I prefer an auto tranny offroad, after having driven offroad with both manual and auto trannies for over five decades, for a number of reasons.

(1) I run a warmed up V8 and fairly low gears, which puts a lot of torque to the ground. The auto tranny is considerably gentler on the drivetrain than is a manual tranny.

(2) With an auto tranny, you only have two foot pedals (accelerator and brake) to manipulate, whereas with a manual tranny you also have a clutch which makes 3 foot pedals. When stopping and starting again on steep uphills and downhills, and in the rocks, it's a lot easier to just manipulate the 2 pedals. In such situations, you can use your left foot on the brake and sort of use it like a combination brake and clutch, leaving the right foot for the throttle.

(3) If you kill the engine on a hill in a vehicle with an auto tranny, it's a lot easier and faster to re-start it and get going again than it is with a manual tranny.

Now, all that being said, there is one serious disadvantage of auto tranny offroad - reduced engine compression braking. However, I have 4.56 axle gears, 2.61 Low Range gears in my t-case (which I almost always use offroad), and a slightly lower 1st gear in my TF999 auto tranny. I have plenty of engine compression braking in my CJ7; even on steep downhills, I rarely, if ever, have to use my brake. For those with an auto tranny and not as low gearing, I'd suggest upgrading the braking system if serious off-road work is contemplated.

Now, the reason I prefer a ratchet shifter is simpler. Most guys that use ratchet shifters use them because they are very fast to shift, and there's no danger of going past the gear you want and selecting an unwanted gear. (Drag racing is a common application.) However, I like it primarily because I can quickly shift gears without having to look at a shift quadrant -- that is, I don't have to take my eyes off the road. In some precarious off-road situations, that's a real help.

I used to use a B&M Quicksilver ratchet shifter, and I still recommend that for a Jeep that's fairly stock because it has a simpler mechanism. However, the Quicksilver depends on a shart upward pull to defeat the safety detent. When I replaced my steel body with a fiberglass body, I didn't want to put that much up-and-down stress on the fiberglass floorboard. So I changed to a B&M MegaShifter, which used a trigger handle forward of the T-handle shifter to defeaat the safety detent. However, it uses the same hardware on the transmission end of the shift cable as the Quicksilver, so changing it over was a no-sweat deal.

Hope this answered your question adequately.

--Bob