With the stick shifts, preference for 4 speed or 5 speed?

oldngray

nowhere special
Most sups who rode with me skipped 1st gear except the ones who were fairly new and trying to do things by the book. And most sups scared me when they drove.
 

Big Babooba

Well-Known Member
The Diamond Reo and older (pre merger) Diamond T that we had as well as the Mack friend & MH models were all 5 speeds. I loved both of the Diamonds. The Fs were OK. The MH series sucked pond water. All had wet clutches except for one friend model Mack.
 

pretender

Well-Known Member
The Diamond Reo and older (pre merger) Diamond T that we had as well as the Mack friend & MH models were all 5 speeds. I loved both of the Diamonds. The Fs were OK. The MH series sucked pond water. All had wet clutches except for one friend model Mack.

I couldn't remember if it was Rio or Reo--I guess Rio is the band...

It was fun to watch the off the street hires, because not many were familiar with 5 speeds and wet clutches.

My last Diamond was a Royale:
Diamond-reo-royale_691dc.jpg
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
The majority of my driving was in gas P10's with straight 6 292 CU GMC engines. I wish I had a V-6. so underpowered it was beyond ability to explain.

When I first started in 1988 I drove 4 speed P-600's with either 292 inch GMC straight 6's or 300 inch Ford straight 6's. Later on I drove newer 4 speed GMC P-800's and 1000's with the 4.3 liter V6 which is nothing more than a Chevy 350 V8 with 2 cylinders removed. For years I towed a pup trailer with a P-800/4.3 V6 combo that was downright scary to drive on the highway due to its lack of power. I would literally be going 19 MPH up a hill on the freeway with the pedal to the floor, engine screaming, my 4-ways flashing, getting passed by semi trucks towing triples. In the mid-90's my prayers were finally answered in the form of an International P-700 with a PowerStroke V-8 diesel and a Spicer 5 speed transmission. That car flat out hauled ass, it could tow a fully loaded pup trailer up that same steep hill at 48 MPH instead of 19 and it had power steering and a low step to boot. Good old #654572, I miss that car, they sent it over to Tillamook a few years ago where it is still racking up the miles. Now I have a Freightliner with an Allison automatic and a Mercedes diesel engine that sounds like a hair dryer with a bad case of the farts. Its a decent car but I'd still rather have my International PowerStroke 5 speed back.
 
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