The autos in the 4.7 are the same as the 5.7. They all use the 5-45RFE. Typically, the people that have tranny problems are those that try to shove a lot of power through it (like me -- except fortunately i havent had tranny issues yet, knock no wood). They may be really inefficient, but the autos will hold together the life of the truck as long as you dont abuse it.

Im not familiar with the manual's reliability, but the fact that i havent heard of any issues probably speaks for itself.

 

Eh, I beat my buddy's built 12 valve Cummins RCLB with my truck. Though I think I got him on the shifts as his is manual, I could hear him chirping the tires all the way through third but he had good traction.

 

From a dig, yes, Cummins all the way, top end......4.7L all day long. I know, "i seent it". Lol.

 

The 545rfe is significantly better than the 45rfe transmission as far as longevity goes. Still about the least efficient auto on the market though as far as parasitic loss, but they do last a lot longer than older Chrysler trannies.
You CAN NOT get anything other than a CTD in a manual transmission any more. NO 4.7, no Hemi whether it's 1500 or 2500.

IMPO get the Hemi, especially if you are looking QC or 4x4 or both. Even though there is nothing wrong with the 4.7 and it's a very underrated engine, IMO, but there is almost no mpg advantage to the 4.7...

 

If you want to go to a stick----I did, You'll have to move up to a 2500 if you want the Hemi.

I like the combination, and have no need for the Cummins, especially the 10k increase in price when I bought mine. The six speed comes out of the Mercedes-Bentz commercial truck line and is *******ly bullet proof. I still have the original clutch in mine at 130K, but most of my mileage is highway too.

Hope this helps in your decision

 

You'd have to move up to an OLDER 2500 as they are not produced with a manual transmission any more...

 

Sadly hammer is correct, kinda lame if u ask me, manual is the only way to go for me, so looks like the cummins is my next truck, i drove my buddies hemi before i decided on this truck and his was a RCSB and yes it had more power, i just kinda felt bored driving it ya know and dont have much faith in autos... but thats my opinion...

 

I'm looking for older ones anyway, I can't afford a new truck.

 

I will have to do some more looking. There is a decent looking 2003 with the 4.7 4x4 QC here, and i'm hoping I can get it for cheap. MPG is not really important to me, but it may be if it's unbearable.

 

I have 34s on my truck and i get around 12.5 city and about 15-16 highway, mine is a 6-speed and that extra 6th gear really help with MPG on the highway, i go 70 and it only runs at 2100 rpms, i dont know about the autos though...