In regards to the truck and the new things you wouldn't know till you look closely at them: First off the reg. cab has four doors. Instead of a solid column behind where the door would shut (the area wheer the cab corner rusts out on older pickups) there ios a door that opens out to access behind the seat. There is enough room behind the seat I can fit my lunch box that is 10" wide and it will slide from side to side. Lots of room for tools, guns etc. Second the tailgate will seem very light when it shuts. This is because the tailgate has a torsion spring attached to the hinges running towards the top of the gate that assists in closing. Not enough spring to llift itself but my 9 year old nephew can close it one handed from standing on the ground (he can't reach the top of the tailgate from the ground). Thirdly, picture the setup of your rear shocks, on pre-2004 Fords, all GM and Dodge they are mounted fromthe axle to the frame inside the frame rails. On teh 2004 F-150's they are mounted the same but they are mounted outside the frame rails. Think about this for a minute, what are the purpose of shocks and how does the concept of leverage apply. Fourth, the frame is fully boxed from front to back, not a channel like older trucks or most newer ones, this is very rigid. Also frame cross members and such pass through the frame and are welded on each side no rivets to loosen up or allow frame to bend from flexing. I haven't had time to crawl underneath and view it yet so I don't know much of underneath. Fifith, the seats are new both in fabric and design, very comfortable and they look very durable like they won't wear bad. The tailgate locks many others might I don't know for sure. The truck has good accelration, of course I'm use too my previous two trucks performance, one being the late 1984 F-150 4x4 (stepside and complete renewal in '98) w/ 300ci. 6-cylinder w/C-6 auto (dependable as can be and awesome lugging engine for farm work but not a run away from you engine) and then the truck I traded in a '96 Ranger supercab 4x2 w/ 3.0 v-6 5 speed man. trans. good little truck for its purpose (to put a lot of miles on, get through college and get great gas mpg's, and haul birddogs around So. IL & tri-state area).
By the way my truck has turned many heads in the 36 hours I've owned it and one guy at Wal-Mart thought I was a salesman the way I was showing him around the truck when he asked to look at it. I told him my dad was but I was just a happy knowledgeable new owner. Besides my newest shotgun (Beretta AL 391 urika 20 ga. w/ 28" bbl) this is the first major purchase that I knew the product from one end to the other and could quote the specs and brochure.
I'll try to get some pictires taken and uploaded sometime this week, and I'll show every detail.
