Ford Rant

[alchemysa]

Thats way, way, off the mark.

Re my comment in my last message. Sorry Toyabe, I think i misunderstood your point. Re-reading your message I now guess you mean that Jap 4x4's are rare in the parts of the US that are similar to our outback. On first reading i thought you were saying Jap 4x4's were also rare over here.

 

[1bush2hog]

I'm not familiar with the Ford buttons, but the GM daytime running light issue doesn't bother the driver

Actually one can turn off the lights completely if they choose, or easily replace a burnt out bulb if they know about it. I have had to replace one of these bulbs in almost 5 years of ownership.

I love the push button 4x4 - gives me lots more leg room not having the levers in the floor -

BTW - my 72 JEEP CJ5 w/304V8 was one of my favorite and least problematic vehicles, although it was prone to roll over (several times)

Had a 77 Pinto also that was a great car for the two years I owned it and am just thankful I was never rear ended in it.

 

[scott_vt]

Since I had converted mine to two transfer case(hi-low, 2wd-4wd), I had four levers to mess with

Mornin Robert,
Gee, you couldnt have to many cocktails and off road with that thing you would forget what gear you were in !

 

[jwstewar]

In the 8 years and 100k miles of driving, I think I've replaced 3 bulbs on the DRLs. Right one twice, left once. I've gotten a good set now and they've lasted quite awhile.

I'll take that over the problems a friend of mine is having with is '06 Ford w/ the 6.0. Since February it has been in the shop 3 times with major repairs. 2 Turbo chargers and few other things the first 2 times. This time it left him stranded in Kentucky w/ his horse and horse trailer. An oil pressure switch shut the engine off because of lack of oil pressure. Then it had some damaged "Kak" tubes. All in all, took him 5 days of car rental, 2 tow bills (truck and trailer), a hotel night (because they told him it would be done Wednesday and it wasn't until Thursday and he had already turned the rental car in), and horse boarding + the deductable on the motor repair itself. On top of a week w/o his truck and trailer and had to make a trip back to return the rental car and pick his truck/trailer/horse back up. All for a truck that is a year old w/ 39k miles.

Last night when we left, he was going to go look at new Silverado's with the Duramax/Allison combo.

 

[Toiyabe]

alchemysa:

No worries.

If you look at the US Mitsubishi site, you'll see that the 2006 Montero is the last model year - everything else is at 2007. Seemed like a nice rig, back in the day it was one of the few available with factory electric lockers.

The US Landcruisers sure as heck don't look much like the late Steve Irwin's Landcruiser. That looked like a solid rig, the ones sold in the US are competing more with the Mercedes M class and the Cadillac Escalade for the suburban grocery-getter and ghetto bling-bling markets. MSRP on a new Landcruiser is $56,215. There's no way a sane person would beat on a rig like that in the rocks.

While in Oztrailia I did notice that Ford and GM seemed to dominate the Ute market, which seemed to me the eqivalent of the US pickup market. I also saw a couple of F150s, one Suburban (Holden badged) and a few Jeep Cherokees. I didn't get into the true Outback, though.

 

[RobertN]

While in Oztrailia I did notice that Ford and GM seemed to dominate the Ute market, which seemed to me the eqivalent of the US pickup market. I also saw a couple of F150s, one Suburban (Holden badged) and a few Jeep Cherokees. I didn't get into the true Outback, though.

Ford seems to have done well across the board for years down in OZ. I think it would be fun to have a Ford Falcon GTHOup here in the States. 351 Clevo, toploader 4-spd... I like the body style of the '73/74 coupes. Could be the US version of Allan Moffat. Nah, couldn't measure up to that; he is of the caliber of Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt up here...

 

[jdbower]

the ones sold in the US are competing more with the Mercedes M class and the Cadillac Escalade for the suburban grocery-getter and ghetto bling-bling markets.

The M-class (at least the prior chassis) was actually a surprisingly capable off-roader. It was body on frame with rollover angles about 5 degrees beyond "we're all gonna die!", an advanced electronic 4WD system and standard low range that had an impressive showing in the Dakar rallies. Take a look at Wolfgang's page for some details. Mercedes probably realized who bought the M-class and the newer W164 chassis is now unibody with most of the neat offroad stuff in an extra package - more geared towards the Lexus/Acura than a real off-roader. For that you need to drop $80k+ for a G-class, but give me a nice Unimog instead

 

[jdbower]

I think it would be fun to have a Ford Falcon GTHOup here in the States.

You mean like this one?

 

[RoyJackson]

You mean like this one?

That would make Mad Max proud!

 

[MossRoad]

I have a '71 FJ40 Landcruiser. I've had it since early 80's.... it has been in little pieces since 1985.

It has a bolt in Chevy V8 kit, but I opted for a Chevy straight 6 as I had one laying around and the V8 kit required moving the engine 3 inches forward as the firewall is shaped to fit a straight engine, not a V. That would have required shortening the front driveshaft and lenghtening the rear, as well as welding in new engine mounts, thus, not a bolt in kit anymore. I took it down to the frame and had it acid dipped. Came back nice and clean. Wish I could say the same for the body... not much came back of that. I have a fiberglass body hanging in my garage and a 350 engine and 700R automatic to go into it some day, a vinyl half cab and two hard cabs that I can use to piece together a good one out of. I also have a couple sets of doors for it... the stock thin doors and some nicer later 70's doors with padding and armrests.

When it was running, it had the 3SP tranny. As a stock truck, it went many places, but did get stuck and would spin one tire often, as it didn't have locking differentials. I ran a snowplow on it for a couple of years and it was a great plow truck for driveways and small lots. I beat the living heck out of it and it had a couple hundred thousand miles on it when the stock engine died, that's when I went for the Chevy conversion. That stock engine was way heavier than the Chevy 6... a couple hundred pounds heavier.

One thing I never liked about it was the gas tank is under the front passenger seat. They make a tank that goes between the frame rails underneath the body, and that's what I will be switching to eventually. If I was going in rock country and such, I would keep the tank inside for clearance, but it will most likely end up a daily driver for Dad's mid-life crisis whenever that happens!