Had a sudden thought-what ever you buy make sure it has a skid plate on it--they don't come stock anymore! When I bought my F 150 I asked the salesman if it had a skid plate and he didn't know, we looked it did not so had to order it special. I was so used to my government rigs and the Toyota coming stock with them on, i never thought about it-but at the last moment I asked and Am I glad I did-so check because times change!
Smoke
That's the sad thing. Stuff that should come stock on a 4x4 you gotta either buy a "package", order special from OEM or do an add on "mod". Went through the same thing years ago with my Ranger pickup.
0
Old, bum around in Ford and an even older FWC Grandby
New Mantra: "Everyday camping is just making up for lost time"
Sadly the Titan and Tundra diesels will only come with auto transmissions. Way too unreliable for my travels. These days only full size with a manual is Dodge Cummins. Hopefully the Jeep Wrangler Pick-Up diesel will arrive with a manual trans. But hell....by then, the Tesla 4wd 1/2 ton commercial pickup will be a reality. 500 miles range, full torque from 1 RPM to 16,000 RPM, and I can drive it for free anywhere in the USA using Tesla's solar powered Super Chargers. Oh yeah, only 14 moving parts! My Model S has only 9 moving parts but it's only 2wd.
Edited by generubin, 09 January 2014 - 03:52 AM.
0
From Baja to the Arctic and all places between!
www.generubinaudio.com
Dodge 4x4 2500 Cummins, 6 spd manual, ATC Ocelot Shell. Tesla Model S, 85KWH, 2018 Tesla Model 3 (3 of them!!)
Looks like they are planning on using the F150 as the drivetrain for the Tesla truck, yes?
Not at all. The only reference ever made to Ford F150 was Elon mentioning the F150 as best selling truck. Tesla would never use a transmission nor transfer case. Thanks to Tesla's full torque from 1 to 16,000 RPM only one gear is used, no transfer case needed. Extremely strong regenerative breaking on all four wheels will be perfect for descent control off road. There will be a front and rear motor of around 300 to 400 HP each. Under side of bed will be batteries. Suspension will be fully adjustable for any load. I've been throwing some comments towards the engineering dept. to be sure and have plenty of suspension travel and use smaller wheels to allow for higher profile tires. Tesla is very open to public comment and even makes timely replies, generally same or next day. Try to get Ford or GM to actually call you back and discuss product, no way. None of the above is in stone but all a likely scenario. It will be about 4 years away at least.
I've had my Model S now for 10 months and 17K miles. It has been flawless. I charge at home for about $3 to go 285 miles. On the road I can charge at the nicely located Tesla chargers for free. It takes only 20 minutes or so due to the 120KW charging. Chargers already installed to take me from Mexico to Canada, and from California to NY. I'll never again buy an internal explosion vehicle. I'd rather pay a few more bucks to support USA made clean products than to donate thousands a year to polluting oil and the required foreign wars, leukemia, cancer etc....sorry, ranting here
Top that off, an ICE motor is attempting to self destruct from the moment you fire it up. It wants to literally explode. Cooling systems, oil system etc. try to delay the day that the final explosion happens. An electric motors is happy to spin forever, it is smiling the whole time. Tesla maintenance is brake pads and wiper blades.
Image below is from 4wd Model X SUV.
Attached Thumbnails
Edited by generubin, 09 January 2014 - 04:37 AM.
0
From Baja to the Arctic and all places between!
www.generubinaudio.com
Dodge 4x4 2500 Cummins, 6 spd manual, ATC Ocelot Shell. Tesla Model S, 85KWH, 2018 Tesla Model 3 (3 of them!!)
I remember watching an 'American' To Gear where they raced a Tesla with an American made muscle car (Corvette Monte-carlo I think) and the tesla won! Cool looking car for sure...
I'll try not to go any farther off topic of this thread but you can go on youtube and see Tesla race and beat practically every USA muscle and foreign exotic car you choose. Tesla P85 does 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds: Dodge Viper vs. Tesla:
To get this thread back on track. Since we are talking rough country and since much of my travels takes me far from pavement, one of my most important requirements is a manual trans. I have seen auto trans' have spontaneous and complete failure with zero warning. Especially on pickups carrying weight, an auto trans will be your most complicated, most likely to fail leaving you stranded part of your vehicle. Whereas an auto can fail with zero warning, a manual trans nearly never fails and if it does you would very most likely have had thousands of miles of a noisy bearing warning you. I am an ex pro mechanic so I end up fixing a lot of people's failures in some pretty far out places, making due with whatever we can use to help the vehicle limp home.
#1 most common failure that I see leaving a vehicle completely un-driveable in the wilds? An auto trans. Solution? Manual. Since we are talking full size, this leaves you only with a Dodge Cummins.
#2 most common failure I have seen in the back country is overloading a rated payload combined with suspension modifications. You name it broken springs, exploded airbags, airbags where the brackets or u-bolts have failed, broken drive shaft joints, burned out rear axles.....etc. Solution: Keep it stock (the professional engineers who rigorously test their design with thousands of rough miles using many vehicles know what they are saying when they rate say a truck at 1300 pounds payload), and keep it under payload. If I want to carry a pop-top and all my crap with me, I better get a 3/4 ton. Plus, a mini-truck or 1/2 that is over payload will not stop well in an emergency. I might save a few bucks on a 1/2 ton, but I may lose my life in the deal.
Keep it stock. Last trip to Saline Valley the South Pass road was particularly bad with lots of surprise washouts. A fellow there had an F150 with only a shell on it. He had a very expensive front coil suspension mod and oversize tires. I saw this guy driving in to camp and I am like WTF, look how weird the front camber is changing as he drives! Well, the added leverage of the extended control arms and the added weight of the oversize tires was pulling off the suspension from the chassis brackets. The dude was about to have his front wheels and everything attached to them rip off at 50 mph on washboard! I pointed this out to him and offered my help. Upon inspection, we could see that the 1/2 ton chassis to suspension brackets are absurdly weak for the job he was expecting them to do. The mounting bolts, every last one of them, holding the control arms in place had loosened and the bolt holes were oval and enlarged! All I could really do was to tighten the crap out of the bolts with a cheater and he drove out very slowly. This guy's F150 had a Martin Crawler which was breaking his u-joints, oversize tires and off-set wheels wiping out his bearings. He told me the thousands he spent on this truck in mods. As far as I am concerned, I wouldn't trust a truck like that 10 feet off the pavement. With all the money he spent, he could have easily had a 3/4T.
.
Edited by generubin, 09 January 2014 - 06:27 AM.
0
From Baja to the Arctic and all places between!
www.generubinaudio.com
Dodge 4x4 2500 Cummins, 6 spd manual, ATC Ocelot Shell. Tesla Model S, 85KWH, 2018 Tesla Model 3 (3 of them!!)
When there is an electric truck that has 300+ mile range while towing 10,000lbs I might look at one but doubt I could afford it. I think those electric cars are great but still not within reach for most.
I'd agree to keep things fairly stock or buy a bigger truck than you think you need. For my money and use I see no reason to look at a 250/2500 since a 350/3500 is only a few hundred more and you've got some decent payload and running gear to work with. My current rig is slightly modified but only because it's old tech and I don't want to try and afford a newer one. I've kept the mods fairly tame and don't plan on going further. So far it's been one of the most reliable trucks I've ever had.
I'll have to disagree on the auto tranny tho...Yes they can be a big liability but the newer ones are much better than those of just a few years ago. The biggest issue is heat. This is where a few simple mods like a bigger cooler and temp gauge will help. And if the truck is worth it...when it does go out (clutches need replacement too) take it to a good shop and spend the money to repair it right. The worse thing to do is get a "factory rebuild". I've got 154K on my factory tranny and its been worked hard. Regular service, a bigger cooler, a gauge, and a decent chip with better shift points and TC lockup has contributed to it's life. I know few people who have this many miles in what is usually considered a pos of a tranny.
Sadly the Titan and Tundra diesels will only come with auto transmissions. Way too unreliable for my travels. These days only full size with a manual is Dodge Cummins. Hopefully the Jeep Wrangler Pick-Up diesel will arrive with a manual trans. But hell....by then, the Tesla 4wd 1/2 ton commercial pickup will be a reality. 500 miles range, full torque from 1 RPM to 16,000 RPM, and I can drive it for free anywhere in the USA using Tesla's solar powered Super Chargers. Oh yeah, only 14 moving parts! My Model S has only 9 moving parts but it's only 2wd.
Today's new automatic transmissions are technically advanced and far more reliable than the old manual transmissions. That's why many manufacturers are not even offering them anymore. I have seen many Ford's and Chevy's with 200k + miles that have pulled heavy loads and never had any problems with the automatic.
