my '11 F250 6.7L Ford SMOKES every manual transmission for towing, climbing, engine-braking, etc, etc, etc. .
If by SMOKES you mean out runs it on a short hill, you may be correct. Pull 20K up a 40 mile grade and your AT will overheat and hate you enough to quit. When it comes to maintenance, I put a clutch in every 350K, you rebuild every 100K.
Yep, autos sure are nice up here on icy alaskan roads. My 1992 cummins, if you let off the clutch too quickly shifting gears, that rear-end would kick out, due to all the engine compression. Or even letting off the throttle too quickly going down hill.
I don't know how this can be as diesel engines don't operate on a vacuum like gas engines do. Gas with a "posi" I completely understand - that's why there is a clutch. Has to be operator error.
