IrishIroamed wrote:Now to a braking question ~ I have manually shifted gears if needed since I lived in a semi-hilly area. It was fun and just seemed to come naturally, guess I learned something by osmosis from my stepdad. But I'm still confuzzled on the M gear in the truck. I've looked in the owners manual and also searched on line, but the only thing I've found is another questions like mine and to use + and - when using this gear (huh?). So what is it and when do you use it? During the searches, also found there is a S and B shifts too! Geez nothing is easy any more (old cranky side showing)
If it works like some of the other trucks I've had, "M" stands for manual. When you press "M" it locks you in the gear you are in until you manually bump the + or - buttons. + goes up one gear each time you press it till you run out of gears and - goes down one gear at a time. The big trucks with the automatic transmissions, it's a must in the hills. Basically you want to go down the hill in the same gear you went up it and let your engine brakes take the load as much as possible. The problem with an automatic transmission is once you peak the hill and the computer senses the lighter load it will shift the transmission up. Since this is undesirable the "M" button was added to give the driver manual control. Technically in a big truck it's a auto shift transmission. Same as a stick shift but the computer shifts it automatically. A true automatic transmission like in a car would be to big, heavy and the losses in the torque convert too great but that's probably more technical than most want to know
I am getting tired of these cold snaps! 
CArol and Irmi, I find it hard even when it is friends' pets getting older and having issues. CArol, you talk all you want!!
