Pick-em-up truck question

[41magsnub]

FWD is an abomination unto the Lord.

That's a little strong.  My 1999 Avalon would go anywhere a sedan had any business going and some places it didn't belong.  The only thing that made me stabby was the traction control which could be turned off for the duration of the current trip.  That said I did replace it with an AWD this year.  I now own 2 AWD's and a 4x4 pickup.

[mtnbkr]

The traction control on our little chevy was a PITA until I learned to just drive like an idiot (mash the gas pedal).

If you try to feather the throttle like you normally would to keep from wheel-spinning, it just stops dead. 

Well, Traction Control was designed for people that didn't know how to drive in those conditions.  Still, while I'm comfortable feathering the gas and such, I found the traction-control-equipped van simply easier to drive (especially at the end of a stressful and long drive following a snowstorm.  Not only that, but while turning it on and off, I found it would go places that no amount of throttle diddling would take me (such as up the hill to my in-laws' house).  It works and I'll take it as long as I have the option of turning it off. 

Chris

[Tallpine]

Well, Traction Control was designed for people that didn't know how to drive in those conditions.  Still, while I'm comfortable feathering the gas and such, I found the traction-control-equipped van simply easier to drive (especially at the end of a stressful and long drive following a snowstorm.  Not only that, but while turning it on and off, I found it would go places that no amount of throttle diddling would take me (such as up the hill to my in-laws' house).  It works and I'll take it as long as I have the option of turning it off. 

Chris

You can't turn it off on our model year. 

[41magsnub]

In my old Toyota it was really bad.  Their definition of traction control at the time was mostly to let off the gas.  When it would go on it felt exactly like lugging down a stick shift.  I had to turn it off in order to pull out into traffic safely when the road was even wet or had a little gravel on it.  It wasn't just annoying, it was dangerous.   I tried to disable it by pulling the fuse, but it shared a fuse with something essential like the headlights or something, I forget which.

My Subaru has traction control, but I have yet to get into a situation where it felt the need to engage so judgement is reserved.  There is a button to turn it off happily.

[mtnbkr]

With our van, you can't tell at all that traction control is working other than the fact that you can spin the wheels and eventually you will go as fast as you are able regardless of how much you press the throttle.  On the hill I referenced above, that was about 15mph (floored!).  No lurching, no slipping, just slow steady movement. 

My Focus has it as well, but since I just bought it, I haven't run into any icy weather with which to test yet. :)  I do know that turning it off isn't as simple as pressing a button on the dash (like the van).  It'll take a few button pushes to get to that menu item, then turn it off.  If it works as well as the van's, I won't need to bother.

Chris

[lupinus]

My little fiesta fwd with traction control actually does pretty darn well in poor conditions. Granted, we don't get feet of snow at one time but we tend to get a snowfall or two every year that never gets cleared, and we get ice often enough. Little thing just goes without any issue. TC can be turned off, but it's a bit of a PITA to do as you have to navigate the menu to find the option.

RWD is still more fun and I've never been in my 2wd XJ and found myself cussing that it's only 2wd. We got what, for the area, is a bad storm a few years ago when it was still my daily driver. I was making it everywhere I needed to be, up a nasty hill that was on my route, etc without any problem. RWD alone works fine if you just know how to drive in it.

[mtnbkr]

Lupinus, your Fiesta's TC is probably similar to my Focus'.  Do you have a 5spd or the DCT?

Chris

[Ben]

mtnbkr, what the deal with turning it on and off while driving up a hill that you mentioned? I've never driven a vehicle with it (that I know of) so don't know much about it.

[mtnbkr]

Before hitting the road for the 2nd leg of our trip, I took the van out to test its capability in snow (this was our first snow of the season).  This particular snow was wet, heavy, and slick.  I took it out of my in-laws' neighborhood, then back in.  The route back took me up a rather steep hill, which had this packed, and snot-slick snow covering it.  While I was climbing the hill, I turned off TC by pressing the button.  The tires immediately began to slip and I stopped moving forward.  I feathered the gas, as one should do, but wasn't able to get the van moving up the hill.  I pressed the TC button again, enabling it, and the van started going up the hill again.

That sold me on TC as a feature. 

Chris

[Ben]

Oh, gotchya. I read it as you were turning it on and off as a driving tactic of some kind.

[lupinus]

Lupinus, your Fiesta's TC is probably similar to my Focus'.  Do you have a 5spd or the DCT?

Chris

Has the 6spd automatic dct

[charby]

So I walked around the work vehicle lot on my way to another building, there is a lot of various late model 4x4 1/2 and 3/4 ton pickup trucks parked there. At 5'11" I had no problem standing next to the top of the bed rail and putting my hand flat down on the floor of the bed. Most of the bed rails were diaphragm/elbow high and I didn't see any that were taller than that.

This is sort of like the discussion my father had with me about 12 years ago when he was looking to buy a new pickup, he told all trucks come with 19" wheels on them and I said did you see a truck in a parking lot with 19" wheels, he said yes, I said were they highly polished, he said yes, I told him the owner of the truck put those on and they are different then factory rims.

So I am wondering if the OP saw a lifted truck or saw one of the few factory models that come lifted.

 

[mtnbkr]

Oh, gotchya. I read it as you were turning it on and off as a driving tactic of some kind.

I potentially could if it was getting in the way.  I've heard it can reduce launch times if you're trying to go for min 0-60 numbers, but I'm not concerned with that.

Chris

[zxcvbob]

I have to disable the antilock brakes in the winter up here.  (just pop out a fuse)  When there's ice and packed snow on the roads, it won't let you stop.  Kind of scary when you are headed into a busy intersection. 

[Gewehr98]

I do the same thing, because the antilock on ice really raises hell, in addition to making a horrible noise and pedal pulsation...

[Ben]

I do the same thing, because the antilock on ice really raises hell, in addition to making a horrible noise and pedal pulsation...

I thought those were the conditions ati-lock brakes were supposed to be designed for? Just asking - we don't get any ice or snow here, so I've never had occasion to use them for that.

[Tallpine]

I have to disable the antilock brakes in the winter up here.  (just pop out a fuse)  When there's ice and packed snow on the roads, it won't let you stop.  Kind of scary when you are headed into a busy intersection.  

Almost hit a deer one time because of the anti-lock brakes.  Should have been able to stop just fine even on gravel.

So I walked around the work vehicle lot on my way to another building, there is a lot of various late model 4x4 1/2 and 3/4 ton pickup trucks parked there. At 5'11" I had no problem standing next to the top of the bed rail and putting my hand flat down on the floor of the bed. Most of the bed rails were diaphragm/elbow high and I didn't see any that were taller than that.

Yeah - I don't get the problem.

[bedlamite]

]
I think Dodge is the only maker putting an adequately sized truck transmission in their 1/2 tons (quality of said transmission is a different story, all the reports I've been getting is it can be a crapshoot). Personally I won't own a Dodge so I have no intention of finding out with my money.

That works both ways. I had a Chevy S-10 with a 4.3l V6 and a NV3500 5 speed manual transmission, the same transmission was put into a Dodge 2500 for a few years.

[Hawkmoon]

Here is a factory photo gallery from Ford, go to picture #5

http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/gallery/photos/

The guy in the picture isn't having a problem reaching over the side to grab a bag of something.

I think you need to go to the dealership and try it for yourself, bonus points if you bring your own paint can.

Promising -- but that's an F-150, not an F-250.

10-4 on hitting a dealership. I'm already planning on it. Just have to figure out which one around here is most oriented toward trucks. What I don't need is some drone trying to talk to me about navigation systems and satellite radios when I want to know nuts and bolts about the suspension.

[charby]

Promising -- but that's an F-150, not an F-250.

10-4 on hitting a dealership. I'm already planning on it. Just have to figure out which one around here is most oriented toward trucks. What I don't need is some drone trying to talk to me about navigation systems and satellite radios when I want to know nuts and bolts about the suspension.

I'm pretty sure you will not find that in a car lot salesman.

[charby]

You can do what many of us do also. Most trucks with bed liners have slots that fit 2x4s, just put one across the at the furthest to the rear and put your paint can between it and tailgate, need to reach it, lower the tailgate.

[Hawkmoon]

I had an '86 that I bought as a loss leader off the lot, 4 banger, manual, that I drove for 14 years. As I recall, they were supposed to be "larger than a mid-sized, but smaller than a full-sized". Mine had a 7' bed. To G98's point, it wasn't just salt spray - pretty much every Comanche that I ever saw, including mine, had the paint on the hood and top go to crap.

Just the clearcoat. They all did that in the 80s. A light sanding and new clearcoat over the color base would have fixed it right up. (Wish I had known that when I had Earl Scheib paint my '88 Cherokee.)

Hawkmoon, does it have to be 4WD? My F250 is 2WD and sits a good bit lower than the 4WD model does. Not that sometimes I wish I would have gotten the 4WD, but if you don't absolutely need it, or only in a limited way where you can get by putting chains or go-claws on the tires, the 2WD is probably at a good height for you.

Yep, 2WD probably is the height I want, but I need 4WD for the winter. I need to be able to take a 4WD F-250 and get it down to around the ride height of the 2WD version.

[brimic]

The traction control has been shut off on the car for about 10 years.
My wife got it stuck in the driveway once- in 2" (yes inches) of snow. The traction control wouldn't allow the wheels to turn. My wife came in and complained that the car was stuck. I got in the car, pressed the traction control button to shut it off, the front wheels slipped for about a 1/2 turn and the car drove out with no problems.

About the only good traction control is for is fast launches. FWD does not work well at hooking up the tires with engines over 200 hp or so- weight shifting to the rear wheels, which is essential for RWD cars becomes a disadvantage in FWDs. There are expensive suspension modifications that can be done to over come this, but traction control is a cheap way to mitigate (not fix) the problem.

[Tallpine]

Yep, 2WD probably is the height I want, but I need 4WD for the winter. I need to be able to take a 4WD F-250 and get it down to around the ride height of the 2WD version.

Take it out and catch some air.  If you land hard enough, it will lower that suspension quite nicely.   

[Nick1911]

I'm pretty sure you will not find that in a car lot salesman.

Heh, that reminds me of when I was shopping for a car with my ex.  The salesman didn't know quite how to respond when I dragged myself under the car with a flashlight and a telescoping mirror.  He did recover nicely by talking about the dealerships excellent service department and the cars warranty when I grumpily started pointing out some common wear items were placed in hard to reach places.

I threw him for a real loop when, after kicking him out of his own office for about an hour to discuss with my ex, I told him I'd buy the car, but I wanted a factory service manual for it.  [They called up the chain about that one, but in the end couldn't provide one.  Apparently the repair manuals only existed as a web application on an intranet for dealers at that time.]

On pickup trucks, my 1995 F250 2wd sits pretty high off the ground [I think], but I found that with appropriate ramps moving white goods wasn't too much of a problem.  Heavier things... well...

Another thought, depending on what you're trying to do; my 2002 E350, while only 2WD has a much lower cargo height then the F250.  Another advantage of a van is that your tools and materials remain secure from thefts of opportunity while you're in a store or at a job site.