Yeah, and what's the torque rating of the Mercedes G56? 460 ft.lbs?

Just another example of DC trying to save a dime at the expense of the consumer. Build them so they JUST survive past the shortened warranty limit.
When it dies, DC expects you to come buy a new truck.

Why do you think Luke S pedals their trucks at 40K miles?

 

Because he overoads them on a daily basis.I've known others that avoided the midduty and larger trucks and road taxes by doing the same.Unloaded theirs every 60k.

 

Tad big exaggerated.

The G56 was not an MCM proposal, the NV5600 is simply not available in the volume DC needs anymore. They had to go to something. Like SuperDuty says, they are already well known in Europe on Medium Duty applications.

I do agree that they should have designed a 7 (or even 9) speed manaul trans with a huge overdrive (0.6 : 1 maybe) to get the rpms down to the sweet spot (1800 - 1900) for BSFC at hwy speeds.

Or at least did some development on the gear ratios.

 

I agree about a 7th gear. When running with just an empty trailer 7th would be good, but at the weights we run loaded 6th in the G56 is all I need. I like it. As I said before, I like the G56, I do not honestly think DC would go to a lesser quality transmission then the one they had with the diesel pick-up race being so hot right now, that would not be smart. I think it will prove over time to be just as good if not better than a NVG5600. Hounddog is right, we run smaller trucks to avoid a lot of red tap DOT b.s. We still are supposed to have a lot of junk paper and licenses to run as we do now but have gotten away with it for the last 5 or so years we have been running the bigger trailers, so we keep pushing on. We really should be running a single axle tractor of some sort but the red tap gets very prohibitive. Some trucks we don't even keep till 20k, the less miles we put on them the better shape they are in. Just got rid of an 05' last week too with only 21k on it.

 

I want 7 speeds too.

 

This is getting pretty silly with all the people wanting the truck geared for maximum economy while empty. This is a TRUCK meant for TOWING. It is geared for TOWING. Have you guys looked at the weights of the transmissions in medium duty trucks that have comparable engine specs? They are heavy and we are short on payload as it is. I don't even think there should be a 2500 with the Cummins in it, payload is too low and they should just make 3500 srw.

 

I agree with the payload comment. These trucks are heavy compared to a full on class 8, for what we get. I think it is time the manufacturers went to aluminum. The bodies are getting heavy because they are so big.

It would be nice to have tilt forward hoods too. Easy engine servicing. I think that crash safety becomes an issue though.

The new Ford concept truck has a really low roof line, I think for good aerodynamics.

A 7 speed transmission wouldn't have to be that much heavier though.

But the next generation of transmission will have to handle more torque though. The Duramax has already exceeded the torque limit of the ZF6. It is only offered with the LB7 and not the more powerful engines. And they have a lot of clutch trouble.

 

How much heavier is a 6spd compared to a 5?

 

Hard to compare because they also went up in torque.

Adding another gear to the current transmissions shouldn't add much weight.

I think the issue is more adding more torque capability to them. I think they need to step up the input shaft size again and make all the gears larger. And when you do that, they shift slower because there is more mass and the synchros get worked harder.

And not everyone likes manual transmissions.

 

How can anyone not like a manual??????

 

Don't laugh, but the NV5600 has the same torque rating. It's how the tranny is rated for the torque. This is continuous duty rating, for the life of the tranny. Not a peak torque rating.

MikeyB

 

If you don't think that the 2500 should have a diesel in it then why do you have one?

Also, mileage empty could be better. They should get a tranny like in the big rigs with splitters. That way you don't have to go through so many gears, just lift the button and your in road gear.

 

That would be too complex for a pick-up. A lot of the guys I sell 6-speed's to have a hard enough time just figuring out which gear they are in. Also spliter's or 2-speed's or whatever you want to call them would add a lot to the price of a truck.

 

Unfortunately, I bet they stop offering manuals sometime after 2010. Too much warranty on clutches from people who don't know how to shift.

I think you should be able to get a diesel in every automotive application, regardless if you towing or not.

Using today's technology, why wouldn't you want both good fuel economy empty and the ability to tow whatever? If you added another overdrive to the current 6-spd, you could still have the same tow rating and get better fuel economy.

Why wouldn't you want that?

Did you know that the only difference between a 2500 and 3500SRW is a helper spring in the rear leaf spring pack (its only a $200 option)? So I agree, there shouldn't even be a 2500 (or just add the stupid spring and not have a 3500SRW).

 

I got a 2500 because I wanted the QCLB and 6 spd, that's what I found and I don't think they offered a SRW longbed combo in 3500. I figured they should drop the 2500 because the GVWR would be almost 10000 lbs. I suppose the axle gearing could be dropped to about 3.0 and towing could be done in 5th on a 6 spd but I don't know how much weaker this would make the axle gearset and it may cause more failures. A 3.55 to 3.73 is about the strongest for its size. Anyone found a seven speed with double overdrive and a low weight?