Just wanted to see what people prefer when it comes to trannys...Manual or Automatic? Give your pluses and minuses when it comes to street and trail riding.

I'd make it a poll if I knew how to do that...heh

 

for wheeling auto for sure but i like my 5 speed

 

5 speed all the way, better MPG if you know how to drive, less drag on the engine which means more power to the ground and less strain on the engine which usually lets the engine last longer, easier and cheaper to rebuild most likely, more challenging, and best of all its fun, specially with a throaty exhaust and frying little ricers on the road.

 

same

 

and all God's people said Amen!

 

I love the five speed but with stock shifter its horrible, feels like a tractor or something, was very annoying to shift, so if you get a five speed I highly recommend a short throw shifter, makes it 100x better, shifts like a car with a good shifter installed. Plus you don't have to deal with ATF, dropping the pan to change filter and all that nonsense, but if you ever thing you might to something I would go with auto tranny, towing seems to be very hard on the clutch where with an auto and a torque converter seems much more friendly when it comes to pulling something.

 

5spd, if your good with the clutch and heel toe shifting its just as good as a auto

 

Not to be an ***, but IMHO heal toe shifting in a jeep is a waste, that technique is usually used for downshift when slowing down but the brakes will slow you down way better then the engine ever will if you are rev match on downshifts, your vehicle will not slow down any better when down shifting if you are applying brakes, brakes are the best and once again, IMHO the only way to slow a vehicle down and if you heal toe (or I imagine the way the pedals are setup in the jeep it would be more of a toe/toe operation) you are just adding unneeded wear to the clutch, and brake's are much cheaper to change than a clutch, unless heal toe is a technique used for rock's or really aggressive trails, which I have never done so I have no experience in that matter.

Also mine has stock gears, which are so low in a slow trail environment I could not imagine getting out of first, maybe second if there was a higher speed area, but I am putting in 4.11's and if the gears were higher than that, (with bigger tires even higher gear ratio's) you might have to do a lot of shifting and maybe heal/toe from second down to first, but once again I have no experience with jeep's when it comes to trail or rocks.

 

I prefer to drive manual, and my fun/track car is stick, but the Cherokee is automatic. I figured it would be easier to manage since I bought my Cherokee primarily to drive in really nasty conditions.

Normally though, stick FTW!

 

i have auto and love it , iv had 5 speed all my life and im sick of shifting ,and besides that you can get on and off the gas a lot smoother for technical stuff

 

always have liked manual better in my vehicles. i like the control and fun that comes with it. keeps me awake too. thought i read some of the rock crawlers on here talking about auto bein better when it comes to that stuff. never really gotten into the real extreme stuff, just the 4x4 roads to get to my fishin' spots. i'd like to know why some guys like the auto better for the crawlin

 

im not a rock crawler but , its just like being on a steep hill at a red light and someone stops right on your ***,,what would you rather have stick shift or an auto in that situation ?

 

Heel/toe is not generally used for engine breaking. Rather, it's used to rev match on downshifts for when you're braking and intending to come out of the brake in a different gear at a much higher rpm.

I agree it probably wouldn't do a whole lot in a Jeep, but it makes a big difference in my car when I'm going from 3rd to 1st around a curve, and will be at 6500+rpm when I clutch out. It makes a difference when you have an 8500rpm rev limit. Without a revmatch, a lot of transmissions won't even let you make that shift. As it is, it helps save your synchros when the difference between the flywheel speed and the transmission is closer.

 

id rather have big spikes on my rear bumper then drop it into rev and floor it....

 

I see what you are saying, but I am strongly against engine braking, I have been to many driving school's and have been an instructor, and I highly discourage it. My rev limit is around 9000 (on the car) so I make hardly any power under 4000 rpm's, but say I am in a high speed straight (like topped out in 4th) and the turn calls for first or second gear, I will let the brakes slow the car and not use engine braking at all because engine braking is very inefficient compared to just using brakes, but then when I get in gear I want after trail braking I will blip throttle to get me at proper rpm to match the speed of car so I am right in power band and don't upset the balance of car. But this is WAY off topic so sorry about that, just wanted to put a little more clarity to my first post, IMO I wouldn't do it in a jeep, except I always blip the throttle a bit to match speed, but the only reason I do it in the jeep is more practice for the car so it becomes second nature.