I picked up my truck last tuesday, a 2004 Black FX4. Day 2, I washed and dried it real good. I found paint chips on the tailgate, a scratch on the bumper, and two scuff marks down the passenger side. Now today, I went to hook up my boat and when I put my hitch in the reciever, the hitch pin won't fit in the hole. It'll go in the passenger side hole, but at an angle, and won't fit at all thru the driver side hole. I'm already going to the dealer tomorrow about the paint issues, but now this? How hard is it to punch a 5/8 hole in the reciever? I've never heard of such a stupid thing. Needless to say, I'm not too happy.

 

Minor issues. You shouldn't be too concerned.

 

http://www.oly4x4.com/newgearbreakin.htm

You might want to read this before you start dragging a boat around..

 

Silly question, but did you try the pin without the hitch bar in there to see if it lines up?? I had a faulty hitch bar (Holes didn't line up) before..

Russ

 

thats some good info, i havent thought about the rear end. thanks dunk . this is something that should be added to Tech info.

 

yeah my 04 f-150 black truck also has paint chips

 

I also had a small scuff on the front bumper and some sort of overspray junk on the hood with my Black FX4. I had the same problem with the hitch pin hole on the driver side, I gave it a light scuff with a round file and it popped right in..easy fix.

 

Well, I looked today in better light and there are some weld spatters in the pin hole of the reciever. I'm going to file those out and see how it fits before I complain anymore. The hitch is fine, it's the same one I've used on 2 previous trucks and my father towed my boat last week with the same hitch on his truck. When I was about to start towing, I had 460 miles on the truck, now 680. I went to the dealership today about the chips and scratches. They were able to polish out a couple of the scratches, but my bumper and tailgate are going to need repainting. I hope they're not all swirls. I wish Ford would protect these things better for shipping. I know that's not the dealerships fault, they've actually been real good about things so far. I know they're just minor issues, but I never had them with my 2 previous trucks (both Dodge). Hopefully in the long run, I won't have any big problems like I had in both of those (transmission, rear-end seals, ball joints). I did go on a 3 hour trip (each way) this weekend and got almost 16 mpg hwy. Not bad for a brand new motor. That's the best I ever got with my Dodge, and that had 3.55's and only the 5.2L motor. More power, more gear, better mileage, not bad. The truck is so smooth it feels like I'm doing 40. I have to use cruise control or I'm going to get a ticket.