I agree with you. Except he tows everything. And he tows heavy. Lots of wood, equipment, machinery, etc. But as you can imagine he's a slow, patient driver. Its not a race truck, or a race puller. He matches shifts with an artists touch. And he spent 3500 to build his trans at the point it failed. And he buys a new 3disk clutch every year when he gets his taxes. An auto on that dodge truck would be equally bad, but this is about FORD transmissions. I have been taught how to drive like he does. I'm sure a manual would last a long time, with me. I wouldn't even tune it. It isn't meant to be fast. You must be patient, and it helps living in a rural community. I Dont have a choice where I live. That's the governments to make. So I bought an automatic. I can slam brakes , floor it, pay more attention to the road, because people in cities live in a bubble and play games on their phones while driving. Its that simple. And I have a 26 hr drive back home when I take leave. If you want to talk about destroying a trans, driving like I do with my truck, for 26 hrs, don't even think about it. In fact with 12k behind me I didn't even peg 190* F on my trans. This is going from reno through Nevada, through salt lake, wyoming, the great divide, Colorado then Kansas. In about a day. I smoke too, so stop and start for fuel, cigarettes(refuse to smoke in my truck), pissing, crazy drivers and fatigue, I'm sure an auto = the best choice. That's a pretty extreme use for these trucks. Yes there are those who put 5 million miles in ten years, but MOST, and I mean 90% oof people Dont have a truck with more that 200,000 miles. I Dont, but it'll get there quick.
