I've got to add my 2 cents here too. I'm on my 3rd Ford truck. I drove a '56 Ford (that me, Dad, and Grandpa restored) for 2 yrs. in high school and through 4 yrs. of college (30 mi. 1 way - classes 5 days/week) w/only normal maintenance. Before finishing college, I bought a '92 F150 w/a 300 engine and drove it till it had 73000 miles and I put one water pump on it. I traded it for a '96 F150 4x4 w/300 eng. in '96 and am still driving it. Only now at 97000 miles am I starting to notice some annoying torque convertor problems, but the truck has ran like this for a year and never stranded me (though I do plan to get it fixed soon). Aside from normal wear items, that's been my only repair experience w/Ford trucks. Dad had a '93 Ford truck that never went in the shop the whole time he owned it. I would definitely recommend the 300 engine as it's bulletproof. The downside is that the gas mileage won't be great, but w/my '92 4x2 - 5-speed, I got 15 in town and 20 on the road. Great trucks, hard to beat.

RW

 

Chevy Nut……that is psyco……Smyth…..

Whatever you choose….whatever you drive….Welcome to the site. Won’t find a better bunch of guys willing to help.

As for height I’m 5’6” and always felt smaller in a Chevy. When I go to rest my arm out the window, my elbow is about level with my ear and when I put my arm on the door arm rest I have to lean over for it to reach. Fords (full size) fits me fine. As for the rest about my trucks…..it’s all gravy.

 

Hehehe, I am a ford man, but one thing I still can't figure out.... Why is it that ford has like 6 different firing orders for their v8's?? :P

Tony

'77 F250, 4X4 460 transplantee, "Flamer"
'74 F250. 460, "beater" now "1 dead ford"
'73 F250, "midnight auto" now a trailer for the flamer

 

different firing orders? why haven't you heard, varity is the spice of life

 

>Hehehe, I am a ford man, but one thing I still can't figure
>out.... Why is it that ford has like 6 different firing
>orders for their v8's?? :P
>
>


Or why theres at least 2 different bolt patterns for transmissions?

 

I must say that my dad has worked for GM forever so I grew up a GM guy. But I went to a ford ranger due to cost. My 86 was only $4000 and MINT. I have been Ford ever since. Personally I would nover buy a GM truck simply because I do not like the new look, and I do not like IFS. Granted my F250 has TTB, but unlike most I feel that is an AWESOME axle. A lift kit costs under $1000, but look at a new Silverado lift kit, your pushing $3000 to get it done right. just my .02

 

 

lol, talk about archives!

I can't remember that password.
I did finaly get my F150, a 93 ex cab. Good truck, it ate gas, I have my Ranger now. I also have a 2002 MPV which has of course a Ford powerplant.

 

Yep, Ford Trucks for life for me! Although I would love to get my hands on a late 40s early 50s Dodge Power Wagon. Hands down you simply cannot go wrong with a 300 six coupled to a manual transmission. They are pretty decent on fuel depending on your driving style. 4x4 or 4x2? Again, speaking from personal preferance like my 4x4s. The manual hub/ manual t-case trucks very seldom have any issues. The 80-96 F150s are very easily converted from 4x2 to 4x4 (I did the conversion on my 96), it all bolts together. Are they tough? I don't know I've used my old 84 F150 to pull trucks much bigger than me out of some pretty nasty stucks. I've used my 96 F150 to pull a 16" cube truck out of a stuck a couple times now. I used my old 84 F250 6.9 diesel to pull a semi out of a snow bank last winter. I can't say I ever broke anything major on any of my trucks when I was working them hard. Actually, I did snap a driver's side radius arm on my 84 F150 pulling somebody out, wheel hop has a tendancy to do that. I was still able to drive it back home though. All my Ford trucks have been very reliable, one thing you need to remember is half of a vehicle's reliability comes from good maintenance... especially an older one. All engines available in the F Series were good, all will run well over 200k miles and take whoopin doin it. V6? Real trucks don't come with V6s, the 4.3 Chevs were good motors pretty tough and reliable, very hard on fuel; but just not fit for fullsize truck duty IMO. The trannies that came in the F Series were all around good, some not so great: NP435 4 spd absolutely bulletproof, M5OD 5 spd okay in light duty applications/ ZF 5 spd pretty tough nicely geared unit/ C6 auto absolutely bulletproof/ AOD auto decent but light duty unit/ E4OD auto decent tough unit. The diesels available (F250s and F350s) were great. The old 6.9 and 7.3 non turbo diesels were tough and reliable, not the fastest or most powerful but they get the job done. The 7.3 Powerstroke Turbo Diesels ARE THE BEST diesel engines ever put in a pickup truck PERIOD. They were very tough, reliable, and will pull anything you hook em to. Ford's Twin Traction Beam (TTB) 4x4 front suspension is the strongest IFS ever put under a pickup truck. They can be a little hard on tires if not kept up properly (maintenance?).
I have driven a lot of trucks in my 10 years of driving, and Ford Trucks just seem to fit me the best. Dodge trucks aren't too bad, but Chevys do feel cramped to me. I'm not sure if the roofs are too low or the seats are too high, I just don't like how they have that closed in cave-like feel to them. I love my 96 F150 RC LB 4x4 for long trips. I get on the highway set the cruise, turn up the radio, kick back, relax enjoy a nice cold drink...nothing short of heaven. That's the other thing I absolutely love the interior in this truck, the seat is just as comfy as my Lazy Boy chair. Oh, and if you live in an area where it gets cold, the heaters in these things are killer.

 

I think this is the oldest thread I've seen so far, from 2001.

 

my truck has NEVER EVER left me standed anywhere. it does all its breaking..in the driveway?????? lol i swear to god

cant tell you what it is about the old girl but i love her to death, she was my dads from 1992-2007 before he handed me the keys i had a lot of memorys in the truck, my most vivid i was 8 years old we were in san fransisco at a red stop light i had gone to work with my dad he is a contractor and anyway we have our windows down and this black man came up with a toy shotgun you could see the orange tip my dad thought it was real until i said something anyway he said get out of the truck or ill blow your brains out and ive never seen my dad rage out that bad he said "***** you you f**king n**ger!" and revved the thing to its rev limiter and dumped the cluch burning out and took off down the street i asked "dad, why did that guy point a toy gun at you?" he replied to me "i didnt know it was fake" anyway the general look of the truck has changed a bit since its been in my hands any way back on topic its just the truck never stops impressing me, i can think of countless things its done better then dodge never had a comparable chevy to vs it against. its really no match for my dads new duramax but we a few things done to it too

 

only because GM has GMC and Chevy, put them together and they outsell the Ford ..

 

I don't want to start a big argument or anything but I am going to throw my 2 cents in on my experiences with the GM Duramax diesel. It's a quiet, smooth running, and snappy diesel, I wouldn't take one if someone gave it to me. I drive one everyday, it's a lease that I use to run my delivery business. It's an 05 GMC C5500 and I absolutely hate it, that thing has left me on the side of the road at least a half a dozen times just this past year. Every time it's some kind of computer related problem, there is nothing wrong with the engine itself. In wet weather the thing throws a fit, the service engine light comes on it starts running like crap; no power. It has been in and out of the shop countless times, one time they sent it to the GM garage to try to figure out the problem. It's just really frustrating when you are trying to make a living and your equipment keeps breaking down. When the opportunity come I would love to swap it out for one of the new Internationals with the DT466... now that's a real diesel! I don't know maybe I have a lemon, I talk to other guys that run Duramaxes their in pickups and they say they have been good. I talk to the mechanics at the place I lease from and they hate em. It sure makes me appreciate my old 6.9 diesel in my F250, yeah it might not make the same power or nearly as fast. But it's all mechanical, it's simple and cheap to work on... to add to that I get around 16-17 mpg with all around driving. And it's tough as nails!