[SIZE=10.5pt]Hi All,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]I'll start with a short intro, before going into detail about the Topic Title. Me and my wife moved to the US about 8 months ago, coming from the Netherlands. The big move was for work. I work for a Dutch company which has an office in Madison, WI, and that is where we live now. The US and Wisconsin have been good to us, we are having the best time ever! So thanks for having us, and for the warm welcome so far.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The current plan is to finish my job somewhere next year, and then travel the US for a year. The original plan was to ship our Toyota Landcruiser RV built to the US, to do that year of travel, but we had to change that plan (I’ll spare you all the details). [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]But with every plan failing, new plans pop-up, literally [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]. We saw a FWC pop-up camper parked in Madison and we loved that set-up. Put a note with our number under the windshield wiper of the rig and got in contact with the owner. He showed us the FWC, and a new plan was born: we are getting us a FWC, and we are shipping it back to Europe once we have done our US travel. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]But we needed a car to go with that. The combo we looked at, was based on a F250. Loved that truck, but for those of you who know the Netherlands, it will be hard to drive that car in our small streets, let alone park it somewhere. Also good to understand, in the Netherlands we pay road taxes based on the weight of the car, and the petrol type (diesel is more expensive than gasoline). So even a F150 is a money swallowing car in the Netherlands (think $ 250 a month!)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]With that in mind, we started looking at mid-sized trucks, that could still work with a FWC. Looked at the usual suspects: Tacoma vs Ranger. And after looking at multiple forums (this form being one of them) and consulting with a FWC dealer (Go Anywhere in WI), we decided to go for the Ranger. One of the main reasons beying the higher payload. The new ranger arrived last week, and we love it so far. It will do just fine in the Netherlands. For sure it will be an eye catcher. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]In august our FWC-Fleet will arrive, and we are now in the process of deciding what modifications we want to put in place to respect the max payload and to make the ride as good as possible. For sure E-rated Tires (BFGoodrich is currently the top runner on my list). And we want to upgrade the suspension. We are going to consult some experts / suspension shops in the Madison area, but are there any Ford Ranger + FWC Fleet owners here that would be willing to share some of their modifications and experiences with us? I would love to get on a call with you and hear about what you’ve changed on your Ranger, and how that worked out. Also to learn ‘what we should do different’.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Feel free to send me a private message, and hopefully we'll talk soon! Needless to say we look forward to see a lot more of the US, once we get going! It’s going to be a great adventure for sure![/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Cheers! [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]I'll start with a short intro, before going into detail about the Topic Title. Me and my wife moved to the US about 8 months ago, coming from the Netherlands. The big move was for work. I work for a Dutch company which has an office in Madison, WI, and that is where we live now. The US and Wisconsin have been good to us, we are having the best time ever! So thanks for having us, and for the warm welcome so far.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The current plan is to finish my job somewhere next year, and then travel the US for a year. The original plan was to ship our Toyota Landcruiser RV built to the US, to do that year of travel, but we had to change that plan (I’ll spare you all the details). [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]But with every plan failing, new plans pop-up, literally [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]. We saw a FWC pop-up camper parked in Madison and we loved that set-up. Put a note with our number under the windshield wiper of the rig and got in contact with the owner. He showed us the FWC, and a new plan was born: we are getting us a FWC, and we are shipping it back to Europe once we have done our US travel. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]But we needed a car to go with that. The combo we looked at, was based on a F250. Loved that truck, but for those of you who know the Netherlands, it will be hard to drive that car in our small streets, let alone park it somewhere. Also good to understand, in the Netherlands we pay road taxes based on the weight of the car, and the petrol type (diesel is more expensive than gasoline). So even a F150 is a money swallowing car in the Netherlands (think $ 250 a month!)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]With that in mind, we started looking at mid-sized trucks, that could still work with a FWC. Looked at the usual suspects: Tacoma vs Ranger. And after looking at multiple forums (this form being one of them) and consulting with a FWC dealer (Go Anywhere in WI), we decided to go for the Ranger. One of the main reasons beying the higher payload. The new ranger arrived last week, and we love it so far. It will do just fine in the Netherlands. For sure it will be an eye catcher. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]In august our FWC-Fleet will arrive, and we are now in the process of deciding what modifications we want to put in place to respect the max payload and to make the ride as good as possible. For sure E-rated Tires (BFGoodrich is currently the top runner on my list). And we want to upgrade the suspension. We are going to consult some experts / suspension shops in the Madison area, but are there any Ford Ranger + FWC Fleet owners here that would be willing to share some of their modifications and experiences with us? I would love to get on a call with you and hear about what you’ve changed on your Ranger, and how that worked out. Also to learn ‘what we should do different’.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Feel free to send me a private message, and hopefully we'll talk soon! Needless to say we look forward to see a lot more of the US, once we get going! It’s going to be a great adventure for sure![/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Cheers! [/SIZE]
