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Give me a rubber floor (or carpeted if I have no choice...even the cheapest Dak has carpet and cloth seats), A/C, crank windows, manual locks, a CD player if you must, 2WD, since I know how to drive in the snow, 3 pedals and a big goofy stick poking through the floor. Engine choice? "Sufficient" is what I say. I think the 4.3L Chevy, 4.2L Ford and 3.7L Dodge are all respectable engines for a working halfton. A "Fast Truck" is an oxymoron. Someone can sink $5,000 into their Hemi Ram and get toasted by a 500CC motorcycle.

Towing or hauling? You need a V8! But no reason why that should restrict you to an automatic transmission. An F-150 with a 302 and a 5 speed sounds perfect to me. Or a nice 4.7 Ram with an 8 foot bed, and that slick G238.

I like the control, simplicity and fun of a manual. Ripping around, double clutching, pulling hills in 3rd just for kicks
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+1. Thats exactly how I feel. I think the next best hope for getting a manual in a full size pick up may be in the new small diesel engines I have been hearing about. I hope they see the light of day soon. As for the gearing I'm not sure. It is primarily a work truck right now so I won't be doing any modding for awhile.

 

I have a V-6 QC auto 1500. It gets me around town but I'm not winning any races. Althought it does get me up the hills to Vegas with no problem. I wanted an auto because of L.A. traffic, I had a 5 speed Civic prior and didn't want to do it with a bigger truck. Besides a cai, headers, and exhaust any suggestions to get more power?

 

Trade in for a bigger motor or smaller truck. You could eat $5000 on a trade and get a much more powerful truck, or sink $5000 into your 3.7L and maybe gain 25 or 30 HP at the wheels.

It is what it is, a 5,000 # truck with little engine. 4.56 gears would be the biggest help. You won't gain any power, but the truck will get up and go more quickly.

 

I totally agree and if I knew what I was buying I might have held out. But I'm cool with what I got 4 now. I love my Dodge. I bought it not knowing much about trucks besides the fact I needed one, and the price was right. I'm not looking to race or go crazy fast on the highway, I'm done with that. Costs too much if you get caught. But coming from a rice burner background I still have that itch too mod. I gotta make her mine. What do you suggest for gears, and where do you guys buy your goods? Thanks.

Funny, I can't stand the sound of a rice burner anymore.