For those that have been waiting. .
For those that have been waiting. .
" A Few Good Fish"
Please check out my youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuuwIthNWDweOTGjtkfOVGw
If you tow a camper that bed lowering feature is awesome. Ram is putting out some super nice trucks
I own a Chevy at this time but they are putting out some nice trucks. I really like that back seat being able to go back, I know in my 2500 it feels like you are sitting real forward in the back seat.
That is neet!Originally Posted by kry29
I need that 1000 lb/ft of torque!
nice truck! Ford waits for this every single time though. Now they will "tune" the 6.7 to bump it over 1000ft/lb
Good looking truck. Was Ram the last hold out that had the manual transmission?
It was. You could still get one last year. However, it cost the same as an automatic and they detune the engine with a manual tranny.
I've had manual transmissions in my trucks up to the current Dodge I drive. (Mine's an 07 with a 5.9) To me, they are no problem to drive and they hold up a lot better than automatics. That said, that system is beginning to break down.
First of all, the new generation mechanics aren't as familiar with them and frankly don't know what to do when it comes time for a clutch. My factory clutch went 175,000 miles and wasn't wore out then but my bearings were and I figured I might as well have them put in a clutch since they were going to have to drop the transmission to replace the bearing that was singing it's high pitched song or retirement. I frankly don't know what went wrong, but the first clutch they put in was almost undrivable. It hopped and hopped and hopped. Heaven forbid I had to back my boat in the barn. I put up with it 10,000 miles or so with my mechanic assuring me it needed to "Break Itself In". Finally I had enough. Advance who they'd bought the clutch kit from paid to put a second one in. The second was no better than the first. Maybe worse. My thinking is the mechanic had grease on his hands when he put it together and that grease got on the clutch and flywheel and was causing the hopping. But then I'm not sure what was wrong there.
Another 10,000 miles later, I'd had enough. I had another mechanic put in a factory clutch on it. When I picked it up, he said, "Drive it and tell me how it it." Should have been the first clue something was wrong. It was Friday evening when I picked it up and I drove it home. The pedal seemed soft. Next morning I took my daughter to a track meet and when I got to town at the red lights I couldn't put it in gear. I had to shut it off, put it in gear, start it, take off and carefully jam gears without using the clutch. He didn't bleed the air off the hydraulic clutch. When I got home, I finished up that part of the job and got it going.
Secondly: I don't think the clutch parts are of the quality they used to be. There's simply not enough demand for them these days to justify their manufacture. The 3rd clutch which is actually made by Bendix isn't of the quality the original was. I can tell. I've got about 55,000 miles on it now and it feels like the 2 piece flywheel is acting up on it. The thing is, Dodge is an assembler of trucks. They actually build very little of it themselves. The Engine is Cummins, the transmission is Aisian, the Clutch is the lowest cost bidder, brakes are the lowest cost bidder, etc.
Third: When Dodge went from drum rear brakes to Disc rear brakes they didn't do a lot of testing of that system with manual transmissions. The parking brake system on these trucks absolutely SUCKS when used with a manual transmission. Basically on the inside of the rotors there is a set of drum brakes not unlike what you had with the original drum brake rear axles. That said, it's different. When the rear brakes were drum brakes they built self adjusters into them. The brakes self adjusted to keep the pads close enough to the drums to work as they wore. If they didn't, your true mechanic checked it when he changed your oil and clicked up the adjusters as needed. Since this parking brake drum set up is only used when you put the parking brake on, it doesn't have the ability to self adjust. It has to be clicked up with the adjusters. On my truck Dodge did not mirror the hubs. Instead of their being a right and left hub, there's only one. To make it work, it's upside down on one side of the truck. On one side you can access the window with a screwdriver to hit the clicker to adjust the brake. On the other side, the window is behind the leaf spring shackle and you can not adjust that one because you can't get a screwdriver in the window.
The day my truck rolled out of my driveway backwards into the woods hitting some trees because of that brake issue I called Dodge and gave them a piece of my mind for that bit of shotty engineering. They had no idea what I was talking about. Could not relate.
Third: Engineering. I truly don't think the manufacturer's engineers know much nor care to learn much about a system they see as going away. Before this Dodge I had one of the last F250 Fords with a manual transmission. In among the fiasco of them trying to fix the 6.0 diesel, they sent an engineer down to work on it. I had to go drive the truck for the engineer because neither the dealership mechanic nor this engineer could drive a manual shift truck. I know that sounds pretty stupid, but those were the facts of the day. (For what it's worth, the dealership got this truck for me on a dealer trade from another dealer. Being that nobody there at the dealership could drive a manual shift truck, I had to go with the dealership owner to drive it back) Long and short, if the Engineers can't drive it, there's a very good chance they can't design it right either.
I missed to see how far those tow mirrors extend.
First time I sat in the back seat of a Mega Cab, I knew that is the truck I wanted. We were looking for a truck and it would be the primary family hauler for the foreseeable future. Sat in a lot of 4 door trucks, none measured up to the room in a Mega Cab, the reclining back seat was a plus. In the op's video, the front seats are all the way back.
Like Skipper's, mine is also an 07 w/5.9l 6spd manual.
My clutch gave up the ghost @ about 60k mi, it did not burn up, the dual mass flywheel(used to quite the trans gear noise down) broke and would not clamp the disc. Went with an after market(solid flywheel) clutch pkg., been smooth sailing since. My truck has 99k mi on it, only thing I don't like about it is the rust. Gonna be awhile before I need another truck.
My park brake probably could be better, it holds on the steepest ramps, but they do tend to not hold as well when after you have driven around with the brake on, DAMHIK.
More power captain! Need more power! That should pull a Bass Tracker just fine.
2008 looks good on it...
KYSkipper call South Bend Clutch if you decide to keep your manual transmission truck. Talk to Peter you will not be disappointed.
They know clutches and Dodge/Ram trucks
That's who made the Advance clutches. I have had several people tell me to use South Bend. That changes the flywheel to a solid flywheel instead of the 2 piece. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, and thats what we did when they put the Advance clutches on it. The Bendix with the dual mass flywheel has been pretty smooth once I got the air out of the hydraulics. Their supplied master cylinder did break at about 30,000 miles. Shaft came out of it. Now it feels like a few of the springs on it are either broke or popped out.
Well, had my mind set on a new F350 in a few months. Will have to put the 3500 in the mix now. Sharp truck!
Clutches really aren’t that hard...it’s ridiculous that you’re having to deal with that. In the drag racing world there are MANY street cars running 2000hp and more than 1000lb/ft tq and there are so many clutch suppliers it’s hard to keep them straight.
As as long as your flywheel is balanced and smooth; I t’s CLEAN, and installed correctly it’s not hard at all to bleed a clutch master cylinder!
You simply shouldn’t have to deal with that. Now their emergency brake...yeah I get that one 100%!
Im not a Dodge guy but that’s a good looking truck!
2006 Triton SP-185, 2006 Evinrude Etec 90, PowerTech NRS3, Garmin Echomap Plus 73CV & 93SV
Were they ceramic clutches?
06 Skeeter 20i Yamaha 250 HPDI
Visit my Youtube Channel!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW6p06navSpOqUn3xotG2vA
I'm not sure. I just know they weren't any good. Once you got the truck rolling they were ok but you couldn't ease up on anything nor start out without hopping around. I know someone will say "You need to learn to drive". I've had 6 straight manual shift trucks with over 1 million collective miles. The only other manual I ever had trouble with was one of the F150's. Ford had a design flaw when they went to the hydraulic clutches. They mounted the cylinder on a piece of metal tack welded to the outside of the firewall. The metal and the welds weren't strong enough to hold the cylinder and broke. I wore one clutch out before I knew what was wrong with it. Had that clutch changed and wore another one out pretty quick. I decided I had a problem of some kind and had a buddy watch the cylinder while I pumped the pedal to see if there was air in it or something. He said, "I can see your foot through the firewall." Turns out the cylinder was flexing in and out which accounted for the bouncing clutch on that one. Ford actually made 2 devices to retrofit the firewall to strengthen it. The first one was pretty simple. The second one they made took an act of congress to install.
They were most likely ceramic and you were experiencing the usual chatter or stutter associated with high performance ceramic clutches. They slip a lot less than a stock clutch, some not at all, and in doing such they engage and disengage more violently. Every ceramic I've owned or driven has been this way and it takes a different approach to driving them to negate it.
06 Skeeter 20i Yamaha 250 HPDI
Visit my Youtube Channel!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW6p06navSpOqUn3xotG2vA
Reply With Quote
