Yep.

You just described the front suspension on my '48 Dodge B-1-B.

 

I presume that this is in response to my comments in another thread, so I might as well respond to it.

The power steering cooler is not protected by the skidplate, even on the FX4 models - and if anyone here doesn't believe me all they have to do is crawl under one and see for themselves. There looks like there was *some* attempt to protect the cooler by making the skidplate stick out a bit farther, but in most situations that isn't going to help a heck of a lot. Maybe it would work if you bumped into a small vertical wall...but you'd have to do it very slowly, because otherwise the skidplate would just bend back. It's not going to help for driving over fallen trees, through snow/ice, through mud, and most actual off-roading. As I said before, even if it doesn't get crushed it'll get plugged up with mud or other debris.

If Ford didn't find any faults with it, that means that Ford didn't do any real off-road testing. Let's face it, the new trucks aren't meant to leave pavement - since very few people use them as trucks anymore, they turned their attention toward improving ride, drive, interior comfort, and noise levels.

Edited to add: As far as the original question, if you need a truck right away I'd go with the F250 - but if you can hold off a few years until they work the bugs out, the F150 might be the way to go. It really depends on how you use your truck, and what you're looking for. Right now the F150 is pretty expensive - one of the local lots has a fairly loaded FX4, and right next to it they had a diesel crew-cab F350...and the F350 was cheaper.

LK

 

If all you do is commute to work on pavement, haul a few boards home from Home Depot, and kick it into 4X4 when there's 2" of snow on the road, buy the F150. If you tow (I mean 6,000 Lbs and up), haul real loads (I mean 1,000 Lbs and up), go off road (I mean where there is NO road, not just a dirt track thats been graded) then buy a 250 or 350. Spend 10 minutes doing some research online and you'll know why.

I have a fleet of 12 Ford trucks at work. 8 F150s and 4 F250s. All are supercabs and 2000 model year or newer. The 150s all have 5.4L, three of the 250s have the V10 and one has the new 6.0 PowerStroke diesel. Combined mileage of the fleet is just over 760,000 miles and one F150 has been in the shop once for a tranny line leak. That's it. These trucks just don't quit, but that's because we use them for the appropriate job. The F150s haul less than 600 Lbs, never tow and cover a LOT of miles. The 250s haul up to 1,500 Lbs and trade off towing a 9,000 Lb portable cell tower with generator.

So, if you WANT a truck because they are cool and also a hell of a lot more practical than a car or SUV, then buy the F150. If you NEED a truck to haul, tow or go off road then buy the F250. Remember one more thing. If you live somewhere where parking is scarce and most of the spots are marked as "compact" be ready to park a LONG way from your destination if you have a F250. They may not look that much bigger sitting next to the F150 on the lot, but they are a beast to park in tight areas. So far I've bought one Honda fender and a parking lot traffic control sign. Good news is that the F250 didn't even scratch when I peeled the fender off the Honda. Gotta love dark, rainy nights in Seattle.

 

It's standard practice to have production workers assist in launches. The bean counters still do the engineering. The Focus is a good example. Make it cheaper is Ford's battle cry. Common sense is checked at the front door with a lot of iou's.

 

90% of the time the F150 would do me just fine. The other 10% of the time the F250 may be better. I will tow boats and go off-road every now and then. The worst abuse I see putting the truck thru would be 5-10 miles in deep sand on the outer banks or towing a 25ft boat. But these don't happen evey week, more like every few months.

The rest of the time is transporting lumber, dirt and crap home for the next weekend project.

It will be my daily commuter and I plan to keep it forever. Like I said in an earlier posts... One day people will be saying "Wow, that's an old Ford Truck."