I love my 5 speed. It works for the kind of off roading that I do (mild to medium trails). I would not recommend it for a rock crawler.

 

For off road use the AW4 is the preferred trans of choice stronger, more trouble free. Only reason I can see for having a manual trans in an off road XJ is if you must use a PTO driven winch then you must have one. I would run nothing other than an auto anymore for about everything I own, even trucks as they are rated higher for an auto than a manual for towing.

HP cars the really fast ones drag race other than Pro Stock and Top Fuel most all use autos, either manual or air shifted mine is setup to do both.

Autos have came a long ways over the years for everything as they progressed manuals stayed about the same.

 

I'm pretty sure its a preference, I have a manual at this time and having a blast with it. I do know it sucks going up hill, rock crawling, and sometimes in the mud.


But theres a page here in the forum that a guy installed a bike gear changer thing that is on a mountain bike and attached the cable to his throttle cable. So when he was climbing or driving he can keep the rpms up

 

1994 with a guesstimated 300k miles (speedo and odometer stopped a while ago at 200 something thousand)

 

Something's wrong with that picture. 94 accord would have a clutch safety switch, the starter motor won't crank unless the clutch is in.

 

clutch was "in" it lost compression blew some seal clutch was on the floor. So the switch was activated

 

Hand throttles are pretty cool. I've owned, mildly wheeled, gotten stuck/recovered in both an AW4 and an AX-15 XJ. After dealing with remedying the 3.07 final drives and towing/pulling with my current rig, if I were to do it again, I'd get another AW4. Don't get me wrong, I adore heal towing and just general hoonigan stuff with the AX-15 but getting use to wheeling with it has been a whole new challenge.

 

i love my automatics on road and off road but i have noticed that my 5 speed as better pulling power i pulled my friends jeep out so easy when no body with an automatic could.

 

love my manual its gotten me out of alot hills sometimes can be a pain but if you know the terrain you can do most everything a auto will. the upsides on the manual is way more for me. battery dies pop the clutch. you can rock it out easly from a mud hole. clutch/clutch slave/ or master goes out you can still drive it just going to be power shifting. out of gas run the starter to move it if need be ( not recommended). you can swap transmissions in less than 2hrs. you can clutch kick a manual. less over heating. I could pry think of more.

 

Years ago knew a rural builder with a Dodge Power Wagon -- not the military version but a pre-Ram one -- with manual trans and he always started it without pushing the clutch down. Tried it once or twice on my old M38A1 but didn't like it though the vehicle didn't seem to mind.
On the manual versus automatic, my worthless view: Manual is more fun but a pain in traffic and I never saw any saving in mileage. I encounter a lot -- I mean a lot -- of deep mud on my two miles offroad track to my cabin and auto is a lot easier and smoother. I think I miss the manual but am not sure...anyway the modern auto is fine but I would like to lock it first without the 1/2 in my AW4. Long way around to say, why did engineers design it as a 1/2 ? Wouldn't have saved a whole lot of money in mfg so there must have been an idea behind it.

 

I don't own a jeep yet, but with any 4wd I would prefer the manual because you can put it in low-low to go down a steep slick hill and it will stay in that gear until you change it. No automatic I've ever seen would match the "hold back" power of a manual, plus like said above in the newer ones (like our Chevy car with 4 speed auto but only 3 shift positions) it does not stay in Low-1 but jumps back and forth between L-1 and L-2.

My K1500 Chevy 5-speed manual is not low geared by any comparison, but in low range it still does fine stump-jumping and crawling up steep hills when out getting firewood. The 4wd Suburban with 4sp auto will stay in L-1 but it gains a lot more speed than a manual in first, so you have to use the brakes.

 

Depends on the vehicle. On a 4x4, I prefer an auto IF the engine makes enough torque. I am more comfortable pulling a heavy trailer with an auto trans (no slipping the clutch), and definitely more comfortable in any type of off road situation or snow with a slushbox.


With a sports car, or a 4 cyl truck, then it should be a standard shift. You can keep a weaker engine in the powerband easier with a standard, and there is no denying the fun factor of rowing through the gears. I do like being able to roll start a vehicle with a dead starter/battery, that is IMO the biggest advantage of a standard.

 

I vote standard trans, when stuck, one can rock back and forth much easier than an auto equipped rig. Down sides to standard would be; early internal slave cylinders, towing is more of a chore, traffic, rock crawling is hard on the clutch, momentum on hill climbs. I'm sure there is more. For me auto trans drive me nutz, I can't stand the random spuratic shifts most do for no reason. But that's a personal preference from someone who feels they need to be in full control of the vehicle they drive.

 

I've only ever owned one auto. All my other vehicles have been manual but I really like the aw4. Yes, 1,2,3,D would be better than 2,3,D but apart from that it is great.
I think the auto suits the laid back character of the XJ. It's slow and comfy, not a sports car.

 

All my life I have been primarily a "manual" kinda guy. So there is no doubt where my affections lie.

I didn't see any comments on the obvious though,,,,getting a BUMP START,,, can't do that in any auto equipped vehicle. That "benefit" alone as well as simplicity in replacement IMO makes the manual tranny a no-brainer for me.

:shrug: