pickup truck size

[Hoodoo]

I just bought down to a 2003 Chevy 2500HD model from a newer 1500. Wanted the extra power and towing. It only has 130k miles and the previous owner had babied it (mostly). I've added larger tires and getting a 2" front lift this week. Gets 14 mpg. Nothing like a truck.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

The culture shock between my previous and current trucks was substantial. I went from a '74 Dodge W-200 with a big block 440, 3 spd auto and 4.10 gears to a '12 Ford F-250 (bought new in '12) 6.2 gas, 3.73 gears. I still think the Ford rides like a Lincoln town car compared to my old Dodge. I miss the old Dodge sometimes, but not at the gas station.

My next truck will be a gas engine dually. Either an F-350 or an F-450 if Ford ever pulls their thumb out and offer it with the new 7.3L gas engine. So far the only way to get the 7.3 gas in the F-450 is if you buy the chassis cab, and I want a full truck bed. 4.30 gears in which ever one I get. May start seriously looking again once production is normal and vehicles are actually available to buy. No "Lariat" or "Platnum" for me thanks. Absolute waste of money. I don't need all the leather-electric toy-hoohaws on my truck.

When I bought my Ford in '12, it was the XLT package, which really had all the hoohaws I wanted. Same month I bought mine, a coworker bought a Lariat diesel. He paid DOUBLE for his truck than I did for mine. I just laughed at him. Mine was $34K, he paid over $70K. For a truck?! Just pure idiocy. Whatever makes him happy I guess. My payload sticker is higher, since my gas engine is lighter, I think I had right at 1K lbs more payload. I've since moved on and lost touch with him, but he had to have it towed off the side of the road at least twice for diesel emissions problems. Last time was with a loaded stock trailer on back.

I'll stay with the gas engines, thank you.

 

[Cat385B]

Slim, check around for any flatbed dealers in your area. I live 50 miles from one, and I’m sure I could drive over there and buy a brand new box off a GM, Ford, or Ram; as long as I want white.

 

[John0829]

I just bought down to a 2003 Chevy 2500HD model from a newer 1500. Wanted the extra power and towing. It only has 130k miles and the previous owner had babied it (mostly). I've added larger tires and getting a 2" front lift this week. Gets 14 mpg. Nothing like a truck.

That is what I did last year, got a 92' K3500, 7.4L, 3.73 gear to use as work vehicle around the place. It was a barn find that had been parked by a couple that had used it to haul their camper to and from Florida each year. Only had 150k on it when I got it but sitting was not kind to it, had several electrical issues to sort out but it's all good now. Getting 12 mpg, was pleasantly surprised since I was expecting 10 or less. I like the old simpler to work on vehicles.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Slim, check around for any flatbed dealers in your area. I live 50 miles from one, and I’m sure I could drive over there and buy a brand new box off a GM, Ford, or Ram; as long as I want white.

Unless it's changed on the latest generation Super Duty, the chassis cab trucks had a different frame dimension than the regular truck bed trucks. So a standard (in this case dually) truck bed would not fit on a chassis cab frame. I haven't looked into it to see if this is still the case.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Just curious/nosey ME... how many miles did you have on the OE diff ?

Did you do a lot of heavy towing/hauling ?

Rgds, D.

About 110K when it first began happening. I do tow, but the diff more than likely failed from running around in snow and gravel roads.

 

[John0829]

Unless it's changed on the latest generation Super Duty, the chassis cab trucks had a different frame dimension than the regular truck bed trucks. So a standard (in this case dually) truck bed would not fit on a chassis cab frame. I haven't looked into it to see if this is still the case.

Yep, frame on the dually's is wider than the chassis cab, at least for GM's. Ran into that issue when I put a flatbed on the K3500.

 

[TMGT]

Should be, all CC have the narrower 34" frame standard for upfitters. Standard pickups are usually about 37+ and sometimes have more "style" to them rather then being straight.

 

[3930dave]

About 110K when it first began happening. I do tow, but the diff more than likely failed from running around in snow and gravel roads.

Thnx. I was curious.

R. diffs in Ford's smaller stuff seem rather delicate, but I expect better from an F150..... then again, I have a friend who could break an anvil, so wanted to know the usage pattern on yours.

Rgds, D.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Thnx. I was curious.

R. diffs in Ford's smaller stuff seem rather delicate, but I expect better from an F150..... then again, I have a friend who could break an anvil, so wanted to know the usage pattern on yours.

Rgds, D.

Understand that driveline noises and shutters are notoriously hard to diagnose without isolating driveline components. That said, what happened is the clutches in the limited slip took a dump. However, just as this truck was about to come out of warranty, the front lock outs got replaced under warranty. The driveline shutter felt like it was coming from the front end and so I brought it back to the dealer that replaced the lockouts. That dealer insisted I needed a transfer case—even though all functions of the transfer case worked. I asked them if they had dropped the front driveshaft to isolate the the front end, and they claimed that they had.

However, I've NEVER heard of an F150 shelling its transfer case even with the high power, high torque ecoboost engines and I confirmed that by calling up the biggest 4WD rebuilder in the state (BeeLine). But because the dealer claimed that they had dropped the front driveshaft, and without a hoist to lift up my truck and play with it myself, the rear end went undiagnosed until it got so noisy and chattery that it was obvious the differential carrier clutch packs had taken a siesta. At that point I ordered in a Eaton (Detroit) TruTrack, new carrier bearings, shims, and new ring gear bolts and swapped out the differential carrier. The Ford dealer has subsequently gone out of business.

Off topic: anybody want to start a pool on how long Youtube will ban streaming this video because I named it "Race Driver A YouTube Short" over the perception that it is somehow related to promoting r-a-c-i-s-m and not making a bearing race driver to install a bearing?