Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How many of you old farts still drive a standard ?

The tractor I'm in the process of building has a Mercruiser 4 cylinder engine, a 3 speed automatic trans backed up by a 4 speed manual and a 2 speed vacuum shift rear end. 24 forward speeds and 8 in reverse. It should be able to climb trees if it can get any traction.

How about a 9 speed ? Or 13, 15 ,18, 21 ???
Most youngsters can not that's why the trucking industry got automatic .. youngsters can not cut it ...

Heel & Toe Baby, Heel & Toe... Heel on the brake, Toe on the gas... Forgive me Lord how i Love (d) it so...

Nice truck!

Man that F100 is nice!

Both are very nice!

Guilty.....

In the early '80's, I drove in "the patch" - most of our trucks had 5X4 Brownie set-ups.
Learned to shift gears so young, I had to duck under the dashboard, stab the clutch, and get a gear - before bouncing back to where I could see through the windshield - '57 Chevy 4X4 - original.
Now keep an '09 Dodge Cummins w/ a 6 speed manual for ranch work & pulling trailers.
Beating the damn door down on 70!

Cummins has what's called a ZTL, zero throttle launch, in their stick shift Rams. Maybe it was found in other brands, too, I don't know. It's used for getting a manual pickup moving up a hill with a load. You let off the brake until it's barely holding. Then slowly let out the clutch. Don't touch the throttle (hence the ZERO Throttle). When it starts to stall, the computer takes over and handles the throttle for you, getting it moving easily. It will continue to drive it slowly until you touch the throttle, then you're in control again.

Actually - trucking moved to autos because they were recruiting drivers from older people looking for second careers. They found that people of advanced age had a harder time with the heavy clutch and double clutching on bad knees.

Anyway - that was the reasoning at the carrier I was working at when the autos started taking hold and we were buying 3800 new trucks every year to keep the fleet average at 3yrs.

NOW - I would state it's not because someone can't drive stick - as in unable to learn. It's because they never had to and training programs aren't revenue generating for carriers. Put them in an auto and not need to teach someone from zero how to drive a manual saves time and gets that trainee on the road, pulling loads sooner. Autos in class 8 have gotten a lot better but I still prefer to float a 10 or 13 speed if given the option.

My Tacoma has a "Clutch Start Cancel" button. Lets you start rolling without it. I've never tried it.

Yes autos and class 8 have gotten better. Where did it this way for the original talking about old farts.. but who double clutches who has ever double clutch that really drives a truck? Yes I know the driver's test...
I find it interesting nowadays that a CDL test you can take it in an automatic truck but you will have a license restricted to automatic only.. we have a few youngsters that work for us that are this way on a CDL..

Very nice. Bet you do have some fun with that one. My brother had one with the split rear window. I think it was 1967. Fun car. It would put you back in the seat when you banged second gear.

I picked up this 2001 Ford Ranger yesterday. I wanted a small 4x4 truck for a run around vehicle and all around hunting/fishing/trapping truck and didn't want payments. My old F350 is a great truck but only one vehicle makes me nervous. And diesel is a dollar or more a gallon higher than gas locally.

Pretty clean and it has been well cared for. 130,000 miles and very clean interior. Five speed. It's been a few years but it came right back to me. I splurged for a personalized plates for both trucks. The F350 is 400WHLN.

Idaho driver's licenses and plates now. It's official. We ain't Alaskans any longer.

Mart looks like you did better than most..mb

I think I did okay on it. Came with a second set of tires on nice rims. The tires weren’t much but I plan to have a set of studs put on for the winter. Drove it from Craigmont to Walla Walla yesterday. It handled well and seems to run great. The guy was pretty meticulous about maintenance. Just need to add a canoe rack to the canopy.

Those Danger Rangers are tough trucks. Always liked them.

Drive this 66 Fairlane every so often. 4 speed.
Was driving my dads 56 Chevy 3 speed on the column when I was 14. Am 73 now


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Live action!

70 and still driving a 1985 Chevy C-10.