Duramax/ZF?

[Polar Diesel]

WHy is it that no one ever orders a manual tranny anymore? I know this is what i'm will order in my new duramax. along with the tradtional standard cab. A real truck!!

[danhercules]

I drive a 7500 GMC Cat during the day. I live in Southern CA, with 9 speeds, and traffic, I shift enough. When I tow for the weekends with my RV, I dont wanna shift.

My 7500, Thats a real truck!! LOL :D ;) :D

[dmaxmule]

I ordered a zf6speed 3 months ago. I think that the trans is what is holding my truck from being built(not sure). If you do order one let me know how long you have to wait. I am going to go check on mine tomorrow. Good luck dmaxmule

[Tractor]

No doubt , the Allison is the best automatic on the market. But GM has little faith in their 6 speed trany. I heard it is something in the mating of the clutch to the fly wheel or something like that. They don,t even offer it in the leather seated DURAMAX trucks. It is something I wish they would work on. It has hurt their sales. I know they lost me last July. Just had to have a leather loaded 6 speed Dually. So I got a CUMMINS. And I really like the darn outfit.
TRACTOR... 7 GM units from 1948 to a 2000 and a 2003 CUMMINS

[Tractor]

Polar Diesel
Go to the trucks and drivetrain forum. They have a post going on the flywheel problem. The ole 1948 Chevy has a 4 speed and it hauls me to my job every day. She is a keeper. Grampa bought her Sept of 48. And it has worked........
TRACTOR

[MaxACL]

I bought the ZF, partly cause I didn't want to be force fed an Allison. I love the ZF EXCEPT when I'm in the North East trafic.

In West Texas I can look hard enough at the horizon and see my back side. :cool:

Mike

[D-MAX]

TRACTOR ....... I see your from Sheridan also!!
What year Duramax do you drive? smile.gif

[McRat]

I'm not sure the manual transmission defines "a real truck" any more than an electric starter does.

I was going to order the 6-sp except I found that they were "detuning" it, and I couldn't get the interior I wanted.

But now that I have the auto, it works just fine.

[Polar Diesel]

Well it just kinda burns me that A very high percentage of fords and dodges are manuals. compared to a needle in a haystack for duramax trucks. when i went to the dealer and pre built my truck for cost and availability, they told me it would be six weeks to deliver. I don't know if that's short or long but i thought it sounded good. It had the six speed also.

[Polar Diesel]

I also don't like the mushy shifts of new auto trannys. i drove a brand new 6. 0 ford, with 15 miles, and it just slid into each gear. the only indication it shifted was the tach dropped. i'm sure a little computer programming could change this.

[txguppy]

Say Polar, you're comparing apples to oranges. The F*@d Powerjoke w/Auto-Trans in no way compares to the Duramax/Allison (D/A) combo. To get a TRUE comparison you would need to test drive a comparably equiped GM D/A vs. GM D/ZF.

txguppy

p.s. That is why so many of the others have manual transmissions, because their autos cannot handle the high torque.

[VA_Dmax]

I can tell you now I would probably not order another ZF, I think Im getting the run around from a second dealer who refuses to acknowledge that the flywheel may be the culprit. I love driving the 6 speed and didnt want an automatic when I ordered my truck. But I would easily give up the ability to shift for a problem free transmission. I wish I would have read more about the flywheel problems before I ordered. :mad:

Edit: I said problem free transmission, but I guess its not really the transmission, its the junk between an awesome diesel and a strong 6 speed. Wake up GM and fix the DA*N flywheel problems.

[Tractor]

D-MAX
I would have liked to bought a GMC, but could not get what I wanted. Sheridan Motor tried but GM has a limit on their 6 speed line. Ended up with a 2003 HO 6 speed 1 ton dually last July. Still take it to Sheridan Motor for service. Do like the truck a bunch, but back at Sheridan High I used to end up in fights between chevy and f--d outfits. HaHa. Live right by the airport on the north end. Seen you are a pilot by your profile.
TRACTOR

[crafty]

Polar Diesel,
I tend to agree with you about the lack of 6 speeds on the road. I have one of the first ones sold. It was ordered on August 28th 2000 and I got it on Dec. 21st. As far as I know the dealer has not had an order for another standard since.
I love the truck and would buy another in a flash. Yes I have had the flywheel replaced in the summer of 2002 because of a vibration at idle but that is the only problem I've had. I've never experience a noisy clutch pedal or had a hard to depress clutch after highway travel. The vibration was all I've had and there was no noise with it either.
The truck now has 68,000 kms on it and I get 18 mpg city (imp gal), 23 hwy (avg) and 16.5 towing 9500 lbs. It is a great truck. As for why there are few on the road, I think that more and more people prefer to not have to shift. I disagree and always will. My last truck was a 86 GMC 6.2 with a 4 speed manual that I drove for fifteen years and over 330,000 kms. It was sold with the original clutch and not one dime spent on transmissiom repair and only one service to change the fluid. How many people can say that about their auto trannies???? :D :D :D

[Polar Diesel]

Well in regards to auot trannies, The way the new ford torque-shift, and the allison shift are similar. I would prefer to be in as much control of my vehical as possible. I don't want some computer telling me when to shift. And it's fun being able to control stuff like that. If i'm going to pay 40 grand for a vehical, I want to tell it what to do, and when to do it. And more people buy fords and dodges with manual trans. because they do heavy hauling, and GM diesels have never before had a good rep. for that. People are catching on now, but the true heavy duty fans go for dodge and ford.

[cowboywildbill]

I run with a lot of Ford and Dodge guy's that have gone over to the Duramax,and I am one of them that switched also. And I drive big rigs also. I get tired of pumping the 13 speed and all of the rest of the roadrangers, although I liked the 9 speed better. The worst thing is pushing the clutch in and out in stop and go traffic, and dealing with the four wheelers. I don't use the clutch otherwise. I've got to tell you that these allison's are tough units and they seem to know when to shift and downshift like it reads my mind while I'm towing heavy. And it outpulls our HO for real, while towing 14 to 18 K, and I wouldn't have beleived it, that it would run that good, but it does! And now our New Dodge's autotranny is starting to slip and shudder, just like our old Dodge's did before it left us sitting, "six times in 93,000 miles!"Go figure" And the good news is warranty will fix it and I have it sold. But that's OK, a friend of ours can't keep a clutch in his HO, He is going to go to an aftermarket clutch and flywheel & pressure plate in order to try and solve that problem.But to get back to the ZF thing,I looked at some 2003 GMC trucks- D/max's with six speeds, at the Quarter Horse Congress in OH last year, and they had the leather, heated seats and all of the bells and whistles (SL package). Did they quit making them with leather and ZF's in 2004? I have two friends with 2001 Dmax's/Allisons with over 180,000 miles of hard towing and the only repair that was done was a waterpump and belt tensioner on one of them at 140,000 K. And he is still running strong! As long as these GM's keep giving me such a trouble free time and keep running so strong, I am going to stick with them. Hope you find the combination that you want. It was about time GM put a real strong running diesel and transmission in thier 2500 & 3500 pickups, now if they just solve the flywheel issue. I did hear of someone that put a one piece flywheel in their truck. They had a little shudder & vibration when they first let the clutch pedal out while it started to grip, but it solved the comming apart issue of the flywheel. Good luck !

[ 04-27-2004, 05:22 PM: Message edited by: Cowboy Wild Bill ]

[More Power]

Last I heard, the ZF LLY's were being produced with LB7 300/520 power levels. Not that that's all that bad.... And to freshen everyone's memory, the LLY/Allison trucks only produce the 320/590 power in 2, 3 & 4th gears.

MP

[Polar Diesel]

LB7 power levels are fine. And if not, the price to bring it up to spec is less than an ally!

[Tractor]

Cowboy Wild Bill
6 Speed DURAMAX GM trucks with leather heated seats and all that stuff? That was something that my dealer could not find on his option list or anywhere. That was on the 2003 trucks with the manual transmission. That might have been a after market deal, but not from the factory.
TRACTOR

[cowboywildbill]

I think the trucks came direct to the show from GM, I don't think any of them had any add on's. We didn't even see a set of wheel covers on any of them. I know that we looked at a truck with the six speed equipped just like the one that we bought except that we went with the allison. The only difference was that the six speed truck did not have the center console or a tape player. But I'm sure it had the factory leather seats and power mirrors and On Star. Maybe they were a special run for the Congress. Or maybe they quit putting the leather in for 04. I am surprised that they can't order a truck with six speed and Sl type package. I do know that when we were looking, we were told that we couldn't get leather in any truck unless we bought it in a package, like SLT or Sl. It's hard to believe that they can't put the two together. I was under the impression that the trucks roll down the assembly line and they just add whatever options are in the code for that vehicle. I hope you find what you want. Good luck.

[Colorado Kid]

They must have been a special run for the congress. The 6 speed was avaiable with everything but a tape deck in 2001, but the leather 6 speed combo went bye-bye for 2002 . . . darn near cost them the sale of my truck . . . it took me 6 months to decide I still wanted it if I couldn't get it in SLT trim with the 6 speed. (or at least SLE+Leather, which was an option [for Allison trucks] for a while.)

I still wish it had heated leather seats, but otherwise no regrets.

[cowboywildbill]

The year of the Congress that we bought our truck was in Oct. 2001. But the trucks were the new 2002 models that had just come out. Maybe because they were manufactured in 2001 might explain why they had leather. Or maybe they were a special run. I know what you mean about the leather heated seats, we love ours. Once you get spoiled it's hard to go back.

[Polar Diesel]

If you could build what you really wanted from the factory, GM would loose money big time. instead of you buying what they decide to build, which is basically all or nothing, you pay 35,000 for bare bones, or 45,000 for full dress. with a little grey area in there.

[cowboywildbill]

I agree, I could have lived without the OnStar and tape deck. But if we wanted heated leather seats,we had to get all of the other options. Basically we had to get the truck with every factory option available. And I am told that the dealer and GM make more profit margin on the options than they make on the vehicles.

[Polar Diesel]

That sounds good to me. when you make a product that people really want you can make them eat stuff that they really don't want at their expense, because you know they will still buy it. That sucks!! oh well though, I guess