Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

I had no idea these trucks existed. Have only ever seen the Allison 5/6 speeds.

How rare are they? I would like to find a crew dually gmc with one.

Dru
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Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

incredibly rare. real real rare

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

They made very few of them and they stopped production in like '04 or '05. You'd have to wait and watch for a long time to find one.
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Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

They are out there....Mostly in "White" Fleet trucks:lol:, Finding one that has the options you want is next to impossible.....
The trans is called a ZF S6-650, If you break one....You will wish you got a Allison.
They were discontinued in mid '06 along with the LLY Duramax.
They were also put behind 8.1L Vortecs. & Ford diesels.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

They made 1% of all Dmax's 6 speeds.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

Is that a "hard" percentage? I've done large fleet work, & seen more than 50 of them lined up in a row;)

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

I've been keeping an eye out and looking around for one for myself. They come about every once in a while.

Problem is that they are usually high milers and driven hard. Lots of the ones I find are cab and chassis models or 3500 dually models.

I absolutely love my Duramax/Allison equipped truck, but I still love shifting gears, so it's a toss up for me.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

1% of all Dmax's manufactured from 2001 to present day. They are that hard to find. Just because a fleet of 50 were ordered manual that means there are another 5000 that were auto.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

OK, If you know the EXACT percentage.....How many Duramax/S6-650 trucks were built? And how many Allison trucks? For each year?

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

Exact question I have. If 6lcummins is confident of 1%, let’s see the numbers and source of data. To count to present day isn’t accurate as 2006 was the last year a manual trans could be had in a GM truck. Any data should be based from 2001 to 2006.

GM 6 speeds are somewhat rare, but not totally unheard of. Manuals transmission availability, regardless of what trans model or if behind a gas or diesel, more depend on what region of the country you live in more than anything. Here in the West it is not uncommon to find a manual trans truck. In the Midwest and East manuals are rare in ANY vehicle. When I worked at GM most manual transmission shipments were typically to western states.

The beauty of getting a manual transmission in a GM truck was the fact manual shift transfercases were standard. No electric shift garbage transfercases behind manuals (except S10’s). Ford and Dodge coupled manual transmissions to electric shift transfercases for some odd reason. At least GM had the good sense not to do that.

In all reality, it is no big loss GM didn’t offer more 6 speeds behind the 8.1L or Dirtymax. In my opinion, GM would have been better off using a NV5600 like what was used in the Dodge. The ZF S6-650 has pretty miserable shift gates, stupid shift pattern and is noisy. Albeit, the ZF is darn near bullet proof. Part of the misery with the manuals in the GMT800 trucks was due to how GM has the clutch pedal geometry out of whack. The clutch works more like an on/off switch where launching the trucks smoothly is practically impossible. Every GMT800 manual trans truck I’ve driven is like that.

I guess you could call this ECSB truck with a ZF S6-650 equipped the 8.1L a somewhat rare truck. I bought this new in 2001 and still have it. It only has 56,000 miles on the clock today.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5166/5...50f9558e_z.jpg

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

I was wrong, from what I found only 25% of all GM's were manual from 01 to present.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

*facepalm*
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I have one. I love it. The Allison is an awesome transmission. I just like doing things myself.


And mine's not white...I even have a power driver's seat.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

I hunted for 6 years before I bought my 01 I was a farm truck in Mississippi and I'm in Ok. I finally found a dealer willing to find me the truck I wanted, and I bought it with 250,000 I have 325,000 on it I love it wouldn't trade it for the world. Even though I put a clutch in it. Then I had to get a transmission at 320,000, I got one cheaper than an Allison. had I not had to put a shaft in the tranny it would have been cheaper to rebuild than an Allison. but time was not on my side and I found a tranny and had it shipped in and will rebuild my old one later. Like Larry said clutch engagement takes a bit of time to make it smooth.

When dad bought his new truck the sales guy at the dealer called and tried to trade me out of it when he told the guy I had a stick shift, said he had a several people looking for these trucks. I haven't put my tractor on dads 08 yet but the little I have used it I think that my 6 speed would out pull his Allison. When it's time to move cattle at the end of the month we will find out though. All in all I freaking love my stick shift. wouldn't trade it for any thing. I will probably build and rebuild this truck for years, or just put the power train in my old 84 K20.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

You put a clutch & a transmission in it. There are Allison 1000's with more than 700K on them with nothing but regular service.
Just because you can find a cheap "rebuild" kits for a ZF transmissions.....Does not mean it can be rebuilt. They are "Throw away" transmissions.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

Yeah I have put a transmission and clutch in my Duramax. I bought a used truck that hasn't seen an easy life either. Having a local transmission parts warehouse where I'm able to get parts and do the work my self makes for a cheap rebuild. I personally haven't seen an Allison make it that many miles yet but that don't mean they aren't out there. All the autos I have seem to live about a 150-190K turbo400, 4L60E, and a 4L80E . I just like having a mechanical coupler between the engine and transmission rather than a fluid coupler. For when hay season is in full swing it's nice having a truck that will pull it's self and a load up an incline with out any throttle in 2 high while I'm stacking square bales. I can just have my niece steer and not worrie about getting thrown off the trailer.but to each his own. I don't quite believe that the ZF6 is a throwaway since I know of several ford guys that have rebuilt theirs, but a ford is different to a GM. Luckly a few parts do interchange. But may I ask Why do you think a ZF6 is a throw away if you don't mind me asking?

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

The ZF6 costs just as much to rebuild as to replace. That's why it's a "throw-away". I have personally never seen an Allison go out in a stock truck. They are THE bullet proof transmission. I'm sure if I ever saw a stock truck go to the half a million plus mile range it might start to go, but I've never seen a truck make it that far. I'm all with you on manual tranny's having better power transfer, and I too would rather be grinding the gears myself, but there's no doubt the Allison has the ZF6 outgunned when it comes to durability.
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Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

Million Mile Duramax/Allison.
http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-mi...erado_pas.html

I can understand you NEED a manual with a "granny" low to do your job.

Rebuilding a ZF-6 requires about $1500 in tools alone & you have to know what your doing, If you need hard parts like gears, shafts or shift forks.... this will easily exceed what a Genuine ZF reman cost.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

When I ordered my 2004 2500HD, I considered getting the manual transmission with my 8.1. It was offered behind the Big Block or the Duramax. But in the end I went with the Allison transmission and LT package with leather bucket seats. Still have the truck, with just over 100k miles on it. No complaints.

Re: Duramax 6 speed MANUAL
 

I bought a 03' Dmax Reg cab long box 4 x 4 6-speed manual last November. Has. 230 KM . Great truck..... peppy.... and fantastic on fuel. I usually get 1000 km per tank. The 6 speed shifts nice, but seems a little "close" between gears. Maybe great for towing, but I don't tow a lot with it. At 65 MPH, I'm turning slightly over 2000 RPM. Would be nice if 6 th gear was a little "taller". My Son fell in love with the truck, and managed to find a 01' Dmax Reg Cab 4 x 4 6 speed manual in Jan. So now we have (2) in the yard. Nice truck on the highway, but get tired of shifting pretty quick in the city.