The Work Truck Blog: Real transmissions.

The Work Truck Blog: Real transmissions.: 

Real transmissions.

About once a year I go on an unhinged campaign for the restoration of manual transmissions.  I absolutely know, right from the onset, that it's totally pointless.  Nonetheless, the fact that no manual transmission pickup trucks are made in the US, outside of the Jeep pickups, really angers me.

100% of the reasons stated in support of automatic transmissions are pure unadulterated bullshit.  The real, and only, reason they're put in pickup trucks is that most pickup trucks are driven in cities, including ones that have fanciful outdoorsy names and have something like "off road edition" emblazoned on their sides.  If it's got an automatic transmission, it's the kawaii thirteen year old girl edition.  That's it.  It's made for wimps who want to pretend their outdoorsy and don't know how to drive.

The market, of course, is what controls this, and ever since the day guys who never get outside the Denver city limits started dominating the market, this is what we've ended up with.

Now, in defense of engineering, automatic transmissions in trucks have gotten much better than they used to be.  Indeed, ever since General Motors began to put Alison transmissions in their diesels, they've been pretty good. None of that changes the fact that all of the disadvantages associated with automatic transmissions fully remain.  You are actually using the engine to drive the transmission, which is inherently inefficient, and you are letting hydraulic pressure determine when to shift gears, which is mindless.  It can also be dangerous.  All of the features that engineers built in to allow automatic transmissions not to be mindless killers are ignored by everyone who drives one.

And the fact that they have a lot of extra parts means they're going to wear out more quickly.  I have had in the various vehicles I own two transmissions wear out. . . both of them were automatics. 

And, yes, I've owned vehicles with automatic transmissions.

So, anyway, it always goes the same way.  I get angry about it, and usually when it dawns on me that I can never, ever, buy a new vehicle now as they all have automatic transmissions.  I end up emailing the Dodge dealer asking for a cab and chassis with no transmission, as I can take care of the transmission part.

"Um. . . . we can't do that".

Oh bullshit, you certainly can.

Occasionally I called Dodge, which I did this week.  I ended up with some poor (probably Filipino, based on the accent) woman who tried to help.

"I want a cab and chassis with no transmission, or I want you to put in a G56 transmission and I know that you have some around there".

"Um. . . . just a moment sir. . . . I tried to ask somebody but nobody knows the answer to this. .  I'm sorry".

The current diesel engine in Dodge's is the the B6.7.  I really wonder if there's any new made manual that will mate up to it, although the costs of doing so would likely be insane. I wonder the same about the somewhat bigger Cummis engines, up to the the L9 and B7.2.  I'd think there's have to be one for hte 7.2.

The Work Truck Blog: Ram HD 2025 MANUAL Trans? Here's how it could happ...

The Work Truck Blog: Ram HD 2025 MANUAL Trans? Here's how it could happ...: 

Ram HD 2025 MANUAL Trans? Here's how it could happen...

About once a year I have a fit because Chrysler and Ford quit offering a manual transmission option.  I become unrealistic about it.

I know that neither one is going to restore manuals.  Frankly, trucks are meant now to be driving in cities, not on farms and ranches, and therefore they're designed for city drivers.  Basically, if a 13 year old girly girl can't drive it, they aren't going to make it.

And I also know the "but modern manual transmissions. . . " argument.

This video really addresses that.

Wednesday, April 15 1925: The Introduction of a Trailblazing Highways Map Guide

Ford introduced the first factory assembled pickup truck.

1924: The Introduction of a Trailblazing Highways Map Guide

Last edition:

Monday, April 13, 1925. Renewed Riffian War, Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, 1925 at the movies, Colonialism, Dominion of Newfoundland, French Empire, Morocco, Movies, Newfoundland, Rif War, The roles of men and women, Women

M939 Truck. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

This is a M939 5 ton truck.  A heavier U.S. military truck is behind it.  I can't identify what the truck  is carrying, unfortunately.

Part of the final series of US 6x6 trucks, it went into production in 1982 and were produced in the US only for a few years.  They're still produced in South Korea.  It featured a diesel engine and an automatic transmission.

Last edition:

LARC-V. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1960s, Army, Dubois Wyoming, Military, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Transportation, U.S. Navy, Vietnam War

Amphibious vehicles of World War Two. National Museum of Military History.

GMC DUKW, the most common wheeled US amphibious vehicle of World War Two.

A LVT.

 

Last edition:

Various World War Two Artillery pieces. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: Artillery, National Museum of Military Vehicles, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

M38 A1s, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

M38A1 with a recoilless rifle.

The first automobile I ever owned was a M38A1.

The prototype for the modern Jeep, basically, it entered civilian use as the CJ5, after entering military use in 1952.  Doubtless examples are still in use, and civilians varians are still produced by Roxor in India.

 Last edition:

M151 Jeeps. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 4x4, Automobiles, Military, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Radio, Trucks, Wyoming (Dubois)

M151 Jeeps. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

The M151 "Mutt" entered service in 1959 and carried on into the 1990s.  It had fantastic off road capabilities, and was also fantastically dangerous, given its independent wheel suspension system.

The last Jeep to see general use in the U.S. military, it was replaced by HumVeh's, although speciality vehicles, and even modern commercial Jeeps, continue to see some use.  In these examples, the radio mount for a period radio is displayed.

I personally have a lot of experience from the 1980s, with both the M151, and this model of military radio.

Last edition:

M32 Tank Retriever, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Armor, Korean War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

Saturday, January 31, 1925. Leonhard Seppala and Togo.

The longest part of the Serum Run was undertaken by Leonhard Seppala with lead dog Togo.  They ran through the dark across the dangerous ice of Norton Sound.

Seppala was Kven, a group related to the Lapps.  He's a major figure in the history of the Siberian Husky dog breed.

The Saturday magazines were out.

A few interesting adds, the first for a range with a clock.

And the second for White Truck's 25th anniversary.

Of course, the humor magazine Judge was out as well.

Last edition:

Friday, January 30, 1925. Antitoxin runs out in Nome.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, 1925 Serum Run, Afghanistan, Alaska, Alaska (Nome), Cartoons, Disaster, Disease, Dogs, Heroes, Ireland, Railroads

Artillery and Prime Movers. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

 Last edition:

SPW 152 "Iron Pig" (BTR 152). National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Location: 6419 US-26, Dubois, WY 82513, USA

SPW 152 "Iron Pig" (BTR 152). National Museum of Military Vehicles.

This peculiar looking vehicle is an East German SPW 152 "Iron Pig", which was their variant of the Soviet BTR 152.  The armored vehicle was designed as an armored personnel carrier, but utilized for other things as well.  The gun in this one is likely an anti-aircraft gun.

This particular example bears the markings of the current Bundesherr and likely saw service in the reunited German Army after the country was reunited.

The Jeeps in these photographs are M151s, which will be dealt with elsewhere.

 Last edition:

Anti Tank Guns. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, 4x4, Army, Artillery, Dubois Wyoming, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, Trucks, Weapons, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

Anti Tank Guns. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

 

Friday, November 7, 1924. A balanced budget.

The Weimar Republic announced the first balanced German budget since the end of World War One.

The Soviet Union produced its first domestically manufactured motor vehicle, the AMO-15 truck.

The Alvarado Hot Springs was created when a natural gas exploratory well taped into a geothermal pool in Los Angeles County.  It was operated commercially as a hot springs facility until at least 1961, following which it seem to have disappeared from history.

2BE began operating commercially, broadcasting twice a week, in Sydney. Australia's first commercial radio station would close in 1929.

Last edition:

Thursday, November 6, 1924. The 100th Anniversary of Christopher Robin and Winey the Pooh.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1924 Election, Calvin Coolidge, Girl Scouts, Norman Rockwell, Teenagers, The written word, Women

Friday Farming. The vehicles that changed the West.

I've written on this previously, but up until the end of World War Two, travel in Wyoming, in winter, and much of the West, was very limited.

Oh, sure, there were snowplows that went out on the narrow two lane highways, but off the highways?  Well, you better be pretty sure you could get back.

Now, my father only ever owned one 4x4 vehicle, and it was one he bought from me.  But we didn't go up in the high country or into the foothills once winter started.  That was out.  You stuck to areas that were relatively near a county road or that were blown off, and probably down around 5,500 feet or less. Beyond that?  Forget it.

And this was true for ranchers too.  Some men stayed up in the high country, but they stayed there. . . all winter long.  People often fed by horse drawn wagon (and in a few places, still do).

The Dodge Power Wagon changed that.  And it was a creature of the Second World War.

Lex Anteinternet: World War Two U.S. Vehicle Livery: National Museum...: 

The father of the Dodge Power Wagon, the 1/2 ton truck, a fair number of examples of which can be found in the Rocky Mountain West in spite of the small number produced, was in addition to being too light, too top heavy.

With the Power Wagon, you could now get there in winter.  Maybe not everywhere, but darned near everywhere, even up in the high country.

And that meant you didn't need to keep hired men up in the high country in line shacks all winter.  For that matter, with a trailer, you could easily feed in a fraction of the time it had taken with a wagon.  You probably didn't need hired men for that either, if you had them.

And while it would take awhile, really when NAPCO started converting Fords and Chevys into heavy duty 4x4s, it would also mean that sportsmen could get back there in the winter too.

Revolutionary.

Related threads:

A Revolution In Rural Transportation

Lex Anteinternet: A normal winter. How it used to be.

The Rise and Decline of the "SUV".

Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?

Early Jeeps: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

There are a lot of Jeeps depicted in this series of posts, with a fair number being World War Two Willys and Ford Jeeps.  This museum, however, has a collection of the very early Jeeps that preceded the Willys MB patter standariation.

The request for a 1/4 ton truck came out just before World War Two and one of the company's that responded was Bantam, a vehicle manufacturer which specialized in small cars.  Their introduction was very much like what the MB would become, except it was lighter.

Bantam always felt cheated by the military for not securing the contact, which they really couldn't fulfill.  The company ceased to exist in 1956.

Willys Overland specialized in in "overland" vehicles to start with, and  came up with what was really the best design for the competition, although it was submitted later than Bantam's.

Ford also competed, putting in an entry that was much like Willy's.

Last edition:

World War Two U.S. Motorcycles: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Labels: 1940s, Dubois Wyoming, Military, Motorcycles, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Transportation, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)