Aren't trucks actually bigger than they were a few decades ago?
Yes, a
lot. Too big. But they are also much harder to see out of. The dash looms up in your face and the windshield height is less (though because of the flatter angle there is actually a lot more glass). Maybe you get used to it eventually, but you really can't see at all where the end of the hood or fenders is. We have two fairly new VFD trucks and they are a real pain in tight places (where they get used a lot
). In contrast, the 73-87 GM trucks were much easier to see out of than the 67-72 vintage: the top of the dashboard was lower and the windows were all bigger. The 88-98 pickups were okay too.
This; most expensive manual transmission repair I've ever had was $1,300 to rebuild a fairly uncommon one. I'm not sure I've ever had anything done to an automatic that cheaply.
Besides, with hills, I don't see how an automatic is ever going to be more efficient and/or effective than a manual until it can look out ahead of the car at the terrain, then check inside my skull to see if I'm planning to pass on the climb.
Yeah, that and these damn traction control programs that cut off the power about ten feet short of reaching the top of the hill or a dry spot
I had an automatic transmission rebuilt and heavy-duty clutches installed (or bands or whatever they are called) once. It cost me about $300, and he did a good job too. But that was in the 1980's. (I thought it was cheap even back then)
It was a Turbo 350 in a used Chevy pickup with I dunno how many miles because the odometer didnt work. That was my first automatic trans, before that I thought they were for wimps; especially in a truck. I can still drive a stick, but I always buy autos now. Maybe I have turned into a wimp. But they are sure nice in stop and go traffic, or creeping up a boat ramp, or...
I had two TH350 pickups and I thought they were terrible. Maybe okay in a street pickup but not very reliable in a 4wd in the mountains. Both of them got terrible gas mileage. The automatic seemed to suck about a third of your horsepower and they were always having to shift down on even moderate hills, where my four speed pickups would just cruise right up the same hill in high gear without even hardly noticing.
The old wide ratio four speeds had no trouble creeping in low or reverse
The much maligned 700R4 is a much better automatic than the TH350, IMO. I've got over 220K with no issues, although I suppose it might have been rebuilt before we got it. It gets (or did, some years ago) fairly decent mileage on the highway (~15mpg @ 65mph w/ac) compared to rarely even breaking 10mpg with the TH350. Only gripe I had with trailer towing is that it doesn't shift down soon enough on hills (I'm hard to please
) and would bog down to 30 mph and then speed up to about 50 where it would upshift and immediately start bogging down again. I learned to just manually shift it down to L2 at about 45 mph and hold that up the hill without any drama.
I always wished for a pickup with a real truck five speed, with deep low and reverse
I think only IH ever offered it as an option.
