What is some of your Pet Peeve's

[jjeff]

Yep. Had the same setup on every truck I owned for nearly 30 years, but now they're unavailable in most vehicles. It'd be one thing if market demand forced vehicle manufacturers this way, we can blame market demand for auto transmission. But I've never heard of ANYONE preferring a push-button transfer case over a manual lever with instant responsiveness and absolute certainty it's engaged.

I was like that with manually locking hubs until I finally got a truck that wasn't. I know tacos had manual locking hubs available til 99. To get out of a truck in the middle of winter or other questionable traction
area's to lock the hubs was a bit of a peeve of mine. And on a few occasions I pushed it to far til I was getting stuck. Where I'm pretty certain I wouldn't have gotten in that situation if I could have just shifted into 4x4 from the cab.

 

[WinterDeere]

I was like that with manually locking hubs until I finally got a truck that wasn't. I know tacos had manual locking hubs available til 99. To get out of a truck in the middle of winter or other questionable traction
area's to lock the hubs was a bit of a peeve of mine. And on a few occasions I pushed it to far til I was getting stuck. Where I'm pretty certain I wouldn't have gotten in that situation if I could have just shifted into 4x4 from the cab.

I have mixed feelings on autolock hubs. The manual hubs were never a problem for me, as I'd almost always lock them before a winter storm, and then just leave them locked until the weather and forecast had cleared up a few days later. Heck, sometimes I probably left them locked half the winter, no biggie. I also had a wrench made up from a sch.40 PVC tee, so I knew I'd always be able to turn them even if frozen and packed with ice, but I honestly can't remember ever having to use it.

Then I had two Chevy trucks with autolock hubs that were forever failing. I remember being stuck at a stop light on a hill on more than one occasion, line of traffic backed up behind me, and unable to get off the line because the stupid hubs wouldn't lock. Just one of the things I grew to hate about GM trucks, but also made me question the merit of autolock hubs in general. Now at 18 years driving only Ram trucks, no such trouble, so maybe it was just a GM thing.

 

[jjeff]

That's probably why when I bought my first 4wd and a few subsequent ones I wanted manual locking hubs from listening to stories of how they were others pet peeves, I can say from almost 8 yrs of driving a gm truck I've never once had a problem with the transfer case or the auto hubs locking, I believe there early issues from the 70s-90s were mostly resolved.

 

[Oaktree]

I have a RAM truck with that stupid shifter that looks like a volume knob. If there's just one thing that prevents me from buying another RAM truck, that will be it.

I somehow went my entire life until getting this truck, with never once accidentally slamming a moving vehicle into park, or reversing directions. But I must've done it a dozen times in the first month of owning this one, due to the stupid control, and still manage to do it a few times per year while maneuvering trailers, etc.

Ditto for the joystick shift knobs some makes use (certain GM products come to mind). Given that most, if not all transmissions made in the last 25 years or so are electronically controlled there isn't really any need for a physical shifter. That having been said, I prefer a "real" shift lever myself.

But I've never heard of ANYONE preferring a push-button transfer case over a manual lever with instant responsiveness and absolute certainty it's engaged.

Well you just met one. I don't miss mechanical linkage on transfer cases one bit. Invariably, the linkage got stiff over time, or a cotter pin will fall out or something else requiring you to crawl under it and put it back together. Again, modern transfer cases are electronic, I've never had a problem with one.

 

[ultrarunner]

Ditto for the joystick shift knobs some makes use (certain GM products come to mind). Given that most, if not all transmissions made in the last 25 years or so are electronically controlled there isn't really any need for a physical shifter. That having been said, I prefer a "real" shift lever myself.

Well you just met one. I don't miss mechanical linkage on transfer cases one bit. Invariably, the linkage got stiff over time, or a cotter pin will fall out or something else requiring you to crawl under it and put it back together. Again, modern transfer cases are electronic, I've never had a problem with one.

If the battery is dead can you still put the car in neutral to roll it?

 

[Oaktree]

That's probably why when I bought my first 4wd and a few subsequent ones I wanted manual locking hubs from listening to stories of how they were others pet peeves, I can say from almost 8 yrs of driving a gm truck I've never once had a problem with the transfer case or the auto hubs locking, I believe there early issues from the 70s-90s were mostly resolved.

I had an early 90s Blazer where the front hubs would occasionally not unlock...turned out to be a vacuum actuator that would sometimes bind. Then again, this problem didn't show up until the vehicle had well over 200k on it, so hard to blame GM design for that.

 

[kenmbz]

Both my truck and my wifes car have a little cover on the shifter to override the transmission.
Not sure most people know that, it is not marked .

 

[jjeff]

Both my truck and my wifes car have a little cover on the shifter to override the transmission.
Not sure most people know that, it is not marked .

And on smaller unibodies a small plastic cover over a threaded steel hole on your bumper, to screw in a eye bolt usually stored with the spare, anyways folks should make sure it's used to pull your car out of a ditch instead of hooking a winch to more fragile under built A and control arms. From my experiences.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

And on smaller unibodies a small plastic cover over a threaded steel hole on your bumper, to screw in a eye bolt usually stored with the spare, anyways folks should make sure it's used to pull your car out of a ditch instead of hooking a winch to more fragile under built A and control arms. From my experiences.

On foreign cars? I’ve never seen any on any car.

 

[tfuller]

I have a RAM truck with that stupid shifter that looks like a volume knob. If there's just one thing that prevents me from buying another RAM truck, that will be it.

I somehow went my entire life until getting this truck, with never once accidentally slamming a moving vehicle into park, or reversing directions. But I must've done it a dozen times in the first month of owning this one, due to the stupid control, and still manage to do it a few times per year while maneuvering trailers, etc. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

On your point, I also fight with the thing each time I need to put it in neutral for working on it. I never remember exactly how I managed to do it the prior time, as I own and work on too many vehicles to remember the unique sequence for this one alone. Center console and steering column shift levers have worked flawlessly for more than 100 years, I am not sure why these guys thought it would be a good idea to ditch that, and replace it with what appears to be a second radio volume knob... right next to the actual radio volume knob.

For years I was choosing my truck brands by which still offered manual transmission and manual-lever transfer case. Ironically, that's how I landed on Dodge/Ram in the first place, moving to them from Chevy, when Chevy discontinued manual transmission on V8 Quad Cabs, but Dodge continued offering it. Now, they've all abandoned that, and I can't think of any customer ever praising that decision.

I kind of like the know shifter in my Ram vs the console shifter in my brothers Ford. Its all electronic shifting and I would much rather have the extra space in the console. Only frustration is the truck I drive at work has a column mounted shifter so I am always reaching for the wrong spot when driving the other the truck.