i am told chevrolet no longer offers manual transmissions in their new silverados, not even for the duramax diesel..if this is true-why?? thank you for any input/answers...( the one reason i was told is because manualss only accounted for a very small percentage of sales)  

It is true and I think it is a bad move. It died with a the 8.1 usage. (Ford and Dodge still do) GM replaced it with a 6 speed 6L80 in 2500 trucks with gas motors (which is far from cool in usage and not well calibrated or implemented). It has a compound OD and a taller stock axle ratio and is a real slug in 6th. Part of the reason they stopped it on HD P/U's might be because they had flywheel problems on Dmax. It has a laminated flywheel as engine is externally balanced and people would ride the clutch and slip it to try and make the engine torque pull a taller start out ratio. (this is why semis have very deep first gears to prevent burning the clutch) Problem is this caused a lot of extra heat and with time broke down the rubber between lamination layers and then engine got noisy and a bit rough and clutch chattered too and resulted in a expensive repair complete with flywheel replacement.  

thank you for the explanation.well, if it's automatic, what's the word on the allison/duromax setup? decent? godd? bad?  

Ally is a good tranny, I just fail to see the logic of a 8 grand option to get that engine in a P/U. (costs more because it must come with ally now) It is not worth it to me. It would never pay back plus diesel is running 75 cents more a gallon here and last winter it was a buck more. When diesel was cheaper than gas and it was a 2200 dollar option thru 2000 it could pay back but not today. You loose money with one if you are a bean counter like I am. I have bought and owned GM trucks all my life but if I was going to buy one tomorrow it would be a Ford as you can get a 6 speed manual or a decent 5 sp auto with a gas motor today in one. It is more trucky than a new Chevy and more than a Dodge too.  

thanks. like you i'm a gm guy-always had manuals in my trucks.i have driven frined's rigs-one a dodge the other ford(diesels) both with manuals, and hate to say it but the ford felt like the best -(wake up chevy!)  

Ford make a nice truck today and arguably the best true truck out there. GM seems more focused on making it more car like and even has plastic bumpers too. (those massive looking bumper wings in front of front tires are simply chrome plated plastic!!!) Ford still has a real metal bumper.  

i agree-building car-like trucks for the masses, most who don't even need one...give me manual everything, solid front axle and a truck that is a truck...the bow tie needs to get back to the basics or else(could it be so?) i might have to cross over to the blue oval(gasp!)  

Like I said earlier, if I had to buy a work truck today, it would be a Ford as I would cross the fence. I am REALLY disapointed in new GM trucks!  

Americans are fat, dumb, and lazy... thus the end of the manual transmission.

You guys think I'm joking... guess who shows up to all the market studies... yea...  

I think another reason behind them dropping it is that GM made a big deal in automotive tech lines over a year ago about how new 6L80 requires only 2 man hours to build, the rest is by robots  (tranny was designed to be built by them) Older 4 speed automatics take 6.5 man hours each. The is a savings in wages and benefits of almost 300 bucks labor cost per tranny. Multiply this times 10 of thousands of trannies and this is some serious change. (plus new tranny in effect sells for more and cost less to build) I do not have man hours for manuals but I suspect that the robot built 6L80 which will replace 4L60 in 1500's too in 09 played a big roll in dumping manual to reduce labor costs.  

A lot of times it just comes down to the all mighty dollar.  Speaking of the new Fords, a customer of mine bought a 2008 F350 crew cab Diesel this fall and I checked it out earlier this week, and he told me that they have to pull the cab off the frame just to work on the engine.  He said it kicks butt on the 2003 Dodge extended cab 3500 dually CTD he traded on it.  

And what does this tell you? (having to remove cab) It tells you that this engine has no business in a P/U because it does not really fit.  

i pretty much dislike all newer vehicles for this very reason, they are getting harder to work on at home.  

I looked at the new PS when it came out and it is such a tight fit it is no surprise the you have to pull the cab to do some serious work on it it just did not dawn on me at the time when I was looking at it but it makes sense now.  

i get a feeling it's all about the $. cost savings in building tranny, then the extra cahrge for auto tranny, then ya gotta keep all the service departments and tranny shops in business, the part suppliers, etc.eliminate the good ol' manual and everybody is happy and making money...