Adam_R
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Re: F150 Lightning Road Trip & Ike Gauntlet Pull
While I genuinely like the idea of battery powered vehicles, they just don't work for much of the driving we do these days. Case in point, we headed from Colorado Springs to eastern Oregon last week and put down 1040 miles in 17 hours. No need to stop for a hotel but 17 hours in one shot is about our limit when traveling with kids. We did the same trip in reverse last night. There is no way we could have done that same trip in an EV in a single shot. The most painful part was the multiple $200 fill ups.366Views0likes0CommentsRe: thoughts on Ecoboost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZlysdE6pvw The torture test Ford put this 2011 through was pretty impressive. Towing 11,000+ lbs around a NASCAR track at full throttle for 24 hours shows a pretty impressive duty cycle IMHO. I'm sure the engine has just gotten better and better over the past decade. Adam642Views0likes0CommentsRe: 2022 F-150 Can Not install aftermarket brake controller!!!!!
Grit dog wrote: Adam R wrote: I have a Prodigy that I move between three of my vehicles as needed. No problems with it working as intended and doing its job. That’s nice… Point being that it's easy enough to wire in an aftermarket controller as others have stated. None of my vehicles came with a factory brake controller option, but with power and a brake light switch wire it's pretty easy to get any vehicle wired up.2.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Rivian Electric Truck takes on the Ike Gauntlet
I keep hearing that EV's cost so much less to operate in energy costs. In this test, the cost to drive 140 miles in the Rockies is essentially a wash. Empty, I'd get closer to 17 mpg in that same trip. Yes, it can get to 60mph about 5 seconds faster than my F-350. That would effectively account for 0.00001% of my average driving experience and with 450hp on tap in my stock truck it is no slouch. Even using an F-150 Ecoboost, it would still be a wash and the R1 is smaller than an F-150. So what are the benefits of this truck? Cost more to fuel, smaller, less capable, gives you anxiety, costs you time while on the road to refuel, but hey, it saves you 5 seconds from 0 to 60. Oh, and it has no soul either. Now if I was just a commuter living in the city, it might be worth considering, but out west, with lost of distance between A and B, it's not practical at this time.371Views0likes0CommentsRe: Rivian Electric Truck takes on the Ike Gauntlet
So, the truck goes from 100% to 15% of charge and then up to 52% of charge at a cost of $17.36 in Dillon. It then goes back down to 16% on the return trip to Denver. Let's assume it can get back up to 100% of charge for $34 on the second charge so the cost from Denver to Dillon and back is $51 in round numbers. The round trip mileage is 140 miles. So the cost of electricity is roughly $0.36 per mile. My 2019 Ford diesel could pull that same route and easily average 10mpg round trip so I would burn 14 gallons of diesel for that same trip. At $3.50 per gallon, my fuel cost would be $49 or $0.35 per mile. While not against an electric vehicle, the justification is far from being a slam dunk at this time. Plus, I could pull twice that weight, have 5 times the range when empty and fill ups take 5 minutes. I'll keep my Ford for now. Adam370Views0likes0CommentsRe: I take back all the good stuff I've said about Les Schwabs!
FWIW, there are no perfect tire stores out there. They are each staffed with their share of knuckleheads and you have to watch them like a hawk. I mostly work with Discount Tire, and LS has been pretty good about ripping my mother-in-law off, but when you live in a small town, they are pretty much the only game around for her. During my last trip to Discount Tire, I watched 3 idiots tightening some lugs on a 17.5 inch commercial trailer tire/wheel. Let's see, 3 guys hanging off a 4 foot torque wrench. Easily in the ball park of 2000 ft-lbs of torque. I ripped them a new one for abusing another customer's equipment. Their excuse was that the torque wrench hadn't "clicked" yet. Sorry guys, it was broken through abuse long ago and you would think they understood what ft-lbs of torque was all about. I also have had Discount refuse to patch or touch a tire half a dozen times since a nail was "too close" to the sidewall. Each time I've taken it home and plugged it myself. Never had a problem with any of my repairs. They are too scared of being sued and it has removed any and all common sense. Disappointing, but it is what it is.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: 200,000 Mile Milestone
Last November (2019), I came across a guy at that had 486,000 miles on is 2017 F-350 SD. I posted up a pic of the odo on the FTE forum. He sent me another pic in early Jan of this year with 502,000 miles on the odo. He hauls high end horses across the country and he had had almost zero issues with the truck. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1603285-486-351-miles.html345Views0likes0CommentsRe: Trying to narrow down a short list of SUV for wife
I become real fan of Toyota SUV's after renting one for a month for use in the Australian outback. We now have both a 100 series and an 80 series Landcruiser. While the 80 is an off-road play toy, the 1999 100 series has been in our family for the past 15 years and it now has 253,000 miles on it. It still puts a smile on my face whenever I get the chance to drive it. My wife expects it to be replaced with another Landcruiser at some point down the road, but we have no reason to think about replacing the current one at the moment. To date, I have less than $1000 in out of cycle repairs, which is pretty amazing for what is now a 20 year old vehicle. In 2016, we rented a four runner for a few weeks and frankly, I wasn't that impressed by it. While roughly the same size as our 100, it wasn't nearly as solid or as roomy inside. The high lander might be acceptable for many, but for hauling a family around I prefer the tank-like size and heft of our 100. As for mid-life crisis vehicle, I'm thinking of putting together an AC Cobra kit car for my wife in a few years. It would scratch that mid-life crisis itch for the both of us. Adam348Views0likes0Comments
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