Bought a New Ram - No Thinking Required

[SoonerAviator]

I have the sub in my Lariat as well. It's pretty good for a 7" subwoofer. It won't rattle the mirrors too much, but it's actually a good compliment for "roundness of sound".

Regarding the tonneau cover, either leave it and deal with the pains of a solid fiberglass unit, or get one of the BakFlip units /retractable unit.


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[mtuomi]

1) I drive a minimum of 40 miles a day (20 miles each way to work), but with dropping my son off at school and sometimes picking him up, it's typically 55-70, sometimes up to 100 if I have to run around town. I wouldn't want to drive this if I had much shorter than a 20 mile normal commute. It takes close to 10 miles for the oil to get up to temperature with the big sump. I knew this going in, so it works well for me.

2) This thing has no smoke. None. The exhaust practically smells like roses. The emissions equipment works very well on this, and the calibration is very lean. We'll see how it works long term. Of course, you could chip it to make it smoke, but the Cummins guys did a good job. My 2004 would smoke under some conditions.

3) The truck is calibrated to run LOP most of the time as I understand it (best economy mixture instead of best power). Between that and the more restrictive exhaust, it doesn't have as good of throttle response as my 2004 did (or even my F-350). The 6.7 helps to offset this some vs. the 5.9, but you really need it to get into the boost (24 psi max) to get noticeable power, and that takes a little bit with the exhaust and the LOP ops. It may also be calibrated to bring the boost in slowly to be nice to the transmission, I don't know, but I think it could be a lot quicker.

The one thing I really wish they did differently was the exhaust brake. I'm making friends with it, but I would be a lot happier if there was an easily accessible switch on the shifter to get between on, off, and auto modes. I also wish (maybe the dealer can do this for me) that it would default to a mode besides "off". Supposedly on the chassis cab models it defaults to "on". I think I'd like it to default to "auto."

1) It's not just the big sump. Modern diesels produce very little heat to warm up the engine (more on this later), you actually have coolant circulating around the EGR valve to heat up the car faster. In cold climates, most new diesel cars are sold automatically with a Webasto/Eberspracher diesel heater.

2) DPF blocks the 99.9% of visible soot, if you see smoke, you have a problem (or the vehicle is doing a regen cycle) (and if a chip makes a DPF equipped vehicle smoke, it will have a very short life span). If you take your DPF off, you would have some smoke on initial spoolup, the DPF can contain quite a bit of that soot, but when it starts to be full (and cannot be regenerated), that soot will pass through the filter and you'll see smoke. This is when you know you have a $$ bill coming your way.

3) WAY WAY WAY lean. Diesel running stoich smokes like a train. Your normal driving AFR is likely around 22-25:1 (stoich is 14.5:1 with diesel) Modern diesels run with insane amounts of excess oxygen to keep the combustion clean (and this way they also don't produce much excess heat to warm up coolant). Even with full throttle, you won't be anywhere near lambda=1, most modern diesels run closer to lambda 1.3 at WOT. Visible smoke threshold is around that number too (depending a bit on SOI and other parameters).

 

[denverpilot]

I found it interesting that the Ford half ton diesel will have a specific menu item for forcing a manual regen, finally. Folks that drive them short distances will appreciate that. As, if the joke in the video went, they don’t park it next to the weeds up against the garage and set the garage on fire, anyway. LOL.

Still... that needs to become a “thing” on all of them. Like.

 

[mtuomi]

I found it interesting that the Ford half ton diesel will have a specific menu item for forcing a manual regen, finally. Folks that drive them short distances will appreciate that. As, if the joke in the video went, they don’t park it next to the weeds up against the garage and set the garage on fire, anyway. LOL.

Still... that needs to become a “thing” on all of them. Like.

It will initiate the regen, but it won't keep doing it forever unless there's a need for it. And if the soot mass/diff pressures are low enough, it will just say no thanks, we won't do it.
The duration of the regen is still decided by the calculated soot mass in the ECM (or PCM as Ford wants to call it).

 

[denverpilot]

It will initiate the regen, but it won't keep doing it forever unless there's a need for it. And if the soot mass/diff pressures are low enough, it will just say no thanks, we won't do it.
The duration of the regen is still decided by the calculated soot mass in the ECM (or PCM as Ford wants to call it).

Understand. I just hate fully automated stuff that has no “do it now” button. Yay Ford for providing it.

 

[mtuomi]

Understand. I just hate fully automated stuff that has no “do it now” button. Yay Ford for providing it.

The problem is, excessive regen will melt your DPF, and an average Joe has no way to know what is excessive.
Sometimes automation is the best way to do things...

 

[denverpilot]

The problem is, excessive regen will melt your DPF, and an average Joe has no way to know what is excessive.
Sometimes automation is the best way to do things...

Thus, the automation you mentioned “behind the button”.

 

[Ted]

1) It's not just the big sump. Modern diesels produce very little heat to warm up the engine (more on this later), you actually have coolant circulating around the EGR valve to heat up the car faster. In cold climates, most new diesel cars are sold automatically with a Webasto/Eberspracher diesel heater.

2) DPF blocks the 99.9% of visible soot, if you see smoke, you have a problem (or the vehicle is doing a regen cycle) (and if a chip makes a DPF equipped vehicle smoke, it will have a very short life span). If you take your DPF off, you would have some smoke on initial spoolup, the DPF can contain quite a bit of that soot, but when it starts to be full (and cannot be regenerated), that soot will pass through the filter and you'll see smoke. This is when you know you have a $$ bill coming your way.

3) WAY WAY WAY lean. Diesel running stoich smokes like a train. Your normal driving AFR is likely around 22-25:1 (stoich is 14.5:1 with diesel) Modern diesels run with insane amounts of excess oxygen to keep the combustion clean (and this way they also don't produce much excess heat to warm up coolant). Even with full throttle, you won't be anywhere near lambda=1, most modern diesels run closer to lambda 1.3 at WOT. Visible smoke threshold is around that number too (depending a bit on SOI and other parameters).

Maybe you can provide me some clarification here. I know all diesels run way, way lean compared to gasser engines, but I had thought that at your typical higher power settings (like for going down the highway or hard acceleration), diesels around 10 years ago were set to run richer than was optimal from an efficiency perspective because of various NOx emissions, and now the DEF has taken care of that. Is that more or less accurate or was I misinformed?

I do notice that this truck gets better mileage than my '04 did, at least thus far.

 

[mtuomi]

Maybe you can provide me some clarification here. I know all diesels run way, way lean compared to gasser engines, but I had thought that at your typical higher power settings (like for going down the highway or hard acceleration), diesels around 10 years ago were set to run richer than was optimal from an efficiency perspective because of various NOx emissions, and now the DEF has taken care of that. Is that more or less accurate or was I misinformed?

I do notice that this truck gets better mileage than my '04 did, at least thus far.

Richer mixture in diesel burns hotter, not cooler. Diesel doesn't really evaporate efficiently to cool down the combustion chamber, the more fuel you put into that fire, the hotter it burns (it's obviously not as straight forward but as a general rule, that's how it works). NOx is a byproduct of too hot combustion, so lean mixture (and things like EGR) cools it down enough to prevent excessive NOx from forming.
That's why some of the new high output diesel engines run crazy boost pressures from factory. As an extreme example, a new BMW M550D tri-turbo diesel runs 65psi of boost, stock. They need that air to keep things cool, while still producing a lot of torque.

Years ago, this wasn't such an issue when NOx and PM limits weren't as strict.

 

[Ted]

Richer mixture in diesel burns hotter, not cooler. Diesel doesn't really evaporate efficiently to cool down the combustion chamber, the more fuel you put into that fire, the hotter it burns (it's obviously not as straight forward but as a general rule, that's how it works). NOx is a byproduct of too hot combustion, so lean mixture (and things like EGR) cools it down enough to prevent excessive NOx from forming.
That's why some of the new high output diesel engines run crazy boost pressures from factory. As an extreme example, a new BMW M550D tri-turbo diesel runs 65psi of boost, stock. They need that air to keep things cool, while still producing a lot of torque.

Years ago, this wasn't such an issue when NOx and PM limits weren't as strict.

That makes sense. So therefore wherever I read that was wrong.

The boost levels are crazy on any of the newer engines. My Cummins is relatively sane at only 24 PSI, according to the factory gauge.

 

[denverpilot]

More fuel for the truck discussion fire that @jesse will like...

 

[jesse]

More fuel for the truck discussion fire that @jesse will like...

Saw that before I bought it. Not something the die-hard Chevy “steel is safer!” fans like to admit.

 

[Ted]

I had always thought that extended cabs with the rear "suicide" doors looked like they weren't going to be very structurally sound. That "steel is safer" concept is stupid - it has to do with how the vehicle is designed and how it distributes the loads. Pickups have never been that safe in the IIHS crash tests from what I've seen.

Now, those were all 1/2-ton "full sized" trucks. The Ram did badly, but the Ram 1500s have a lot of differences from the 2500/3500s. So I wanted to see what I could find on that. Found a test on a 2014 2500 (looks to be 4x4). Got a few different crashes, although not that offset crash. Frontal crash: 4 stars. Side crash: 5 stars. Side pole crash: 5 stars. Rollover: 4 stars. So overall, a lot safer than the 1500. I'm noticing the cab of the truck seems to hold up quite well regardless of how it's hit, and of course it has all the airbags you'd expect from a modern vehicle. The side impact looks like the driver gets a nice cushion of airbag pillows and doesn't look like it gets moved around a whole ton relatively. Obviously it would hurt to actually happen, but interesting data. The rear passenger didn't seem to fare as well, as his head ended up behind the side curtain.

One thing I wonder about with any of these trucks in a real offset crash, though, is the aspect of how the other vehicle plays in. These IIHS crash tests involve them crashing into an immovable object (brick wall). In reality, those offset crashes are typically going to be on something like a 2-lane road where the other object is going to be another vehicle which IS movable. Obviously that means it varies, but if I'm crashing into a Prius or the like, I'm going to have an inherent mass advantage. If you crash into a semi, then you're worse off.

Either way, seems that the 3500 was the safer truck to get than the 1500, although it wouldn't surprise me if Jesse's 1500 did better in a crash test than my 3500. I'm not about to find out for real which one of our trucks does better head-to-head, though.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Saw that before I bought it. Not something the die-hard Chevy “steel is safer!” fans like to admit.

It's going to be so funny in 2019 when the GM trucks move over to aluminum like Ford, and all of those die-hard "steel is safer" guys will jump over to how Chevy uses better aluminum or something to justify it. GM probably gained some sales because of the steel is better campaign, but they've already been gearing up for the switch to aluminum in order to meet EPA-mileage mandates.

 

[Ted]

It's going to be so funny in 2019 when the GM trucks move over to aluminum like Ford, and all of those die-hard "steel is safer" guys will jump over to how Chevy uses better aluminum or something to justify it. GM probably gained some sales because of the steel is better campaign, but they've already been gearing up for the switch to aluminum in order to meet EPA-mileage mandates.

Marketing and engineering are often at odds. Marketing will come out with whatever campaign will help them sell trucks (I'm not aware of the "steel is safer" campaign, but sounds exactly like what I'd expect a marketing department to do). Engineers will be saying "But that's not true, it has to do with the construction and you know our trucks don't do as well in crash tests..."

Did y'all see GE's post on Facebook about how GE made the turbochargers for the jet engines in the B-29 that let them safely fly too high to be shot down? I forget the exact wording, but it was ridiculous.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Here you go: GM's latest ad campaigns for Chevy trucks. They mainly tout the steel bed that is "less susceptible" to damage by shoving a heavily-loaded toolbox off of the rail, lol. One of those "tests" that doesn't really simulate common situations, but whatever. The real fun, is that the punctures shown in the ad weren't caused by that toolbox, but my an impact testing machine that was designed to test the strength of the box floor by hitting it repeatedly with a wedge-shaped object. They then tossed the toolbox in as if one hit from a toolbox made the gash. Pretty deceptive marketing, but that's how the game is played.

 

[jsstevens]

Marketing and engineering are often at odds. Marketing will come out with whatever campaign will help them sell trucks (I'm not aware of the "steel is safer" campaign, but sounds exactly like what I'd expect a marketing department to do). Engineers will be saying "But that's not true, it has to do with the construction and you know our trucks don't do as well in crash tests..."

Did y'all see GE's post on Facebook about how GE made the turbochargers for the jet engines in the B-29 that let them safely fly too high to be shot down? I forget the exact wording, but it was ridiculous.

I picked up two pieces of wisdom from the Director of Marketing at a company I worked for a couple of decades ago: 1) Selling is easy. Selling and making money is hard. 2) The difference between the sales department and the marketing department is the marketing department knows when they're lying to you.

 

[Ted]

I picked up two pieces of wisdom from the Director of Marketing at a company I worked for a couple of decades ago: 1) Selling is easy. Selling and making money is hard. 2) The difference between the sales department and the marketing department is the marketing department knows when they're lying to you.

I would mostly agree with that, although I can tell you some first hand cases where marketing didn't know they were lying (no, I won't post them here).

 

[denverpilot]

I had always thought that extended cabs with the rear "suicide" doors looked like they weren't going to be very structurally sound. That "steel is safer" concept is stupid - it has to do with how the vehicle is designed and how it distributes the loads. Pickups have never been that safe in the IIHS crash tests from what I've seen.

Now, those were all 1/2-ton "full sized" trucks. The Ram did badly, but the Ram 1500s have a lot of differences from the 2500/3500s. So I wanted to see what I could find on that. Found a test on a 2014 2500 (looks to be 4x4). Got a few different crashes, although not that offset crash. Frontal crash: 4 stars. Side crash: 5 stars. Side pole crash: 5 stars. Rollover: 4 stars. So overall, a lot safer than the 1500. I'm noticing the cab of the truck seems to hold up quite well regardless of how it's hit, and of course it has all the airbags you'd expect from a modern vehicle. The side impact looks like the driver gets a nice cushion of airbag pillows and doesn't look like it gets moved around a whole ton relatively. Obviously it would hurt to actually happen, but interesting data. The rear passenger didn't seem to fare as well, as his head ended up behind the side curtain.

One thing I wonder about with any of these trucks in a real offset crash, though, is the aspect of how the other vehicle plays in. These IIHS crash tests involve them crashing into an immovable object (brick wall). In reality, those offset crashes are typically going to be on something like a 2-lane road where the other object is going to be another vehicle which IS movable. Obviously that means it varies, but if I'm crashing into a Prius or the like, I'm going to have an inherent mass advantage. If you crash into a semi, then you're worse off.

Either way, seems that the 3500 was the safer truck to get than the 1500, although it wouldn't surprise me if Jesse's 1500 did better in a crash test than my 3500. I'm not about to find out for real which one of our trucks does better head-to-head, though.

Agreed on the testing and the mass thing. The tests are basically “I hit a bridge support”. Not “I hit another car head on.” Have seen a lot of cars go literally flying into the ditches over the years when a pickup hit them. Mass tends to launch stuff. That thing the truck is hitting at an offset is going to push away usually.

(I like that SmartCar offset test video where it’s done as a crash between it an a larger car. The SmartCar gets launched backward in the air. Which, is what it’s supposed to do. As long as nothing penetrates the cab, you’re going for a short flight inside a ping pong ball. And you’ll probably survive it.)

Have also seen a lot of pickups disperse a lot of energy by rolling. None are ever fun to watch but the rolled pickups, folks usually get out and walk around afterward even though they shouldn’t, and often have neck or back injuries. Rolled cars the folks are usually okay but need extraction.

Definitely better than grandpa’s day. He saw a lot of steering columns punched into chests as an OTR truck driver in the 50s. One he talked to the guy who told him what to write down for his family because he knew he was dead the second they tried to pull him off of that steering column. He was. Middle of nowhere. That was the one that haunted grandpa. Talked to him for an hour at least.

 

[MIFlyer]

I would mostly agree with that, although I can tell you some first hand cases where marketing didn't know they were lying (no, I won't post them here).

as a marketer (formerly a salesperson) I think that's true. Engineering and marketing are speaking different languages and have different objectives and world views. it's difficult to understand each other sometimes.

 

[denverpilot]

as a marketer (formerly a salesperson) I think that's true. Engineering and marketing are speaking different languages and have different objectives and world views. it's difficult to understand each other sometimes.

One deals with reality, the other deals with...

 

[Ted]

as a marketer (formerly a salesperson) I think that's true. Engineering and marketing are speaking different languages and have different objectives and world views. it's difficult to understand each other sometimes.

What didn't you understand about my description of the turbo encabulator?

Agreed overall. There are also some cases where I've seen marketing make assumptions as well and not verify them with engineering.

 

[MIFlyer]

for sure! my biggest fun times are when i ask engineering for something and then either get nothing (didn't write requirements) or get something so far from what we needed that it's crazy towns.

it's all well intentioned, just really different

 

[Ted]

This morning it was 27F out. Being old and not one who likes it to be particularly cold (and driving my 5 year old to school), I started the truck a few minutes before I planned to get in it. One of the features that the Ram has is that you can turn the exhaust brake on and, if the engine is cold, it will turn on the exhaust brake at idle to help the engine warm up faster. @denverpilot 's truck can do this too, but his exhaust brake didn't come from the factory.

One thing I'd been disappointed about with a manual transmission truck is that it doesn't have the high idle functionality. Not sure I fully understand why they didn't make this something you could do with the manual, but with the automatic trucks you can make it idle up to something like 1,500 RPM. However, what I learned this morning was that the truck will automatically idle up to about 1,000 RPM when it's cold after a minute or two.

Combined with the exhaust brake on, this warmed the thing up incredibly quickly. After 10-12 minutes the exhaust brake kicked off and the idle went back down to normal. 15 minutes or so after I started the truck I got in. The coolant was up to 163F and the oil was up to 145F, after sitting all night cold. The truck was warm when I got in. I was really surprised, in a good way.

 

[Ted]

Other point I forgot to mention. In my 2004 Ram, I had a few nights where I slept in the truck and it was very cold out. On one particularly cold night (-4F outside), I remember the truck idling up to 1,000 for a bit, then back down to 750 after a while. It was there when I woke up in the morning, no idea if it went up and down during the night. It didn't have an exhaust brake of any sort. When I woke up in the morning the temperature was down close to the bottom of the gauge, and that was even having the radiator cover on it (which I did run in the winter). So far, I'd bet this truck handles the cold better.

Although the '04 Ram once broke both rear tires loose from 3rd gear with a trailer on it when I floored it in sub-zero F weather. There was a "Yield" sign (for me) and I didn't see the car who had the right of way until it was too late to stop. Left about 20' worth of tire marks from the rear tires. Not sure if this Ram would do it, but this morning's mid-20s temp was the coldest I've driven it in.

 

[denverpilot]

I spent an hour today looking at “newish” used trucks thinking about selling the dually and the Yukon and adding some cash to trade up. I decided I didn’t like the beat up condition of anything I found with low enough mileage to mess with it. Ha.

Cold diesels on winter mornings do suuuuuuck. Yeah, the exhaust brake does a great job of warming it up. On mine there’s folks who worry about idling them much under no load, too, and it takes care of that problem as well.

The only downside on mine is that it’s loud as hell. I could never do it in town, but out here it won’t bother anyone much.

Oh and the more I look, knowing we got rid of the 12.5 trailer, the more I think @jesse has the right idea for a daily driver... that twin turbo V6 in the Ford is a monster. I love Dodge for the Cummins but not needing to pull that heavy anymore, the Ford is appealing.

But... gotta get through annual, finish SE add on for the CFI, survive the GPS and transponder upgrade bill in December... so unless a vehicle deal is essentially a “wash”, cash flow-wise, I’ll be saving up to mess with it next year.

News from the Annual is good though. We got word back faster than any other year ever — it’s essentially done, two days! — compressions all in the mid 70s other than one at 72, no new squawks other than the mechanic doesn’t like how long the strobes are taking to fire on the ground with battery only and no alternator turning... he’s checking the switch for resistance tomorrow and if not that looking at the rest of the system, but honestly if there’s a problem we’ll yank them for LEDs... and yeah, I killed that right side tire doing my short field stuff.

Haha. But I knew that. New tire on the right side and he wanted to do brake pads. All good and expected.

Sooooo... I guess it’s go time on the CFI stuff again here soon. It’d kinda be nice to do the SE add on before the one year anniversary of the ME!

Haha. Damn. It’s been a long strange year.

 

[Ted]

The "nothing good used" is exactly the reason why I have a new truck. They just get beat up so fast. I could easily turn around and sell this truck for very close to what I paid for it for a few years to come.

Realistically at the moment I don't need the Cummins, but I want it. And at some point we'll end up with a trailer, boat, whatever big enough that I will need it.

And if not, I wanted it and I like driving it.

 

[denverpilot]

And if not, I wanted it and I like driving it.

And not a damn thing wrong with that! LOL.

@jesse is poking me regularly in PMs saying I’ll love my new EcoBoost. LOL.

Karen would say y’all are a bad influence on me. Well, fiscally anyway. Twins, Trucks, ratings...

She’s going to want one hell of a kitchen makeover if I ever slow up on my spending. Hahaha.

 

[Ted]

And not a damn thing wrong with that! LOL.

@jesse is poking me regularly in PMs saying I’ll love my new EcoBoost. LOL.

Karen would say y’all are a bad influence on me. Well, fiscally anyway. Twins, Trucks, ratings...

She’s going to want one hell of a kitchen makeover if I ever slow up on my spending. Hahaha.

You better buy a new truck so that you can't afford that new kitchen.

 

[Zeldman]

The "nothing good used" is exactly the reason why I have a new truck. They just get beat up so fast. I could easily turn around and sell this truck for very close to what I paid for it for a few years to come.

That is why I bought my Duramax new in 2005. The used ones I looked at were just too used. And it held the purchase price (not the asking price) for about 3 years.

A friend of mine at church just recently sold his Duramax. 2008 model, crew cab, single rear wheel, everything you would want inside. He bought it to pull his 5th wheel. His son took the 5th wheel so he didn't need the truck anymore.

This truck has 30,000 miles on it and has spent its life inside except when being used. He never used it for a daily driver, and for a 4WD I don't think it ever saw anything worse than an improved gravel pad in a Rv park.

He didn't advertise except by word of mouth and it sold quickly. I would love to have had it but he wouldn't take my 2005 in trade.... The local GM dealer wanted to buy it, but he would not sell it to him.

This is the kind of deal that everyone wants, but only a lucky few find.

And yes, most used trucks are worked hard for a couple years, have super high mileage and aren't worth the price being asked.

My truck has the elevated idle. I think the coolant has to be less than 160 degrees and maybe 28F ambient temperature for it to kick in. In winter I plug it in, but I have it on a timer so that the engine heater comes on about 30 minutes before I plan to leave. Yes, really nice to get into a nice warm cab when the temperature is in the single digits.

 

[Bill]

This morning it was 27F out. Being old and not one who likes it to be particularly cold

Combined with the exhaust brake on, this warmed the thing up incredibly quickly. After 10-12 minutes the exhaust brake kicked off and the idle went back down to normal. 15 minutes or so after I started the truck I got in. The coolant was up to 163F and the oil was up to 145F, after sitting all night cold. The truck was warm when I got in. I was really surprised, in a good way.

1.) If you're old, what am I?
2.) Does Dodge offer supplemental electric cabin heat? I know you can get it on the Fords. The '06 E-class diesel we had also had electric supplemental heat. It would blow hot air within 15 seconds of startup, far faster than any gas car I've owned. It was quite nice when the temps are below freezing.

 

[Ted]

My truck has the elevated idle. I think the coolant has to be less than 160 degrees and maybe 28F ambient temperature for it to kick in. In winter I plug it in, but I have it on a timer so that the engine heater comes on about 30 minutes before I plan to leave. Yes, really nice to get into a nice warm cab when the temperature is in the single digits.

This truck doesn't have the plug-in option. I may need to research a bit to see if this was like the '04s where all the trucks had the heater and all you needed to buy was the cord. Really it doesn't get all that cold here. When I was in college and had my '04 I'd plug in (rental house had electricity included) if it was even slightly cold. But Indiana got a little colder than it does here.

1.) If you're old, what am I?
2.) Does Dodge offer supplemental electric cabin heat? I know you can get it on the Fords. The '06 E-class diesel we had also had electric supplemental heat. It would blow hot air within 15 seconds of startup, far faster than any gas car I've owned. It was quite nice when the temps are below freezing.

1) You're not old, you're experienced.

2) The Rams don't offer supplemental electric cabin heat, at least not that I'm aware of. I know Ford does it on the Super Duty diesels. And yes, that would be nice...

 

[Ronbonjovi]

Late to the party here but nice freaking truck. Love that 6 speed.

 

[Vern B]

Well, I have followed all of these thinking about threads, especially the truck threads. My truck is now 18 years old and I pull a fifth wheel with it. All this talk about trucks had me looking at new ones. No way could I justify spending that amount of cash for one. I love my truck but it was starting to show its age. Looking at the options, not knowing what I would end up with a used one, that still commands a high price, I elected to keep the one I have. I took it to my mechanic in the spring, who I have used for 40+ years and told him to go thrpugh it with a fine tooth comb. After a couple of minor repairs he pronounced it in excellent condition. Everything on it works great, and the transmission and other big ticket items (only two others) had been addressed in previous years. The bottom door panels had rusted out, and the bed had a couple of dings that I had inflicted, mainly on the rails. So...good idea or not I decided to take it to a body man, have all the rust and body work done and the entire truck repainted. I think he did an excellent job, repairing the rust and dings with new metal by disassembling the body panels, painting and putting it all back together. At 132,000 miles, I am hoping this should last for the next 10 years. I love this truck! Cummings diesel just keeps ramping up no mater what is being pulled.

 

[Clark1961]

Well, I have followed all of these thinking about threads, especially the truck threads. My truck is now 18 years old and I pull a fifth wheel with it. All this talk about trucks had me looking at new ones. No way could I justify spending that amount of cash for one. I love my truck but it was starting to show its age. Looking at the options, not knowing what I would end up with a used one, that still commands a high price, I elected to keep the one I have. I took it to my mechanic in the spring, who I have used for 40+ years and told him to go thrpugh it with a fine tooth comb. After a couple of minor repairs he pronounced it in excellent condition. Everything on it works great, and the transmission and other big ticket items (only two others) had been addressed in previous years. The bottom door panels had rusted out, and the bed had a couple of dings that I had inflicted, mainly on the rails. So...good idea or not I decided to take it to a body man, have all the rust and body work done and the entire truck repainted. I think he did an excellent job, repairing the rust and dings with new metal by disassembling the body panels, painting and putting it all back together. At 132,000 miles, I am hoping this should last for the next 10 years. I love this truck! Cummings diesel just keeps ramping up no mater what is being pulled. View attachment 57529 View attachment 57530

Drive it 'til the wheels fall off. Totally different class but I've got a 20 year old Explorer that just keeps going. Needs a few new parts every now and then but no payments.

 

[denverpilot]

Drive it 'til the wheels fall off. Totally different class but I've got a 20 year old Explorer that just keeps going. Needs a few new parts every now and then but no payments.

We’ve scattered our truck conversations around all the threads, but...

Even as hard as @jesse and Ted are trying, I’m still solidly in the “Screw car payments!” Camp.

I really really like that new F-150 though. Nice dang truck.

But what’s nicer is no debt. If I really want a new truck I’m going to have to make myself save up and pay cash for it. And I haven’t found that much motivation under my couch cushions yet.

Plus, I still have an IFR GPS and Transponder to pay for half of, coming up in December. That’s my new truck money, right there.

 

[Clark1961]

We’ve scattered our truck conversations around all the threads, but...

Even as hard as @jesse and Ted are trying, I’m still solidly in the “Screw car payments!” Camp.

I really really like that new F-150 though. Nice dang truck.

But what’s nicer is no debt. If I really want a new truck I’m going to have to make myself save up and pay cash for it. And I haven’t found that much motivation under my couch cushions yet.

Plus, I still have an IFR GPS and Transponder to pay for half of, coming up in December. That’s my new truck money, right there.

That's all very nice but when are you going to be able to do a flight review in a SEL?

 

[denverpilot]

That's all very nice but when are you going to be able to do a flight review in a SEL?

Looking like I’ll be able to start flying again next week, and there’s a little break in there week after next while the co-worker with the whole brain surgery thing has to cruise out to the Mayo for some follow up.

Sheesh. He has some brain surgery and he thinks he can interrupt important stuff like his slacker part-time sysadmin screwing off at the airport all day! Hahaha.

Seriously though, I’m hoping to schedule the checkride late November/early December.

 

[Clark1961]

Seriously though, I’m hoping to schedule the checkride late November/early December.

Which year?

 

[denverpilot]

Which year?

Probably 2020 if stupid crap keeps happening.