Added another truck to my fleet

[Wayne M.]

Sounds like you really got it for this buggy.

 

[jgillott]

Sounds like you really got it for this buggy.

Yep, I love it front to back, top to bottom. I don't know why I didn't do this years ago. I now understand why they sell 900K+ of these things a year. My wife thinks it is another midlife crisis happening. I don't know about that, but it is nice to be in something of this caliber.

 

[Wayne M.]

The volume is due to fleet and rental sales. Theyres a few f 150’s but 1500 Rams rule around here believe it or not.

 

[jgillott]

I believe you. There are a ton of Rams here also. I have no concrete numbers, but I'd bet that here in western PA Rams and Fords outnumber GM truck sales by a large margin. You rarely see a Chevy or GMC and finding a Tundra or Titan is like a needle in a haystack.

 

[Wayne M.]

finding a Tundra or Titan is like a needle in a haystack.

I almost feel bad for Nissan. They gave it a good shot with the 5.0 Cummins. I see a Titan now n again, and I strain hard to see that funky fender vent.

 

[jgillott]

I almost feel bad for Nissan. They gave it a good shot with the 5.0 Cummins. I see a Titan now n again, and I strain hard to see that funky fender vent.

You have no idea how hard I looked at the Titan XD before I came home with this F150.

 

[Wayne M.]

You have no idea how hard I looked at the Titan XD before I came home with this F150.

Was price the issue? That’s what I hear.

 

[jgillott]

Was price the issue? That’s what I hear.

Yes. $12K difference in price for comparably equipped trucks. The XD is solidly in Ram 2500/F250 price territory. At that point, it would just have made sense to do another HD truck.

 

[Wayne M.]

Heard they were high, but that’s too outta line. 3/4 is more than 5/8.

 

[jgillott]

Agreed, I'm not sure who they are really marketing to. Nice trucks, great power, but not able to justify it in my mind.

 

[jgillott]

Update. 5800 miles as of today. Just shy of 3000 miles towing our travel trailer.

Just checked the oil. Zero oil consumption so far. Oil life indicator showing 46% oil life remaining.

Lifetime fuel mileage 15.6 to date (that includes the towing miles). Towing mileage runs right at 11.2 hand calculated with our travel trailer.

 

[Wayne M.]

Looks like you got a Wednesday truck there.

 

[jgillott]

Yes, I think I got lucky. At least so far.

 

[jgillott]

My wife drove it last week while I fixed the AC in the 2010. I didn't think she was going to give it up.

I have to do ball joints and front brakes on my father's truck this week and he will have my 07 while I'm working on his. Otherwise, I don't think I would have got the Ford back for work this week.

 

[Wayne M.]

What was wrong with the AC?

 

[jgillott]

Actuator on the blend door.

 

[jgillott]

5 month update. Going in for a recall on the seat belt pretensioner on Tuesday. 7500 miles on the clock and over 3000 of those are towing the travel trailer or my equipment trailer. I'm going to cash in one of my complementary oil change coupons while it is at the dealer. Oil life monitor is still showing 30% remaining but may as well do it before the snow starts. Zero oil consumption to date.

Averaging 21.5 MPG on my normal commute. I'm routinely getting over 600 mile per tank at this point with room to spare.

All and all a darn capable truck and I'm extremely impressed with the initial quality, power, and performance. The dang thing is a rocket empty and pulls like a freight train with a trailer on the back. I've pulled my 5303 Deere on my flat bed with it (#10500 trailer weight) and pulls it without issue. I didn't scale it, but I'm sure that trailer puts the truck at or slightly over its payload capacity. It doesn't handle it quite as well as the heavy Ram, a little squirm from the soft suspension and junk factory tires, and I certainly wouldn't recommend loading it to that capacity on a daily basis. But for someone that only pulls heavy once in a while, it is certainly capable.

A couple of other interesting notes. They Sync 3 audio system is really good. Integration with my Samsung phone is awesome. I don't use the factory Nav much, but when I do, the voice command is spot on.

I'm going to keep working the blue blazes out of this thing and see what happens. But for now, an absolutely awesome truck and I'm certainly happy with this choice.

 

[jgillott]

Since I referenced this thread in another post, I just want to take a second for another update.

Over 8k at this point. Going to the dealer after work today for the second recall on this truck. This time for door latches. Interesting to note. I received the recall letter on Monday. I called the dealer yesterday morning and I'm dropping it off tonight. Parts are actually I'm stock for the recall to be completed. My 2010 Ram still has an open recall from last summer waiting on the parts/fix to make it to the dealer. Incredible that Ford can actually have parts available in the supply chain to handle these situations.

Other than the absolute garbage factory tires on this thing, I have no complaints.

 

[JR]

Averaging 21.5 MPG on my normal commute. I'm routinely getting over 600 mile per tank at this point with room to spare.

What does your commute consist of?
I recently took my first solo (non towing) trip in my 3500 srw to pick up a new wood burner, I was rather surprised at the (mostly) empty interstate mileage.

I wish I could have calculated the exact mileage but I fuel up at home and my dinosaur pump does not have a counter on it. I filled up directly before I left and took the picture after i pulled in the driveway. 95% Interstate miles, empty all the way there and light loaded - about 600 lbs on the way home. Aerodynamics definitely played a role, the stove sat above the cab by a good 12-15", I watched the avg mpg slowly but surely drop on the return ride home.

Still not to bad considering....

32 gallon tank so worst case scenario 584/32 = 18.25.

Or,

584/28 = 20.8, probably pretty dang close as the low fuel light had just kicked on as I was turning onto rt 307, about 5 miles from home.

 

[jgillott]

That's really good mileage with your Cummins Jr. My 5.9L's never hit that mark.

My commute is exactly 69 miles round trip daily. Only 14 miles of that is 4 lane highway (7 miles each way). The rest is 2 lane rural PA roads. On Thursdays, I have an additional run to another building that is 50 miles round trip almost exclusively highway. So, if I do no additional driving, I have 395 miles a week, 120 of those would be highway, 275 rural 2 lane.

My commutes are with me 240# and approx 350-400# of equipment in the bed.