Tow Hooks: Ford vs. Dodge

[Crunch]

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I saw a commercial on TV for the new Ford Superduty. There were chains on both tow hooks that were also attached to what looked like an upright concrete slab. The truck started backing up and the slab moved with it, contactin another slab and pulling it into another slab, which slid into yet another slab, etc. The caption read something around 19,000 lbs.



I've also read on this site that because of the way the frame is designed the tow hooks are there to pull the truck out of a ditch, but not for towing other vehicles. What gives? Did Ford design their frames differently, or are they scamming the potential buyer? One explanation might be that the load was balanced between both tow hooks, the truck was moving backward in a straight line and the load increased incrementally as each concrete slab contacted the next. And when the camera was turned off the truck may have been dead right there, for all I know.



Anyone know if Ford has something going in the tow hook department that Dodge doesn't have, or is this just an advertising trick?

 

[B.G. Smith]

It's called smoke and mirrors. bg

 

[GerryDrake]

and ......

... of course the discussion I read on here a month or so ago pointing out that the gears in the differential are cut for the majority of their strength in forward movement, and not designed for nearly as heavy a load in the opposite direction. The included caution was when pulling heavy, to always pull from the rear of your truck. The tow hooks on the front are, to my understanding, as you said. . "to pull the truck out of a ditch, but not for towing other vehicles. "

 

[rbattelle]

... of course the discussion I read on here a month or so ago pointing out that the gears in the differential are cut for the majority of their strength in forward movement, and not designed for nearly as heavy a load in the opposite direction. The included caution was when pulling heavy, to always pull from the rear of your truck. The tow hooks on the front are, to my understanding, as you said. . "to pull the truck out of a ditch, but not for towing other vehicles. "

Amen! It has nothing to do with the frame and everything to do with the cut on the diff gears. They were never meant to take maximum torque in reverse and you should avoid pulling on things in reverse as much as possible.



It's funny you bring this up, because I've been thinking the exact same thing about that commercial.



-Ryan

 

[Tony T.]

How about give me a lever an I can move the world, I also can balance a salt shaker on it's edge too.



Tony

 

[MichaelWright]

Wait a minute, wasn't that a Ford SD pulling that ice breaker, through the ice? I swear I saw it on T. V. !!!! Oh, I forgot about the gear thing, he was in drive, silly me. I wonder if it had that new trailer break thing on it? Seems like allot of weight to try to stop in a panic? But what the heck, it's a Ford.

 

[Casey Balvert]

Let's be fair guys. That was one of those new LIGHT WEIGHT ice breakers and well within the towing capacity of that Ford. And with that new integrated brake controller, stopping that ship was no problem at all. :-laf :-laf

 

[rbattelle]

stopping that ship was no problem at all. :-laf :-laf

True... you just use that Ford as an anchor. :-laf

 

[sarj]

I was wondering how many F***s they went through, and how many were on standby to shoot that a commercial.

 

[Iguide]

If you look clasly at that comercial you will notice that those slabs are on two steel rails. Not on pavement. The friction reductions is astonomical under those conditions. It is like having the truck on pavement and pulling those slabs over ice. We all know how much friction resistence there is on ice. As B. G. said " Smoke & Mirrors" .

 

[Prairie Dog]

I noticed the rails too. I have no doubt our cummins could do the same thing w/o touching the throttle - just let the clutch out.

 

[Crunch]

I was wondering how many F***s they went through, and how many were on standby to shoot that a commercial.

When Vanishing Point was filmed (the 1971 version, not the crappy 80s version) they used an earlier model Camaro to smash into the bulldozer blades instead of the Challenger. Maybe Ford used a Dodge Cummins with a cable run under the Ford truck for a little "assist"...

 

[Tony T.]

I noticed the rails too. I have no doubt our cummins could do the same thing w/o touching the throttle - just let the clutch out.

Prairie Dog you forget to add the Cummins would also have a Ford riding piggy back cross ways on it's bed railing.



Tony

 

[Kennywould]

T, you sure about puttin a Ferd on the bedrails, when you leave the light, it will slide off the steel bedrails, then you'll get a ticket for littering... ... ... ...