone, messing with the ipod, combing there hair, eating a sandwich and no time to drive. And how in the hell do you know the auto gets better economy than a 5 speed when there is no 5 speed to compare it too?? The 6 speed manual tranny in the superduty gets 2-3 mpg better than the Tq Shift this i know for a fact as many logging CO's around here tried the TQ Shift for a while and dumped them for 6 speeds. It all hinges on dependability when your 20 miles up in the mountains with no cell service....

 

I didn't say anything about the tranny not shifting up and down. I have no problem with my truck changing up and down gears to suit the terrain I'm on. Even when my truck drops to 4th gear and revs to 3000rpm it is still very quite and has no problem accelerating out of the turns. I would rather my truck change down gears than leave it in 5th and have sod all TQ to tow the load. Gears are there for a reason. Also i didn't say annything about the SD either. Seems to me you like to make a lot of stuff up. Auto transmissions can now get the same and better than a manual. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ check for your self. You seem to be 10 years behind on the tech on transmissions and cant seem to move on. But you carry on using your 5 speed and us new 09 owners will carry on using our 6 speeds getting better MPG than you.

 

For as much as i am off road i guess if i end up with a slushbox i'd better be buying an extended warranty as from what i can find an overhaul will be north of 3K. I'm betting i get less than 75K miles before an overhaul with the 6 speed auto as i am able to tear out a 4R100 in less than 50K. Low speed is where a manual shines and i don't buy highway queens. Last time i was stuck with an auto low range wouldn't spin the tires fast enough to climb out of a hole and the tranny would just slip in high range. Also try backing a trailer full of hay through a muddy cow yard with the auto without heating the hell out of it. It's really BS that the 09 trucks come standard with the 4R100 and you have to pay $2K extra for a 6 speed auto when a manual could be put in for no extra charge. Why don't you bring your slushbox out this summer and Join Us on the Divide Ride.


I'm also betting the fuel economy has very little to do with the tranny and more to do with engine tuning. My Expedition is very lucky to get 11 mpg in town where it will do 19 on the highway. Reason? Tranny is always slipping until you get over 40 mph!!! The wife drives the old beater explorer in town just to save gas! The only time the Ex leaves the driveway is on a trip.

 

This thread really delivers entertainment.

 

So like what your saying is, and correct me if im wrong, but your trying to say your manual is better than the current 6-speed without test driving it? And then when someone comes along and says they tow 8K in the mountains no problem, you call BS? hmmm...yeah your stuck in past buddy, and very ignorant....sorry...


Zane

 

I would rather have a stick shift myself. Why? First off, I like having control over what is going on and second it would save 1000 bucks off the price of the truck. Next is that I drive them into the ground and when that auto goes south its big big big money to replace or repair. With a decent stick shift you can bank on a clutch here and there but they are dirt cheap to replace.

Trucks have turned into Luxury mobiles these days. I cant argue that the new technology is good stuff but wait till one of these bad boys goes out after the warranty runs out. Boo on Ford, GM, and Dodge for not even giving us the option. I have to agree nobody wanted the manuel with a V6 engine that was 20 years old. Now it would be sweet to have one with the 4.6 3V engine but we are just screwed. I dont think Ford ever built there own anyway. They outsourced them just like they do on the Mustangs.

It also lightens up the truck a bit and lord knows the F150 is already overweight.

 

Just why do you think the manual was only offered behind the V6 after years of being available with V8's? The sales just weren't there to support it, as a result it was only offered with the V6 and then it was dropped. The time has come for you to move into the 21st century and start educating yourself on what the MODERN automatics are all about.

The manual your boasting about is in a 17 year old truck. You keep comparing it to today's trucks and all the computer technology that goes with them. This is how today's vehicles are able to get the increased MPG out of the automatics. The PCM's being used today were only seen on chalkboards back in 1992. My F150 is 5 years old and the PCM in the '09 models is light years ahead of the one in my '04.

BTW, the 5.0 302 is no longer available either, it was replaced by the 4.6 in the middle/late 1990's. Might want to start a thread about that as well.

 

All quotes from mjstef

"My 5 spd will hold OD on most roads here. Come on down for a visit and i will take you for a ride. This is the point. Autos constantly shift thus the crappy mileage."

Wow. You are horribly, horribly, misinformed. Automatics and the computers that control them are calibrated to achieve the best mileage and power at any given RPM and load. Therefore, the reason automatics shift down to get up steep grades is so that they don't bog down to the point where the truck can no longer keep the desired speed up a hill (especially if you have cruise on), thus wasting less fuel. It is better to shift down rather than have the pedal all the way to the floor to keep speed up a hill in a manual as well. Not only that, but driving in OD on a manual doing that kind of stuff is more likely to wear out your OD. OD gears (bands, etc.) are not made for pulling hills, whether they are in an automatic or a manual. You are probably doing more damage than good driving your '92 manual in OD over those mountain passes.

"When the tranny kicks out of O/D it revs to 3K and sucks a ton more air and fuel. I drive 80,000# most every week. My 96 W900 KW runs 65 mph at 1250 rpm. It pulls along just fine in 13 high at 6MPG by the monitor. Drop it to 12 hi and i loose 1mpg. RPM's are all the difference in fuel economy and most likely the reason you might see 1/2 of 1% of OTR trucks with an auto tranny."

If your semi pulls along just fine in 13 high, why in the world would you drop a gear? That obviously wouldn't make any sense at all. In a situation like that, dropping a gear would make fuel consumption worse. Totally different situation than the one above. Automatics don't just shift for no reason (unless you own an early Dodge Cummins, those autos hunt gears even when you're going downhill with a tail wind ).

"Ford didn't sell any because they only offered it behind a V6. People out here in the mountains are pissed. If they would offer it behind a V8 they would sell a bunch."

As someone else wisely said, they did. For years. If it were still profitable for them they'd still be selling manuals. So would every other company. But they don't sell, and even if having the option in there is really no cost to the customer, that doesn't mean there's no cost to Ford for providing them. They have to set up the assembly lines for installing them as well as have the warehouse space. Apparently, it was cheaper for Ford not to offer them. That I can understand.

"If someone would make a computer chip that would make the pig slush-o-matics hold gears instead of shifting constantly i think the acceptance would be better."

Again, horribly misinformed. Most, if not all automatics offered in trucks today have a tow/haul mode that does just that. The 6-spd automatic offered in today's F150s are nowhere near the same beast as the 4r75 or the 4r100. Maybe you ought to do some research.

"I guess the other thing is nobody keeps anything long enough to have to dump $$$$ in trannys. A clutch is 3-400$ and whats an auto overhaul? 2-3K??"

A clutch for my Camry V6 costs $400, not including labor. An automatic would cost $2-3k including labor. It is true that a manual would be cheaper than an automatic when it comes to that time, but let's not over-exaggerate.

 

"And as far as off road mountain driving goes the slush boxes are really easy to fry. Hell i boiled the tranny fluid in the wifes beater explorer off roading last summer as the TQ Converter is constantly slipping!! It has the towing package and extra cooler in it to boot!!"

Explorers are not made for offroading, plain and simple. Even explorer enthusiasts admit this (www.explorerforum.com). Their transfer case and transmission do NOT like excessive spinning of the tires all the time, and are not designed to do this. They will heat up fast. But this is not true of all automatics, so trying to equate your opinion of an automatic Explorer to every other automatic truck out there is just ignorant. Not all automatics are created equally.

"You flatlanders just don't get this! My final comment is i want fuel economy. I had a 2001 Powerstroke Diesel 6 speed and ran for Horizon Transport with a friend of mine in an 02 PSD with a 4r100 auto. Both crew cab, 4x4, 3.73 gears. I consistently did 2+ MPG better than him running the same speeds."

That's nice, really. But I don't understand why you would think a 4r100 would get better mileage than a 6-speed manual. I wouldn't have expected any different from a truck that has two extra gears than a 4r100.

"It comes down to Americans are lazy and have to be on the phone, messing with the ipod, combing there hair, eating a sandwich and no time to drive."

And yet, you like your cruise control, don't you? That is a creature comfort just like an automatic would be. The fact of the matter is that manuals don't sell anymore except in base work trucks because it was cheaper, but again, Ford doesn't consider this to be enough and apparently neither does any other truck maker.

"For as much as i am off road i guess if i end up with a slushbox i'd better be buying an extended warranty as from what i can find an overhaul will be north of 3K. I'm betting i get less than 75K miles before an overhaul with the 6 speed auto as i am able to tear out a 4R100 in less than 50K."

Is this just one 4r100 you had experience with, or do you have a pile of worn-out 4r100's that you've personally abused until they couldn't take it anymore? What I mean is that you can't base your one experience with a 4r100 to every other one out there. Any failures I know of on a 4r100 that happen before they hit 50k are either horrible defects or the owners needlessly flogged them for several thousands of miles with little fluid. My dad's '99 has a 4r100 with 210k on the clock, towing 32ft fifth wheels all over the place (even in the Rockies and every other mountain range around here), as well as offroading during the hunts. Hasn't had one rebuild yet.

I think I've made my point. I'm sorry that Ford doesn't make what you want anymore. I, too, like having manuals in my trucks and very much enjoyed it in my V6 Dakota (although had to shift out of 5th gear if there was even a stiff headwind). Unfortunately, nobody can make a profit on them. By the way, your original question has been answered several times by now, and it was your reaction to insult those who bought the F150 with the 6-spd? Talking about how your '92 drives better than your Expy? So what? That's your opinion obviously, but it's still not nice to put down other peoples' trucks just because it's an automatic.

 

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