[Bill Schwab]

I agree Mark. They should be able to mix and match trucks over 350/3500 just like they do for class 6 and 7 trucks. I guess they see too much lost business selling parts, or replacing vehicles if they did that.

[VoodooChile]

Gotta admit that I've been leery of backing up under load for a long time, but a certain amount of that abuse is unavoidable.

And I hear you about lost time Bill; we are a one truck outfit, and at the wrong time of the year, truck downtime is deadly.

I wonder if my mechanic could do anything during the truck's annual check-up to avoid blowing the tranny to smithereens...Are there cooling fins that could be cleaned? Any value to periodic fluid changes?

Or does anybody out there wanna buy a 2000 Ford F350 with a tranny that's about to explode???

[PSUscaper]

I think the main fact of the matter is that none of the chevy, ford, or dodge's are truly 'work trucks' anymore. Somewhere back in the late 80's, pickups became popular and their status as a work vehicle was gone.

Back then, farming use to actually MEAN farming. Drive around the fields, pull trailers all day, do farm chores, etc........Now, look what 'farming' is........two rich snobs who own a horse farm who need to sit on leather seats and have their own climate control while driving 25 miles to a horse show in their 50k rig. Its rediculous, but that is the market.

Go to a dealer lot and see how many contractor dually trucks are there and then look at how many 'super rancher' horse snob dually trucks are there.

Do you know that 'dual climate' control is standard on chevy pickup's now? Why the hek do you need control of the climate on each side of a BENCH SEAT?????? ( How are you suppose to get your girlfriend to sit next to you and keep warm if she has control of her side now???)

And yes, instead of investing $100 on a stronger transmission, chevy has decided that we would rather be able to keep our lunchbox sitting on the passenger side floor at a desirable temperature, because that is the only passenger I have 95% of the time.

There is no "work" in pickup design anymore. "Work" has become pulling a boat to the lake once a month with 3 kids in the back seat watching dvd's. Not hauling dirt 5 times a day.

The only hope we have now of the return of a real work truck is that gas prices continue to rise and every soccer mom, DIY'er, Design on a Dimer can't afford the gas anymore and stops buying them, so that the market changes back to real users.

[VoodooChile]

Pennscapes nails it; since when do we need 5 ton of iron to haul 1.7 children and a bag a groceries to Spinning class?

[PSUscaper]

When I worked at a airport, I had the pleasure of a driving a Osh Kosh MPT snow plow truck............That was a WORKTRUCK!

Huge engine, giant trans......the size of the melon on the rear end was huge......yet, inside, and out, it was built to function.......not look good (though I thought it did) or give you a warm cuddley feeling.

Sheet metal body. A hammer could be used to make repairs. Standard light fixtures, not $400 turn signasl to replace when they crack. Inside, all metal. Could hose it clean if you wanted. A big piece of steel as a bumper......not a piece of reinforced styrofoam connected to 2k of plastic grill that shatters when you hit a garbage can...........manual windows......no power locks.........one big heater blower in the cab, not 'miss prissy' individual climate control. A nice, simple, vinyl covered air ride seat........not a 'cheefully' colored cloth seat to match the custom carpeting.

Flat out, a work truck! Could hit a snow covered runway with 6 foot windrows and push them aside all night long.

It may have been 135K, but when you start looking at the truth of the matter, it will outlast 3-40k pickups and do 10 times the work in the meantime.

[dan deutekom]

Remember the days when:
1 you could push another truck out of the mud using your truck and not worry about wrecking the bumpers or smashing a light

2 you could hook a chain to the back bumper to pull out a stuck tractor or piece of equipment and not worry about hurting the truck

3 you could clean out the inside of the cab with a hose

4 you could get into the cab while you where dirty and muddy and not worry about ruining the carpets

5 you could overload a !/2 ton truck with 2 tons of soil and be mad because the bed wasn't big enough to hold more volume

6 you could fix them yourself with a pair of vice grips and a screw driver

7 they wern't the price of a Cadilac

8 they wern't more luxurious than a Cadilac

9 they wern't an extension of your D**k

10 they were just a WORK truck

[Bill Schwab]

Dan:

You left out, Automatic transmissions and power steering were not available, and you could not get carpeting as floor covering. It was rubber mats and vinal seats or buy yourself an El Camino or Ranchero.....

[Mark Oomkes]

I was thinking about this whole story from your service tech from Ford, Bill. If this is truly the case, i.e. no cooling in reverse, I would tend to think there would have been or are a whole train load of trucks that have blown transmissions from plowing then. I think I probably put as much of a load on my tranny backing up while plowing as most people do backing up a trailer.

I'm going to do some checking, but right now I am not buying what he told you.

[GLAN]

Good point Mark....

The 95 F350 XLT P/U I have I custom ordered..........yes the XLT package comes with carpet and nice cloth seats........I changed that and got vinyl seats and the rubber floor that comes with the cheap models..........Got a bit of a credit for the changes.

I would think with custom ordering can do the same thing.

I agree with much that is said.........Why would I want carpet? bring in the mud and everything else......Cloth seats......so I can tear them cause I left a hand clipper in my back pocket.


As for the new GM makes and the dual climate.....I don't think dual climate is available with plow package........so what do you get? I dunno........but it must be standard A/C. Can't see them tellin ya...........Tuff luck

[Bill Schwab]

Mark:

I thought about and asked that as well. Since the tech is a Cal native, he does not know much about plowing, but, consider that, he did say backing with a load. When you plow, what load are you really pulling/pushing? Not a great deal. And, the temps are 30° or less most of the time.

When I pick the truckl up I'm gunna ask some mroe questions because now you have my curiousities aroused. What you say makes perfect sense. I always found it intersting after a big wet snow the transmission shops were loaded with ford and dodge trucks. Maybe the ratio of Ford/Chevy/Dodge played into that somewhat but I don't think that much.

[Mark Oomkes]

Well, I must have jinxed myself. We received 10" of snow starting Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night. I was plowing our fire station with my son and felt the tranny slipping. I was about 2/3's finished when it went out completely. I'm not complaining too much, it has just about 77K on it and this is the first tranny problem we've had with our 4 speed's.

A competitor has 2 Ford's sitting in the same dealership with tranny's out. Both of those are the 5 speed. Maybe they don't have any cooling???

[Bill Schwab]

Mark:

Sorry to hear about your tranny....I got some more info FYI.

Ford designed the electronic shift 4 speeds and did not put a reversable pump in the mix, so, when you back up with a 4 speed auto, the oil sits stagnant. If you just got off the road pulling a trailer, then have to back up, if there is any way you can let the truck sit before moving backwards, it will save your tranny.

Of all the issues the Ford trannies have, 75% are electrical. When you shop rebuilds the tranny, make sure they back flush the cooler, because they will plug with debris from inside the tranny and stop the flow of oil after the rebuild. then you will be back in the same situation as before.

[prapoza]

I bought a new F650 this February. It was a left over 2003 at a dealership, no miles, Lo-Pro or whatever they call it. It was my colors and had an L-pack, which is fantastic by the way. Only problems with this truck is the clearance, the PTO pump is only eight inches off the ground and pins that secure drop down sides don't quite hit in the right spot. Pins are easy fix. PTO pump can't be raised it's attached to the engine.
Well this summer without warning the clutch gives out. Was gonna drive it to dealership without the clutch but Ford covers towing with there warranty, thank god. They had a big wrecker come pick it up and it was ready two days later. Hydraulic clutch went on it only 3500 miles. Hope it's not a sign of things to come. I do love the truck though it's awesome. CAT engine, six speed, 26000 gvw, plenty of towing power and capacity.

[bcx400]

I have been following this thread for a while now (on another site also) and thought I put in my 2 cents...

I have never met a truck that doesn't have some kind of problems, especially the newer ones with all the fancy bells and whistles. Ford, Gm, Dodge, whatever, all prone to problems.

That being said, I am now waiting for my 2001 F350 auto transmission to blow up. I have also heard some problems with these trannies when they are constantly used under load.

Last month, (50,000 miles) I had ALL the transmission fluid changed. I think it was about $175.00.

My GMC has gone through 2 injection pumps in 50,000 miles (covered under warranty though).

Something is always bound to break, better the truck than me!

[Bill Schwab]

Well, I have decided to sell our only F-450 since the transmission is new and the truck. We will be ordering a new Mack Granite, single axle, 33,000GVW with a Galbreath roll off dump on it.

If anyone knows someone looking for a nice F-450, 30K, brand new transmission with a very large cooler, white, 19.5" aluminum wheels dual side boxes and a rolling tarp on a 12' dump, call or E-mail. I would like to get 36K from the sale, but, it is negotiable. A new truck like this one will cost you near 57K.