Reasons NOT to buy a 6spd Manual Cummins?

SilverSurfer15 · Sep 30, 2015

On a side note, i haven't researched the cam idea yet but comp makes those xfi cams for be 5.7-6.4 Hemi motors in the challenger/charger. I'm sure they would work in the truck motor.

If you use it as a truck, that probably won't be a great idea lol. But as a toy, should be fine. It's a lot of money for minimal gain. The smart thing to do would be LTs and tune and call it. Or buy a blower.

Stangshcky12 · Sep 30, 2015

There's quite a few guys running low 12's in Cummins with handshakers, they can certainly go fast.

My 07 is my daily, I no longer live on a farm and have no reason to have a diesel right now but I enjoy the power, sound and shifting gears.

Boudreaux · Oct 2, 2015

I can't think of one. I would not even be worried about the hit in power, it will pull whatever you hook to it.

6speedcummins · Oct 15, 2015

I love my 6 speed, it's the only reason I traded my Duramax for a Ram. It pulls great, has great torque and keeping it at 65 MPH on the highway I get between 23 and 24 MPG. However I do miss the lack of turbo lag and quick acceleration I got with my Duramax/Allison setup. I think if I find a way to take the emissions crap off the exhaust so the engine can breathe it will run so much better.

mike456 · Oct 24, 2015

I graduated from manuals in my late twenties, living in Nyc forget it, automatics have come a long way
my dad just picked up a 16 corvette zo6 in auto, it's faster than manual

SilverSurfer15 · Nov 5, 2015

6speedcummins said:
I love my 6 speed, it's the only reason I traded my Duramax for a Ram. It pulls great, has great torque and keeping it at 65 MPH on the highway I get between 23 and 24 MPG. However I do miss the lack of turbo lag and quick acceleration I got with my Duramax/Allison setup. I think if I find a way to take the emissions crap off the exhaust so the engine can breathe it will run so much better.

a lot of is just the stock tune and torque management, not so much the emissions themselves. Yes, you can get performance increases by removing the emissions, but its minimal compared to the tune itself. A fair amount of people run aftermarket tunes with the emissions and love it. But regardless, with a standard diesel, you will always have the lag. Personally, I don't think its that bad but the manual trans is for a "driver" not for a "commuter". And people don't understand the concept of rolling into the throttle vs just mashing the pedal in.

People don't like the emissions because its a real pain to deal with. Ive been through it twice. Constant trips to the dealer to get sensors and crap replaced. And depending on what happens, it can cause serious damage. And thanks to insane EPA laws, as soon as you have any sort of malfunction you only have a few miles to drive before the truck goes into limp mode. Which is why people hate it. I think people who be more inclined to deal with it if they didn't basically shut the truck down immediately after a failure.

crash_eco · Nov 5, 2015

SilverSurfer15 said:
a lot of is just the stock tune and torque management, not so much the emissions themselves. Yes, you can get performance increases by removing the emissions, but its minimal compared to the tune itself. A fair amount of people run aftermarket tunes with the emissions and love it. But regardless, with a standard diesel, you will always have the lag. Personally, I don't think its that bad but the manual trans is for a "driver" not for a "commuter". And people don't understand the concept of rolling into the throttle vs just mashing the pedal in.

People don't like the emissions because its a real pain to deal with. Ive been through it twice. Constant trips to the dealer to get sensors and crap replaced. And depending on what happens, it can cause serious damage. And thanks to insane EPA laws, as soon as you have any sort of malfunction you only have a few miles to drive before the truck goes into limp mode. Which is why people hate it. I think people who be more inclined to deal with it if they didn't basically shut the truck down immediately after a failure.

Yup. Nothing like having your truck tell you that you got about 600km before it just won't start anymore. I always keep the DEF topped up above 1/2. Dealer suggested 1/2-3/4 full for the winter to help prevent freezing.
This is on the 3L though. Not sure if the bigger trucks have a heater for the DEF or not?

Caldwell · Nov 5, 2015

I like driving manual transmission alot, but it is also something that I do not do everyday anymore. I am glad that I learned how to drive stick when I was 17 ( Thanks Mom ! ).

I can say that clutch foot does get old pretty quick, but ultimately go with what makes you happy. Granted I am only 25... I would only by a manual if it were a sports car ( challenger, mustang, sti wrx etc etc... )

darthdzl · Nov 5, 2015

Caldwell said:
I like driving manual transmission alot, but it is also something that I do not do everyday anymore. I am glad that I learned how to drive stick when I was 17 ( Thanks Mom ! ).

I can say that clutch foot does get old pretty quick, but ultimately go with what makes you happy. Granted I am only 25... I would only by a manual if it were a sports car ( challenger, mustang, sti wrx etc etc... )

I learned how to drive stick at 35. I wanted a VW TDI (early 2000s, not the newer "LIAR LIAR" cars) and found that the slushboxes they put in them sucked horribly.

So, I sucked it up, put on my big-boy pants, bought one, and learned how to drive it in the course of normal business.

On a car, I wouldn't ever want to go back to an automatic. I've owned two more VWs since that one (although paradoxically I'm driving that first one again temporarily), and both have had sticks too. If I did have to go back to an automatic in a car, it'd need to be one of the dual-clutch electronic auto/manuals (VW calls them DSG); no more slushboxes for me.

On trucks, it's a different story. I dunno why, it just is. I can't give you a rational reason, but I just prefer automatic in a truck. But I can easily see how a manual would be pretty kick-ass.

crash_eco · Nov 5, 2015

darthdzl said:
I learned how to drive stick at 35. I wanted a VW TDI (early 2000s, not the newer "LIAR LIAR" cars) and found that the slushboxes they put in them sucked horribly.

So, I sucked it up, put on my big-boy pants, bought one, and learned how to drive it in the course of normal business.

On a car, I wouldn't ever want to go back to an automatic. I've owned two more VWs since that one (although paradoxically I'm driving that first one again temporarily), and both have had sticks too. If I did have to go back to an automatic in a car, it'd need to be one of the dual-clutch electronic auto/manuals (VW calls them DSG); no more slushboxes for me.

On trucks, it's a different story. I dunno why, it just is. I can't give you a rational reason, but I just prefer automatic in a truck. But I can easily see how a manual would be pretty kick-ass.

I learned the same way. Only I was a teenager. I took my 16yr old nephew out last weekend and let him drive around. He did awesome in the parking lot practicing 1-2 shifts. Reversing etc. He managed to drive me and my brother in law home and didn't grind it. Did stall a few times. It was fun.

darthdzl · Nov 6, 2015

crash_eco said:
I learned the same way. Only I was a teenager. I took my 16yr old nephew out last weekend and let him drive around. He did awesome in the parking lot practicing 1-2 shifts. Reversing etc. He managed to drive me and my brother in law home and didn't grind it. Did stall a few times. It was fun.

I like teaching people how to drive stick, but there are so few takers, and I don't have kids (or a female with which to make them).

I had this same car, trying to teach one of my best friends how to drive it (he's 45+, very stubborn, and unwilling to change), and even though he was doing well on starts and shifting into 2nd, he was too stubborn/scared/whatever to progress anymore. I had sold him the car (and have since taken it back due to nonpayment and having to sell my '14 Ram), and his wife ended up driving it. It would have been perfect for his job, but Mr. Too-Set-In-His-Ways made his wife learn how to drive it instead.

Punchline is that this is one of the easiest sticks on Earth to learn. Lots of torque even at idle, easy linear low-effort clutch, slick shifter...

I guess some are more flexible than others.

SilverSurfer15 · Nov 6, 2015

I learned in a 85 civic you had to start with a screw driver... luckily, ive upgraded since that back then! It was actually a terrible car to learn in.

This thread has kind of died, but I appreciate everyones input! I think Im going to grab a new tradesman/bighorn as soon as I can get out of the city.

Shifting gears is not really that bad unless you are in the city, like DC for example, theres not a chance. Especially in a diesel truck. it would be miserable. in "normal" areas, its not that bad.

Try driving a twin disc t56 Camaro (stock hydraulics lolz), big cam, 28 inch ET streets, no a/c, etc as a daily driver in the RAIN and all.

Then when you go back to the little economy car with zero clutch pressure and no real effort to drive, not so bad lol.

Why put yourself through any of that at all, just drive a luxury-ish automatic? Good question :roflsquared:

darthdzl · Nov 6, 2015

SilverSurfer15 said:
I learned in a 85 civic you had to start with a screw driver... luckily, ive upgraded since that back then! It was actually a terrible car to learn in.

Heh. Sounds like a friend of mine. When we were both in high school, he had a '72 Datsun wagon (already 15 years old by then) that was three different colors that he kept running somehow.

After a while, the ignition switch simply wore out, and he wired up the ignition to the heater fan switch and added a pushbutton for the starter. All with speaker wire. Had a few fires, but he had plenty of speaker wire to rewire with.

crash_eco · Nov 6, 2015

darthdzl said:
Heh. Sounds like a friend of mine. When we were both in high school, he had a '72 Datsun wagon (already 15 years old by then) that was three different colors that he kept running somehow.

After a while, the ignition switch simply wore out, and he wired up the ignition to the heater fan switch and added a pushbutton for the starter. All with speaker wire. Had a few fires, butnhe had plenty of speaker wire to rewire with.

Haha. Anyone who owned a bunch of 80-90's cars pre electronic overload probably owned or drove something that didn't need a key. For me it was my 89 blazer. It was so worn out, you just had to turn the tumbler.

reb0957 · Nov 6, 2015

The most important item missing here is no one EVER asks to borrow your standard truck!!!

Klaus96 · Nov 9, 2015

Jimmy68 said:
I had an 07 Cummins and 6 spd manual, Thought way cool. ****, hated it. Wanna play? Shift, shift, shift, shift, shift, going 40, shift, shift, damn gotta slow down, shift, shift, shift, floor it, shift, shift, shift, wheee, damn, shift shift, shift, slow stupid traffic, yay, shift, shift , shift, red light, shift, shift, clutch, coast, stop, green, shift, shift, shift, shift, slow down shift, shift, going again, shift, shift, shift, shift, omfg I shift hate this truck shift shoulda shift bought an shift automatic, shift, DAMMIT shift, I'm going shift home shift truck pi(shift)ssing me off shift.
Get it?

Now that's fuc@#$ng funny!!! :favorites13:

reb0957 · Nov 9, 2015

When I had mine and I was stuck in houston traffic. I would just create a gap between me and car in front of me and let it idle forward...It took me a while to learn that

NewBlackDak · Nov 11, 2015

You guys had it easy. I learned on a 20 year old tractor with a sticky manual clutch. Grandpa hands me the keys, and say "go move the tractor back to the barn". When I asked him how he said, "you seen me do it a million times, figure it out".

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SouthTexan · Nov 11, 2015

Oh I remember my first time driving a tractor. It took me a few minutes to figure out that what I thought was the accelerator pedal is actually the clutch. My older brother could not stop laughing when I finally found out that what I thought was the turn signal lever was actually the fuel (accelerator) lever. I should have known something was up when he chuckled a bit when I asked if it was the turn signal lever. As we started going he said "Take a left here, but don't forget to use your turn signal". Apparently the look of holy terror on my face as the tractor came to life was funny to him.

6speedcummins · Nov 14, 2015

SilverSurfer15 said:
a lot of is just the stock tune and torque management, not so much the emissions themselves. Yes, you can get performance increases by removing the emissions, but its minimal compared to the tune itself. A fair amount of people run aftermarket tunes with the emissions and love it. But regardless, with a standard diesel, you will always have the lag. Personally, I don't think its that bad but the manual trans is for a "driver" not for a "commuter". And people don't understand the concept of rolling into the throttle vs just mashing the pedal in.

People don't like the emissions because its a real pain to deal with. Ive been through it twice. Constant trips to the dealer to get sensors and crap replaced. And depending on what happens, it can cause serious damage. And thanks to insane EPA laws, as soon as you have any sort of malfunction you only have a few miles to drive before the truck goes into limp mode. Which is why people hate it. I think people who be more inclined to deal with it if they didn't basically shut the truck down immediately after a failure.

I just remember back when I got my Duramax. I tuned it and other things and would get some gains. It was an '06 so it just came with a cat on it. Once the cat was gone as soon as I pulled out from the shop the throttle response was so much better. Instant spool and throttle response. I just know if I had straight exhaust on this truck it would do the same.

Reasons NOT to buy a 6spd Manual Cummins?

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