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Cool Trucks
- Thread starter WECSOG
- Start date
do they count? my truck i normally drive. next does my ram 150 make our big john deere look big? loading corn in my trailer n how it looks after dark
My first pickup, 81 Jeep Larado J10 4x4. Loaded out, wish I still had it, I loved that truck. It had the AM/FM cassette with the cb radio built in.
bought a J3000 at farm auction rough but ran great.used it to feed cattle. i vever walked home when i used it to feed nor was stuck eiter.it had quad trac. 1 of the most solid 4 wd built
The one I had was a company truck used by some big wig in the oil field, well taken care of just a ton of miles. I got it when I was 16, eventually rebuilt the motor and kept it until I was 21. That pic of it was my wedding day, I sometimes dream I find it fully restored and cruise around all night until my alarm clock wakes me back to reality, always a little depressed after I realize it was just a dream. Lol! The original sticker price said $7,500 in 1981, probably would be more like $75,000 for a truck like that today!
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Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
I suppose “cool” is more than image.
At least, I’d like to think so as a truck is meant to be an income-producing or expense-offsetting vehicle. A semi tractor-trailer hauling goods, or a truck dedicated to work done by a single man or a work crew. In both cases, the work can’t otherwise be done.
So, “cool” sorta stretches that understanding to portray HOW we think we’d feel if we owned a bruising, manly truck. Substitute for the real thing. All hat, no cattle.
The other spectrum end is that next to soccer-mommy’s mini-van parked in the garage is softball daddy’s luxo-pickup. Just start that it’s carpeted.
One reads online on forums the posts of the hairy-chested bemoaning the lack of “work trucks” sans all critter comforts deemed otherwise necessary by mere mortals. No one buys them outside of fleet sales orders.
Easiest way to put it is that those days are gone due to the high cost. Reasons for that aside, today’s aren’t junk after 5-7/years as in decades past. Rusted out or too broken to economically resuscitate, didn’t matter once a less damaged, but used substitute could be found to keep work on schedule (and a new one put on order).
Today’s ARE going to last longer (except in areas with the worst winter salt brine). One needs a plan to hit the goals of ownership (expressed as cents-per-mile of ownership/operation).
Guys buy trucks saying they’ll get their moneys worth with the big box chain store stops. A run to the landfill. Going camping. Truth is, they won’t. An ordinary car or SUV can be fitted with a construction-type trailer that can carry more than any DRW can (in the bed). CPM in a car or SUV is always going to be better (not to mention safer to operate; pickups are badly compromised).
With this mind, what then constitutes a “cool truck”? My answer to it is that it must fulfill EVERY duty of a family man (wife + dependents). It must do it economically over a long period of time, be cast-iron reliable, with no diminution in its ability to do work.
Thirty years ago was when I first was able to ride with and discuss with the owner of the then new Cummins Dodge diesel a year or so after he’d had it. Boy, I was sold. The GM and Ford diesels were, in the memorable words of a Texas rancher, incapable of pulling your hat off of your head. Couldn’t get under a load of livestock and get down the road. Better off to stick with a gasser.
But not now.
The breed of light duty trucks only improved afterwards. Then, about MY 2006 that came to a halt (same for cars).
Glad I got my cool truck when I did (2007; used). Today’s version of the same truck aren’t any faster in the quarter-mile, aren’t any better in fuel economy, don’t stop or handle better and I severely doubt they’ll last longer. Quieter, better ride, sure. More gadgets, sure.
Most of all they don’t tow more than my 2004.0 spec Dodge CTD. I ran the oilfield in these pulling loads that had to be there yesterday. Hot shot. Rig idled till you get there at $25,000/hr. 32,000lbs all up. Fully legal, insured, inspected, etc. Business, all the way.
I compared my numbers with a man had the same truck as me — right down to a manual transmission — who ALSO lived in the South Central US. Adjusting for the energetic content of fuel to equalize consumption numbers accurately it was only after 200k miles that a diesel starts to pull away from gasoline if the operator keeps Average MPH high. Not otherwise.
As this is also the point where injectors need to be replaced, that “tune-up” at the 200k mark of $3-5k is almost equivalent to a rebuilt gasser. (The race ain’t actually over yet).
I’ve always been happy with mine. Next to nothing in repairs (unlike the 4WD versions) and fuel burn on average is as good as some gasser sedans of the era (driven with a plan to achieve that).
I’m not trying to make this about me. Light duty trucks (and cars) ALL peaked in value fifteen years ago. Finally rid of 1960s drivetrains and flat better in every measurable respect.
Mines been modified for better handling at minor ride expense (you’ll know it’s a one-ton to ride in it), and it’s loaded to within 40-lbs (not typo) at all four corners. 4-doors and 8’ bed. That’s before I hitch the 35’ travel trailer (hitch after adjustment adds 450-lbs to rear axle).
Then it’s 15-mpg average down the highway. Versus my Dads and Grandads rigs pulling an only slightly shorter exact same trailer at 6-8/mpg. That’s cool!
Could be six aboard. Everything important loaded beforehand. GTT.
A list on which I could expand at some length when this post is already lengthy enough. (“That’s cool”, examples 2-5). You get the idea.
I know a few guys who have older trucks, or, like the Jeep Wagoneer above, have re-engined with a carb’d LS motor and OD automatic. Daily drivers.
Lousy that we’ve come to this. “Regulations” after circa 2006 are of no benefit and are in place to deprive you and me of independent operation a la electric.
“We’re sorry, sir, but we cannot accept your payment in order to re-charge.”
Or
“Wadda ya mean my car is bricked?”.
You can’t take it with you. And buying “restored” ain’t expensive in some important respects. New no longer equals reliable (shut down via On-Star).
So if the thread whets the appetite, maybe my post helps with the reason-ability.
I’ve been easing down the big road at an average of 24-MPG rain or shine, loaded or empty, traffic or no traffic for 14-years. Give me a tailwind, and 27 can happen.
Though it’s yet to come, this pickup and that motor make an impressive on-site Genset as well. Onboard welders aren’t out of the question by any means. Change the bed, etc.
If ya ain’t got a cool truck, what are you waiting for?
At least, I’d like to think so as a truck is meant to be an income-producing or expense-offsetting vehicle. A semi tractor-trailer hauling goods, or a truck dedicated to work done by a single man or a work crew. In both cases, the work can’t otherwise be done.
So, “cool” sorta stretches that understanding to portray HOW we think we’d feel if we owned a bruising, manly truck. Substitute for the real thing. All hat, no cattle.
The other spectrum end is that next to soccer-mommy’s mini-van parked in the garage is softball daddy’s luxo-pickup. Just start that it’s carpeted.
One reads online on forums the posts of the hairy-chested bemoaning the lack of “work trucks” sans all critter comforts deemed otherwise necessary by mere mortals. No one buys them outside of fleet sales orders.
Easiest way to put it is that those days are gone due to the high cost. Reasons for that aside, today’s aren’t junk after 5-7/years as in decades past. Rusted out or too broken to economically resuscitate, didn’t matter once a less damaged, but used substitute could be found to keep work on schedule (and a new one put on order).
Today’s ARE going to last longer (except in areas with the worst winter salt brine). One needs a plan to hit the goals of ownership (expressed as cents-per-mile of ownership/operation).
Guys buy trucks saying they’ll get their moneys worth with the big box chain store stops. A run to the landfill. Going camping. Truth is, they won’t. An ordinary car or SUV can be fitted with a construction-type trailer that can carry more than any DRW can (in the bed). CPM in a car or SUV is always going to be better (not to mention safer to operate; pickups are badly compromised).
With this mind, what then constitutes a “cool truck”? My answer to it is that it must fulfill EVERY duty of a family man (wife + dependents). It must do it economically over a long period of time, be cast-iron reliable, with no diminution in its ability to do work.
Thirty years ago was when I first was able to ride with and discuss with the owner of the then new Cummins Dodge diesel a year or so after he’d had it. Boy, I was sold. The GM and Ford diesels were, in the memorable words of a Texas rancher, incapable of pulling your hat off of your head. Couldn’t get under a load of livestock and get down the road. Better off to stick with a gasser.
But not now.
The breed of light duty trucks only improved afterwards. Then, about MY 2006 that came to a halt (same for cars).
Glad I got my cool truck when I did (2007; used). Today’s version of the same truck aren’t any faster in the quarter-mile, aren’t any better in fuel economy, don’t stop or handle better and I severely doubt they’ll last longer. Quieter, better ride, sure. More gadgets, sure.
Most of all they don’t tow more than my 2004.0 spec Dodge CTD. I ran the oilfield in these pulling loads that had to be there yesterday. Hot shot. Rig idled till you get there at $25,000/hr. 32,000lbs all up. Fully legal, insured, inspected, etc. Business, all the way.
I compared my numbers with a man had the same truck as me — right down to a manual transmission — who ALSO lived in the South Central US. Adjusting for the energetic content of fuel to equalize consumption numbers accurately it was only after 200k miles that a diesel starts to pull away from gasoline if the operator keeps Average MPH high. Not otherwise.
As this is also the point where injectors need to be replaced, that “tune-up” at the 200k mark of $3-5k is almost equivalent to a rebuilt gasser. (The race ain’t actually over yet).
I’ve always been happy with mine. Next to nothing in repairs (unlike the 4WD versions) and fuel burn on average is as good as some gasser sedans of the era (driven with a plan to achieve that).
I’m not trying to make this about me. Light duty trucks (and cars) ALL peaked in value fifteen years ago. Finally rid of 1960s drivetrains and flat better in every measurable respect.
Mines been modified for better handling at minor ride expense (you’ll know it’s a one-ton to ride in it), and it’s loaded to within 40-lbs (not typo) at all four corners. 4-doors and 8’ bed. That’s before I hitch the 35’ travel trailer (hitch after adjustment adds 450-lbs to rear axle).
Then it’s 15-mpg average down the highway. Versus my Dads and Grandads rigs pulling an only slightly shorter exact same trailer at 6-8/mpg. That’s cool!
Could be six aboard. Everything important loaded beforehand. GTT.
A list on which I could expand at some length when this post is already lengthy enough. (“That’s cool”, examples 2-5). You get the idea.
I know a few guys who have older trucks, or, like the Jeep Wagoneer above, have re-engined with a carb’d LS motor and OD automatic. Daily drivers.
Lousy that we’ve come to this. “Regulations” after circa 2006 are of no benefit and are in place to deprive you and me of independent operation a la electric.
“We’re sorry, sir, but we cannot accept your payment in order to re-charge.”
Or
“Wadda ya mean my car is bricked?”.
You can’t take it with you. And buying “restored” ain’t expensive in some important respects. New no longer equals reliable (shut down via On-Star).
So if the thread whets the appetite, maybe my post helps with the reason-ability.
I’ve been easing down the big road at an average of 24-MPG rain or shine, loaded or empty, traffic or no traffic for 14-years. Give me a tailwind, and 27 can happen.
Though it’s yet to come, this pickup and that motor make an impressive on-site Genset as well. Onboard welders aren’t out of the question by any means. Change the bed, etc.
If ya ain’t got a cool truck, what are you waiting for?
Cool to me means useful, long-lasting and aesthetically pleasing (to me; I don't really care what anyone else thinks of it).
I thoroughly disagree with the contention that today's trucks, light and medium ones anyway, will last longer than the older ones. And contrary to popular belief, most of them don't get better fuel mileage unless you are comparing them to an older truck that is not properly tuned.
If it is computerized (whether gas or diesel), it is too new for my tastes. And if it (diesel) requires DEF, it's much too new.
I could point out all the reasons old trucks are better and can last longer, but there's no point in it. Anyone who thinks the designed obsolescence trucks are better should just go ahead and buy one. That leaves more good ones for those of us who appreciate them.
BTW, my old square body K30 Chevy rides better than my much newer F350 SD Ford 4x4, as well as being much more solid and getting better fuel mileage.
I thoroughly disagree with the contention that today's trucks, light and medium ones anyway, will last longer than the older ones. And contrary to popular belief, most of them don't get better fuel mileage unless you are comparing them to an older truck that is not properly tuned.
If it is computerized (whether gas or diesel), it is too new for my tastes. And if it (diesel) requires DEF, it's much too new.
I could point out all the reasons old trucks are better and can last longer, but there's no point in it. Anyone who thinks the designed obsolescence trucks are better should just go ahead and buy one. That leaves more good ones for those of us who appreciate them.
BTW, my old square body K30 Chevy rides better than my much newer F350 SD Ford 4x4, as well as being much more solid and getting better fuel mileage.
I had one of these for about 15 years until it was recently stolen. It had the original 318 with 2 barrel carb and 3 on the tree, no overdrive of course. It got 20+ mpg on regular gas when I used it for my daily commute, which was 50 miles each way of 75 percent highway and 25 percent stop and go city driving.
They will. But the interior plastics and (mainly) electronics won’t. They’ll be scrapped (recycled!).
As to fuel mileage, what’d that truck weigh? 4,200-lbs with you and full
gas tank? Today’s 1/2T are well north of 5,200lbs and have the advantage of multi speed transmissions. I know of a man with a 400-HP Chevrolet gets above 20-MPG at 60-mph. Aero & weight count for most. Precise fuel control is the other.
Would “best” have something we can re-engine. Today’s motors but with carburetors and points sounds good. Bureaucracy is what’s in the way. The last of the manual transmissions is around somewhere, the rest scrapped.
As these are trucks they have to be able to work. A 318-3 was stout and long-lasting, but low on power. Trucks ain’t commuters, by design. Honesty to what they are dispels sentiment. Doesn’t work for a living, it needs to go to someone who WILL work it.
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We're talking about two different points here: chassis longevity on one hand, engines on the other. I'll address the chassis first. Ford Econoline vans are a great example to illustrate my point. I'm really not a Ford fan, but I have a lot of experience driving the Econoline in a professional setting, going back 30 years. The Econoline used to be one of the few vehicles Ford didn't experiment with much because it was their bread and butter and they didn't want to lose their standing as the top commercial van seller. But then they went typical Ford on us and threw that away. The vans I'm talking about are third gen Econolines (1975-1991). They had a good quality body on a real frame, while their competition all used unibody construction. E250s had full-floater Dana 60 rear axles; E350s generally stepped up to a Dana 70HD.
Then they started experimenting. Most E250s still got a D60, but now it was a C-clip design with the axle shaft riding directly on the bearing. That meant that when a wheel bearing wore out, it took the shaft with it. Even some E350s got that piece of junk.
Then Ford decided they could do even better by building their own axles. Enter the 9-1/2" corporate axle. It looked really beefy on the outside, but it was a C-clip axle with even more cost-cutting inside. Ford went too far with that one, and a large percentage of them were failing before 100K miles. So Ford made a couple of tweaks and built the 10-1/2" corporate axle; same housing but with a bigger ring gear and a bit better pinion support. With that one they ended up with an axle that would last through the warranty period for most users, which was their goal.
In 1992 Ford introduced the 4th gen Econoline. The frame was pretty much the same, but they made the sheet metal lighter and used more of their typical cost cutting measures. They made those from 1992 through 2014, at which time they discontinued the standard cargo van in favor of a completely new design, the Transit. I've driven a few of those 4th gen Econolines in my line of work. They are junk. One thing I've noticed is that the door latches gradually tear away from the body. Just about all of them I've seen that have substantial miles on them, have door latch problems. I don't see those getting new engines or transmissions because they get limped along until they have a major failure, then they get scrapped.
By contrast, there are plenty of 2nd gens still out there working even though the newest one is 30 years old. I have one. The doors still work fine. It has a 7.3 IDI International engine, an E4OD transmission (its weak point btw) and a full-floater D70HD with limited slip. It's a former ambulance.
Back in the early '90s I drove an '86 E150 on a delivery route that covered about 300 miles per day of everything from 4 lane highway, all the way down to dirt 2-track. I had to drive across creeks and through mudholes, keeping my momentum up so as to not get stuck. That van held up great. It already had well over 200K miles on it when I got it. It had a 300 inline six and a ZF manual 5 speed. It never had a major failure in the 2-3 years I drove it on that route. It got about 18 mpg. I wish I had bought it when I quit that job.
The 4th gen Fords I have driven, besides falling apart, only got about 15 mpg on a far less demanding route.
The van I drive currently is a very late model Chevy with a 5.3 and 8 speed automatic. I like it a lot better than the 4th gen Fords, but I'm under no illusion that it will be worth fixing once the engine and/or transmission bites the dust. It gets 16.9 mpg, which includes about 75 percent highway miles. And I normally don't speed. I'm trying to make money, not lose it by paying tickets. Not to mention that too many tickets would result in the loss of my job.
I'll touch on one more thing real quick: wheel bearings. Most light vehicles now (including my F350 stupid duty) use non-serviceable "lifetime lubricated" unit bearings. Most people really like the sound of that; "It's lubricated for life and I don't have to do any maintenance on it!" Actually that means the life of the bearing, not yours or the vehicle's life. And "I don't have to maintain it" is better stated as you cannot maintain it. You just have to go with it until it inevitably fails, leaving you stranded until the rollback truck comes to haul it to the nearest repair shop. And all vehicles with that type of wheel bearing (which is most of them now) have a date with the rollback truck... if the rest of the vehicle lasts long enough.
My F350 with 130K miles is on its third one on the right front. The part costs $300 and it's another $300 in labor to replace it. Plus tow charges. And I used factory Ford parts; no cheap Chinese stuff. Those things have discernible slop in them too, right out of the box. No wonder they fail. And since they're non-serviceable, you can't adjust that slop out.
Contrast that with the old school inner and outer tapered roller bearings. Like for example my mid-'90s C3500HD, which btw is way stouter than the new truck GM calls a "3500HD." A bearing set for one wheel costs $30 for that truck. And it's so simple, you can change it on the side of the road if you need to. I've done it. Not on that truck, but on others with similar bearings. When you install one of those, you tighten it enough (by hand) to just eliminate the slop, then lock it down. From that point, if you don't maintain it, it will likely still last about as long as a non-serviceable unit bearing. But if you clean, regrease and readjust it when you do the brakes, it will usually outlast a non-serviceable bearing. And even if it doesn't, it's 1/20th the cost to replace.
Now, about those engines. That 400 hp Ecotec3 engine gets 20 mpg because its computer shuts down half of its cylinders under light-load conditions. You can't slap a carb and a points distributor on that and have it still work. Even the Magnum 5.2 (318) in my Dodge van would have to have a different transmission to play nice (or at all) with carb and distributor. I have zero doubt though, that I could double its gas mileage and greatly increase its power by doing so.
And btw, my '72 318 not only got double the gas mileage of my 5.2 Magnum; it also had more usable power. That old two barrel 318 was about out of steam by 3500 rpm, which is about where the modern engines start working. It doesn't make the big horsepower numbers that the new ones make because the higher RPM the newer engines need to make those numbers are completely outside its operating range. But between 1200 and 3500 rpm, it more than holds its own. That's why the old school engines were fine with a 3 speed. The modern engines really need all those gears. The old school, low performance V8s and L6s don't.