Greetings,

Just signed up for the forums. I've been anxiously waiting for my 2013 F250 Platinum diesel to be delivered to my dealer (Ordered back in September, but had to wait for the re-tooling for 2013s.. and I guess my order is in a long line of other dealer orders).

This is my first Ford vehicle and my first truck. I'm trading in a Toyota 4runner for it. I've been a long time Toyota/Lexus owner as I used to be an engineer (IT) for Toyota corporate there and got smoking deals.

I'll admit I'm one of those people who is not going to fully put this truck to the test. I wanted to ditch my trailer for my ATV and be able to carry my Arctic Cat TRV on the truck bed (With a Diamondback ATV carrier) so I can more easily go out riding without lugging the trailer. Someday perhaps we'll get a 5th wheel for camping. Also, I wanted a crew cab where no seat in the vehicle seems like it's limited leg room

Anyway.. I'm looking forward to it and will post pictures when it arrives.

I do have a side question, and will admit when it comes to electronics and computers, I'm strong.. when it comes to cars and mechanical things, I'm almost clinically brain dead.

While I won't be using this as a daily commuter, occasionally I'm sure I'll drive it into work, and we have terrible terrible parking garage.. 6'8 clearance, and I'm fairly certain when I get out there to measure, there will be parts lower than that.. as my antenna on my 4runner hits the signage often.

Is there a way to lower the truck a couple of inches without compromising the vehicles haul rating? Preferably not a permanent lowering, but hydraulics or something just for in the garage. ["Wow is he stupid?" ] I've also read (not sure if it's practical) some folks put front/rear winches on their truck and weld a bar that they literally winch their truck down while in garages.. but not sure if that'd cause long term damage. Thoughts, comments, harassment?

 

Ive never heard of the winch method...ever... and i avoid parking garages and garages (unless they have a door over 7') so i wouldnt know. is the parking garage the only area to park?

 

Yeah, my fail back is to park above ground, just more of a PITA due to the walking distance to above ground lots on our work campus. There's a 7' garage I can shuttle from, but adds 25-30~ minutes to the daily commute, so was checking options to see which route is best.

 

BAG IT!! have Airbags installed, then with the flip of a switch it will drop down. And you can still haul a 5th wheel with air suspension.

 

Seriously though you can't do that ^^^ without voiding your warranty.

 

If it helps at all, my truck with the leveling kit and 35" tires is 82". I have taller blocks than your F250 will have, so you won't be as high.

Seems like alot of effort just to park in the parking garage, but it's your money!

Congrats on the new truck and welcome to FTE!

 

Yeah, it may turn out to be a non-issue altogether.. if the thing would arrive I can find out!

And thanks, i've been lurking on the forums for a few months.. glad to finally be able to share my ignorance..

 

Never hurts to be prepared though.

I'm assuming you have a VIN already, correct? Did the dealer give you an ETA yet?

 

Not yet, they said Ford still hasn't given them the VIN yet. I'm not really happy with the dealer, but I had to give them a sizeable down payment to order the truck so I'm kind of stuck using them.

In November they told me mid-december.. in mid-december they said "hopefully we'll know in a couple of weeks". They said ford marked that it had started building right after thanksgiving.

 

Are they a high volume dealer or a mom and pop shop? Most of the time, if the dealer's don't have the allocation, the order just sits... That's unfortunate they made you put a down payment on it too. Normally if you bailed on the sale, they could sell it to someone else (unless the truck has something in the configuration that they couldn't normally sell quickly), so like you said, you're kinda stuck.

Regardless, I'd start raising heck with the sales manager/owner. They can contact their local Ford rep who can bump up the priority on the order. Also, you can contact the dealer and ask them for a copy of the DORA (dealer order aeceipt acknowledgement). This is everything that your truck will be built off of. Might as well make sure they got your order right (you can compare the DORA to the order guide, let me know if you need one). It'll also have the priority on it, it should 10 or less (ie. 1-10).

I went through all this 2 years ago with my truck (although the dealer had the allocation, order just wasn't getting picked up). A quick call to the Ford rep, they bumped it up from a priority 10 to a priority 1 and the truck was built and delivered in 4 weeks. Anyways, hope that helps, stay on your dealer...

 

Thanks for the tips, ill do that! This dealer isn't completely mom and pop, but Seattle doesn't seem to have any massive Ford dealerships. Their size/volume is likely on par with the dealers in Bellevue.

 

how high do the priority numbers go? I was looking over the printout I got when I ordered the truck and it had priority listed at 99. It's been four weeks and I haven't heard anything yet, I guess I 'm going to have to call the dealer after christmas and start bugging them.

 

99 is the lowest priority. From what I remember, 99 is usually used as "what if this customer buys this truck" number. Hopefully when they put the real order in, it was set between 1-10.

Hope that helps.

 

Did you order a 4 wheel drive? 2wd trucks are shorter.

You'll be fine in the parking garage anyway, if you need 2 inches, deflate your tires. Install an air system so you can inflate before you go home.

Or,buy 16" wheels and get moderately profiled tires. Somewhere middle of the road.

None of my suggestions really make practical sense though. I think you will fit. Some folks measure and cut their radio antenna to be a height gauge. If the antenna hits,back out.

Good luck with your order. Might want to cruise around the garage one day and see if there are any other super duty trucks in there.

 

thanks, yea I got that number off the printoff when we were spec'ing the truck out so I knew what it would actually cost me. Afterwards I told them to order it. The salesman did tell me that I'd have the truck before the end of Jan.