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When I bought my Dak new the standards were rated for a greater towing
capacity that the automatics.
The 95 brochure spells it out 5.2, 5spd, 3.91 7100# towing capacity: 5.2,
auto, 3.91 6900# towing capacity.
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Yes, but that was 95. As time has gone on, either the autos have been
getting stronger or the manuals weaker. Nearly every automatic with a tranny
cooler is rated at an equal or higher tow capacity than the equivalent manual
transmission. I'm not trying to re-kindle the auto vs. manual debate, but all
pride aside, the autos seem to be more reliable under stressful conditions.
Even mine is starting to behave now (haven't had the wierd shift problem in
months). This may not really apply to our Daks as I don't think any of us
really work them hard (spinning tires and spanking others don't count) for
long periods of time. It's more like power spurts and then mellow stuff.
------------
I not quite sure what you are reffering to with the Getrag as this is a
German company which designed a geaset for GM FWD cars and was used by CC in
the Turbo II, Turbo III, and Turbo IV applications. Did they also design a
gear set for the trucks ? BTW the towing capacity for the diesels has always
been greater for the manual shifts than the automatics simply because the
autos can not handle the torque of the Cummins as well.
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In the late 80's early 90's Chryco made a deal with Getrag to have them
make transmissions for their high-preformance vehicles. These included the
cars you mentioned (I owned a VNT Intercooled Shadow that kicked butt, and it
had a Getrag tranny in it) but also the high preformance Cummins Turbo Diesel
truck which I think used the same tranny as is in Mercedes Commercial Trucks.
I guess in Germany they used gear oil in the transmission and Dodge probably
made an assumption and went with engine oil like was in my Getrag tranny on
the Shadow, not realizing that the heavier tranny required heavier oil than
the high preformance sport transmission on the turbos, or who knows exactly
what happened there. All I know is that the Cummings trannys started dying
like crazy on anyone who hauled heavy loads, but for everyone else they worked
fine. Dodge switched to the New Venture transmissions and has been with them
ever since for the manuals. Personally, I think this was a mistake, as the
Getrag tranny was really nice but they just didn't figure out the problem with
the heavy haulers. It's sad that all it took was an oil weight change and
better oil.
I'm wondering if now that it's Daimler Chrysler if we'll be seeing the
Getrags back in the cars and trucks. Who knows what the Fuhr..uh, Fatherla...
um, HQ has planned for us... ^_^
Shaun H.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:11:24 EDT