Some time in '08 I think they upped the OD ratio on the 6 speed manual trans and it is not as bad about revs as mine is, they also introduced 3.42 gears for the manual trucks sometime in '07 as an option, plus like you said you can put bigger tires on it. Honestly, my truck has to be one of the easiest manual trans vehicles I have ever driven, really not a hassle to drive even in traffic.

 

I was on my 4th set of head gaskets 3rd set of heads new rad. new trans. new air cond. keep on blowing water out of the overflow tank. 4 new injectors on the first set of heads. I could just keep going the truck had 102572 mile on it when I dumped it.The old 7.3 was the good eng. I had 147623 miles on my old truck and never once
did I have to take it back to Ford. Should have keep the 2003 truck with the 7.3