Calling on Motorheads and Auto Gurus

I work for a large company that has a contract with Ford for all company vehicles..I find it no small coincidence that the majority of our fleet mechanics personal vehicles are anything but Fords. That said, I think all the manufacturers have their good and bad points.
 
Yeah after doing a ton of homework and test driving both the 5.0 F150 and the EcoDiesel CrewCab Ram. I have noticed the exact same pros and cons as MotorTrend,Car and Driver and a few other professional reviewers had.

Pretty much summed up is the Ram is heavier and feels heavier and definitely steers like one, not the most responsive and almost feels like it is being pulled wherever you steer. The take off is not the best but once it's up and going it's a stout motor. Where it really shines and I can only speak for this since I own a ram is the added weight makes for a very comfortable ride especially when pulling something.
I feel like the ram doesn't have the best field of view and the hood is a little overwhelming at times to see anything in front of the truck when pulling into a parking spot. Other than that I love the truck, rides like a champ, powerful and robust even off-road. Just not a fan of the steering, definitely not the most nimble truck on the market.

The Ford has some crazy stiff riding, but I feel much more controlling since the steering and handling is probably the best out of any truck I have driven. It has more freaking gadgets and features to satisfy the overall drive. The rear end though does want to loosen up on you when you hit a good pot hole, which concerns me a little when pulling something. Even in one of the online reviews they said the pulling of a trailer with the F150 felt at times a little sketchy and froggy due to the weight reduction from the aluminum body.

Overall I love the Ram, I love the look of them over the Ford, it's a beast off-road and pulls well. But the handling sucks and even with my Hemi, it's geared where there is a noticeable delay before she really wants to get up and move. Other than that I have nothing great to say about my Ram and I have confidence in there products,not dodge or Chrysler but Ram.

But...... for me the overall experience,I'm gonna have to go with the F150. The Ram has the Drivetrain, Interior and Looks I want but the F150 had more pros on my list. Either way the two trucks are some of the best out there.
 
I'm impressed that Ram has stepped it up so much that in most reviews they where bumped up to number 2 best full size truck on the Market. They have some of the best features out there. Kind of like a few Allstars on a sports team, but there is a reason Ford still is number one. Ram may have some Allstars but it takes a whole team to win it all and that's what ford does, they bring more of it together in one package. The Ram is no mediocre but they still need to iron out a few features or the lack there of to be the best selling truck on the market. 28 miles to the gallon though does sound good, specially on a elk trip from Texas to Montana lol
 
Well as much as I like the F150, my dad talked some sense into me, on why the Ram was an excellent choice in truck. Besides its paid off and my cousin asked me how many miles it had, after I told him, he looked at me like a common sense person looks at a tree hugging delusional liberal after they say something completely stupid. In other words, less than 25K on the Odometer and no payment, I must be high for even considering getting rid of it.
 
I own a '13 F150 with the 5.0. From the start of owning it there has been a miss or hesitation in the motor. I took it in and had techs and myself drive it while it was hooked up to a computer. The number 1 piston is dropping out slightly. The dealer says it is not enough for them to do anything about it. Got a new set of 100k mile plugs at 13k miles though. I have had issues with the controls on the steering wheel doing weird things on the radio, going the wrong way on the dial, switching to AM and FM2. I am getting about 19 combined mpg. I drive mostly rural roads and highway and put 4x4 in daily to get up my drive way. Do not even think of putting ethanol in it, sucks it down like nothing. I have pulled a V nose 14x6 trailer and my mileage dropped to around 14 mpg in tow mode. The back end does get squirrely on rough roads if you are going over 25 mph. When the roads get rough around here I through in 200 lbs of sand to help some. The doors have enough of a gap in the bottom that sand accumulates between the body and the door. The bed is made of suck thin metal that after six loads of fire wood, to the bed rails, and being half way careful about not just tossing it in, the inside of the bed is dented all to hell. I have to leave my hitch on to step on then the sides of the bumper. Where the license plate is, is all plastic and feels like it will break if I put all my weight on it. Besides the motor issue my biggest complaint is that you can not put chains on the tires. There is not enough room between the tire walls and the suspension. I can not even fit my hand between them. The new suspensions are truely made for a better on road ride for city driving and soccer moms.

I still wished I had my '10 150. I was getting 22 mpg on the highway with the V8, and did not have near the issues. As soon as I am able am going to go back to an older truck and a car or SUV.
 
Dang! Yeah the more I dig, I'm hearing a lot of horrer stories about guys 13-15 F150's as far as QC issues. My coworker just picked up a Ecodiesel, that motor and truck combo is killer!
 
Wouldnt recommend a new f150. Youll be proud when you spend 300$ on a-arm bolts. Since the iron ball joints fuse with the aluminum a arms, when they are pressed out the hole in the a arm is too big for said ball joint now....So, now the a arms need replaced, but since the a arm bolts are tapered, they rust and sieze up and cant be unscrewed so they have to be cut out. The look on the customers face is priceless when you tell them they need 4 bolts...@75$a piece!!! And they are hard to find bc everyone else has the same problem! Took 3 diff dealers to come up with 4 bolts on the last one we did. 2 buddys that work at Ford both had cam timing chain issues which was about 1800 in motor work.
 
Dang!!! Yeah I'm just gonna keep what I got. If it treats me well after 150-200k I'll snag up a Ecodiesel.

Just got to get some different wheels now. Anyone have fuel wheels?
 
Chris Sloan said:
Wouldnt recommend a new f150. Youll be proud when you spend 300$ on a-arm bolts. Since the iron ball joints fuse with the aluminum a arms, when they are pressed out the hole in the a arm is too big for said ball joint now....So, now the a arms need replaced, but since the a arm bolts are tapered, they rust and sieze up and cant be unscrewed so they have to be cut out. The look on the customers face is priceless when you tell them they need 4 bolts...@75$a piece!!! And they are hard to find bc everyone else has the same problem! Took 3 diff dealers to come up with 4 bolts on the last one we did. 2 buddys that work at Ford both had cam timing chain issues which was about 1800 in motor work.
Click to expand...

Is this a 2015 issue?
 
5MilesBack said:
Wow....10mpg. Haven't seen anything like that since our old '66 Chevy pickup. Although I'm getting pretty close to that and equally frustrated with this Ethanol gas in my old Toyota. It absolutely HATES it. Horrible mileage and no power with it. Is there any kind of additive or something that counteracts the ethanol??

I took it over for first rifle and had to fill up half way there because I knew I wouldn't make it all the way over on one tank. Then filled up when I got there (with non-ethanol gas) and even after the 4-wheeling and two trips to town, I easily made it all the way home and had 1/4 tank left when I got home. That ethanol is ridiculously inefficient.
Click to expand...

The biggest issue with ethanol is that ethanol mixed fuels need to run at a different Air Fuel ratio to run correctly. That is why newer vehicles deal with it much better than older ones, their computers are equipped to deal with it. Carb engines need to be re-jetted to run properly. That being said ethanol is also slightly less energy dense, but has a higher specific heat so it can lower the intake air charge and help with the volumetric efficiency. In addition, ethanol has a cleaning effect and can cause debris to break loose in old poorly maintained engines. If I was building a turbo engine, I would probably choose to run an alchohol blend and boost the hell out of it, for normally aspirated non-ethanol is my choice.
 
I recently bought a new truck and after compairing them all I chose the Tundra. It is not the most technologically advanced, but it should be a nice dependable truck and I got all of the features I wanted for considerably cheaper than I could with the other brands.
 
hunter4christ7502 said:
Does anyone know if I do a true two in two out exhaust will void warranty?
Click to expand...

A cat back style exhaust cannot void a warranty, but a full system with headers could depending on what caused the warranty issue. Most dual exhaust systems don't really help much though. Unless you just care about cosmetics I wouldn't go dual system.
 
wpwarren said:
The biggest issue with ethanol is that ethanol mixed fuels need to run at a different Air Fuel ratio to run correctly.
Click to expand...

Maybe that's why I keep getting the check engine light. The codes are always the same, "air/fuel ratio lean" and "air/fuel ratio rich" at the same time.

There are a lot of Toyota V6 owners in this generation engine that complain of these same codes all the time, and never seem to figure out what the issue is.
 
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