Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Knowing when to say when
I am sure this has been talked about here in the past.
But after having met a bunch of folks anddriven a ton of trucks I have developed a theory.
There seems to be five classes of truck owners.
(This holds true for powerjokes and durasmacks also. )
1. "Racer" The guy who is concerned with speed... ONLY. The racer has several places on his truck that are "not quite right". Duct tape tends to be seen in the engine compartment. Flex pipe makes up some of his ex. system.
The racer often does his own work, which is not allways a good thing for the truck.
A racers truck often has tires that shake violently past 60 MPH, though the racer is happy to show you 3500 RPM in overdrive. With tires shaking so bad you cant talk right, the racer begins to really beam as you pass 100.
Racers dont care about things like dowel pins doing swan dives into timing gears. He would use the hour of time needed to cure the issue for more important things... like thinning his mix for 2 more HP on the next dyno run.
A racers brakes are often of fantastic quality. Too bad the racer uses them to thier limits. Brakes usually pull or pulsate on a true racers truck.
All else but shine are sacrificed in the quest for the fastest 1/4 mile times, the highest dyno numbers.
The racers woman feels second to his truck.
2. "Puller" The guy who wants to pull something. Something HEAVY.
Pullers tend to be a pretty neat class of truck owner. The puller usually has things done for him, instead of wrenching it himself.
There tends not to be any flex pipe in his ex. system.
The puller gets his thrills by dusting big block V8's on hills. Listening to his turbo as he passes the screaming big block is better than relations with his wife...
Pullers can get crazy like racers. Some of them boast of loading 28,000 pounds on a truck with brakes designed to handle half of that. Though they have high horses, most pullers tend not to be concerned how fast it will go, or the 1/4 mile times.
Most pullers want thier trucks to last... and to last a long time.
Pullers, as a group, tend to be most in tune with the truck and the comfort and reliability of thier vehicle. All the bells and whistles can be found in pulling trucks.
The pullers woman can sometimes feel second to his truck.
3. "Worker" The worker bought his truck at the dealership. It works daily. He knows nothing about it, other than when it hits 90,000 miles, he trades it in and gets a new one. The worker does not concern himself with changing oil. He bought a diesel, because the gas jobs fell on thier face at 45,000 without an oil change... and the worker heard that diesels last a long time. With his maint. regime, you just dont touch the thing unless it will not start and run anymore. For the worker, the clanking otto does last longer. By 90k with the worker, the truck is pretty much played out.
Why should he care... he'll buy another one at 90,000.
The workers woman is not second to his truck, but more his business.
4. "Stocker" The stocker has some range. Often, the stocker can share some of the pullers traits. Stockers tend to believe OE is the way to go. Things are done at the dealership, or at home... either way, the stocker tends to maintain the truck pretty well. Stockers are most likely to keep thier rigs for a looonnnnng loooooonnnnnnnng time. They often follow the letter of the manufacturers law to the point of ignoring the benefits of synthetic oils, high flow air boxes/filters. With preference for what the dealership tells them. Few stockers worry about changing boost piping to the pump, killing a dowel pin... etc. Since the dealrship says there is no issue, then there is no issue.
Stockers often are represent the best used truck provider out there. Many Stockers trucks move on to become racers trucks, spending thier retirement years being flat-footed by speed-junkie racers.
Stockers wives like to ride in thier trucks. The stockers wife KNOWS she is second to his truck and she damn well better not get lipstick on the seat!
5. "Bling-Bling" (Bling: "shine", gaudy, too much chrome, gold teeth, huge gold chains, oversize chrome wheels, neon glowing under the truck, audio system that breaks windows, three televisions, 4,000 pounds of accessories on the truck... not one for performance or towing.
Now that you have a good idea of what bling means, I shall describe the bling bling truck owner)
The bling has no clue what is under the hood. He likes the way the truck looks and because the diesel was a 5,000 dollar option, he thought is must have been better, so he bought it. Nothing is too good for the bling's truck.
When the bling goes to home depot, he takes his hyundai. Thats because he rents the home depot truck to haul home his purchases. He would never think of using his truck as a... well... truck. That can scratch the bedliner, you see.
The blings truck has every dress up option you can think of on it.
Blings usually take the truck to the dealer for service. They dont open the hood unless it it time to polish the battery again.
The blings woman does not feel slighted by his truck. Mostly, because the blings "woman" is often named George, Gus, Mike, Tom, or Bruce and has as much interetht in the truck ath the bling himthelf.
Even though this is funny in parts, there is a lot of truth to it.
So many people seem to get caught up in the numbers game...
There is a little racer in all of us, but when you are slamming down huge money for nothing more than a number on the dyno, what good is it?
How much is too much?
Your truck busts out sideways in third gear, you cant floor it in 4th for the same reason. You TOAST mustangs, you can lug it to 1200 rpm on a steep hill with your 5th wheel attached and gain speed like an empty stocker. So how much do you need?
I am sure there are a lot of folks out there much more experienced than myself about this. However, after a lot of looking, poking around and driving many many trucks, I have come to a conclusion.
Trucks are a lot like audio equipment. You can get a ton of performance and quality beyond factory stock to a certain point for very little cost. Anything over that threshold begins to rise in cost way out of line with the gains you get.
A couple of rides in trucks with 5-600 HP dyno tickets made me realize that, while the power is like your first dirty back road experience with a cheerleader, it costs a huge amount. (So can some cheerleaders LOL!) Twins, boxes, huge ex. , transmission issues...
Sure these trucks are a sexual experience to drive, but they become pretty damned expensive. Also, the more stuff you do, the less reliable they get.
My question to all of you is: If you were to spec out a truck that was an everyday driver, how far do you think it goes before it starts to really nudge into reliability?
I am sure this has been talked about here in the past.
But after having met a bunch of folks anddriven a ton of trucks I have developed a theory.
There seems to be five classes of truck owners.
(This holds true for powerjokes and durasmacks also. )
1. "Racer" The guy who is concerned with speed... ONLY. The racer has several places on his truck that are "not quite right". Duct tape tends to be seen in the engine compartment. Flex pipe makes up some of his ex. system.
The racer often does his own work, which is not allways a good thing for the truck.
A racers truck often has tires that shake violently past 60 MPH, though the racer is happy to show you 3500 RPM in overdrive. With tires shaking so bad you cant talk right, the racer begins to really beam as you pass 100.
Racers dont care about things like dowel pins doing swan dives into timing gears. He would use the hour of time needed to cure the issue for more important things... like thinning his mix for 2 more HP on the next dyno run.
A racers brakes are often of fantastic quality. Too bad the racer uses them to thier limits. Brakes usually pull or pulsate on a true racers truck.
All else but shine are sacrificed in the quest for the fastest 1/4 mile times, the highest dyno numbers.
The racers woman feels second to his truck.
2. "Puller" The guy who wants to pull something. Something HEAVY.
Pullers tend to be a pretty neat class of truck owner. The puller usually has things done for him, instead of wrenching it himself.
There tends not to be any flex pipe in his ex. system.
The puller gets his thrills by dusting big block V8's on hills. Listening to his turbo as he passes the screaming big block is better than relations with his wife...
Pullers can get crazy like racers. Some of them boast of loading 28,000 pounds on a truck with brakes designed to handle half of that. Though they have high horses, most pullers tend not to be concerned how fast it will go, or the 1/4 mile times.
Most pullers want thier trucks to last... and to last a long time.
Pullers, as a group, tend to be most in tune with the truck and the comfort and reliability of thier vehicle. All the bells and whistles can be found in pulling trucks.
The pullers woman can sometimes feel second to his truck.
3. "Worker" The worker bought his truck at the dealership. It works daily. He knows nothing about it, other than when it hits 90,000 miles, he trades it in and gets a new one. The worker does not concern himself with changing oil. He bought a diesel, because the gas jobs fell on thier face at 45,000 without an oil change... and the worker heard that diesels last a long time. With his maint. regime, you just dont touch the thing unless it will not start and run anymore. For the worker, the clanking otto does last longer. By 90k with the worker, the truck is pretty much played out.
Why should he care... he'll buy another one at 90,000.
The workers woman is not second to his truck, but more his business.
4. "Stocker" The stocker has some range. Often, the stocker can share some of the pullers traits. Stockers tend to believe OE is the way to go. Things are done at the dealership, or at home... either way, the stocker tends to maintain the truck pretty well. Stockers are most likely to keep thier rigs for a looonnnnng loooooonnnnnnnng time. They often follow the letter of the manufacturers law to the point of ignoring the benefits of synthetic oils, high flow air boxes/filters. With preference for what the dealership tells them. Few stockers worry about changing boost piping to the pump, killing a dowel pin... etc. Since the dealrship says there is no issue, then there is no issue.
Stockers often are represent the best used truck provider out there. Many Stockers trucks move on to become racers trucks, spending thier retirement years being flat-footed by speed-junkie racers.
Stockers wives like to ride in thier trucks. The stockers wife KNOWS she is second to his truck and she damn well better not get lipstick on the seat!
5. "Bling-Bling" (Bling: "shine", gaudy, too much chrome, gold teeth, huge gold chains, oversize chrome wheels, neon glowing under the truck, audio system that breaks windows, three televisions, 4,000 pounds of accessories on the truck... not one for performance or towing.
Now that you have a good idea of what bling means, I shall describe the bling bling truck owner)
The bling has no clue what is under the hood. He likes the way the truck looks and because the diesel was a 5,000 dollar option, he thought is must have been better, so he bought it. Nothing is too good for the bling's truck.
When the bling goes to home depot, he takes his hyundai. Thats because he rents the home depot truck to haul home his purchases. He would never think of using his truck as a... well... truck. That can scratch the bedliner, you see.
The blings truck has every dress up option you can think of on it.
Blings usually take the truck to the dealer for service. They dont open the hood unless it it time to polish the battery again.
The blings woman does not feel slighted by his truck. Mostly, because the blings "woman" is often named George, Gus, Mike, Tom, or Bruce and has as much interetht in the truck ath the bling himthelf.
Even though this is funny in parts, there is a lot of truth to it.
So many people seem to get caught up in the numbers game...
There is a little racer in all of us, but when you are slamming down huge money for nothing more than a number on the dyno, what good is it?
How much is too much?
Your truck busts out sideways in third gear, you cant floor it in 4th for the same reason. You TOAST mustangs, you can lug it to 1200 rpm on a steep hill with your 5th wheel attached and gain speed like an empty stocker. So how much do you need?
I am sure there are a lot of folks out there much more experienced than myself about this. However, after a lot of looking, poking around and driving many many trucks, I have come to a conclusion.
Trucks are a lot like audio equipment. You can get a ton of performance and quality beyond factory stock to a certain point for very little cost. Anything over that threshold begins to rise in cost way out of line with the gains you get.
A couple of rides in trucks with 5-600 HP dyno tickets made me realize that, while the power is like your first dirty back road experience with a cheerleader, it costs a huge amount. (So can some cheerleaders LOL!) Twins, boxes, huge ex. , transmission issues...
Sure these trucks are a sexual experience to drive, but they become pretty damned expensive. Also, the more stuff you do, the less reliable they get.
My question to all of you is: If you were to spec out a truck that was an everyday driver, how far do you think it goes before it starts to really nudge into reliability?
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