Thanks for all the information, you guys are great. I am mainly looking for dependability. The manual tranny seems to be less problematic, and less money to upgrade and maintain. The auto seems to be more problematic, and a lot more money to maintain. But I am a rookie and might not be seeing it all since I actually don't own a diesel and never have. I do have a '94 Bronco with a 351W and an E40D tranny that I do not care for (the tranny that is). However, I do have 37's on it so that probably doesn't help with the shifting.
I don't plan on racing this rig. Sled pulls would be cool since they are pretty popular around here but it's probably not a good idea anyway. I am definitly looking for a 4 wheel drive truck, which is another reason that I like these diesels with the bullet proof Dana 60 and 10.50 sterling. The front end is another maintainence problem though on these trucks with the ball joints and rotors giving out.
What does it cost for centerforce clutch?, slave cylinder/master cylinder...? I can prolly find it in the forums but if someone wants to chime in that's great.
Thanks again.