by The Roadie » Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:24 pm
On difficult trails, the automatic's torque converter gives you a big boost in "crawl ratio". Especially since our transfer case low range is only 2.7 to 1. Some SUVs have only 2.3 to 1, but the real rock crawlers have 4 to 1 minimum. I looked into getting mine modified to 4 to 1, and Atlas declined the project and I gave up.
Putting in a manual tranny would require a simultaneous swap of the transfer case to be worth doing, IMHO.
I'm routinely denied certain trails because of lack of ground clearance, armor, or traction, not torque. I also don't see the benefit.
But keep thinkin'.