New work truck

"Kiltedpadre" (kiltedpadre) 12/07/2018 at 02:57 • Filed to: None

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I’ve been stuck working 14hr overnight shifts this week. The highlight is being the on-call guy means I get to drive a brand new work truck home.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to do a completely unfair comparison between this and the work truck from my last job. Why is it unfair? Because I’m comparing a 2018 F-150 with 1,500 miles to a 1999 Chevy K2500 with 150,000 miles

Features: well it’s nice that the new truck has a needle telling me how much gas it has. On my old truck the needle was gone, and you just filled up every 200 miles.

All the door handles work! In the old truck you got in on the passenger side and out on the drivers side. Alternatively if someone wanted you could leave the windows down and Dukes of Hazard it if you were so inclined. They ordered new handles before I left; no idea if they were ever installed.

Both are 4x4, but I do prefer the floor lever to select 4x4 in the Chevy versus the dial on the dash. The Ford does add a locking rear axle.

My old truck had a great heater and a button on the dash that said AC, but that didn’t work. It also had an AM/FM radio.

This truck has working AC and an AM/FM radio with A CD player, Bluetooth, and an aux port.

Both trucks left the factory with ABS. It didn’t work on the Chevy, and just before I left it developed a fluid leak; no idea if they fixed it.

Comfort: I prefer the ride height of the Chevy. Plus the seat itself in the Ford is higher off the cab floor than I would prefer. As a side issue of that I can’t quite angle the rear view mirror as high as I would like. Similarly, I wish the steering wheel would tilt just a touch further up. Telescoping it out helps some though.

The seats, other than the height, are pretty good in the Ford. In the Chevy the old bench had seen better days. It had 150,000 miles at an average of probably 20mph. That’s a lot of ass time to crush the foam. Plus it was used reading water meters so there was a lot of in and out to break down the edge of the seat. If I spent all day in it my back hurt when I was done.

Tailgate: the Ford has a locking tailgate that annoys me every time I get out, lock the truck out of habit, and have to unlock it to get something out.

The Chevy had a barely latching tailgate that either fell down on the first minor bump or that just wouldn’t open when you wanted it to.

Finally, engine stop start:

Chevy turn the key to start; turn it the other way to stop.

Ford: start driving, come to a light, engine stops, I curse and stab at the button to turn off the auto start/stop feature. I hate how abrupt it is and at night the lights get dim when the engine restarts.

There you have it. A brand new truck is more comfortable, less broken, and has more features, most of them good to have,  than a 20 year old truck that’s lead a rough life.

Gerry197 > Kiltedpadre 12/07/2018 at 03:34

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When you have an expensive aluminum tailgate, you want it to lock. Just get use to walking out of the truck, do whatever you need to do with the tail gate and then lock the vehicle. Just pretend it’s a 5th door or a hatch back. When you get out of a hatch and need to get something out of it, you don’t lock the doors first right?

As for start stop, get use to turning it off right away . I do use it when on a long drive through line however.  

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Kiltedpadre 12/07/2018 at 03:53

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More comfortable because it’s less broken. I got stuck with a new F150 at work last summer, and could never get the seat comfortable. The start-stop was shocking but eventually livable. My manager had the gall to suggest the selectable locker made up for the fact it was only a 2wd truck, unlike the one it replaced, which, no it doesn’t . D espite 220,000 miles, that 3/4 ton Chevy was just so much better at being a work truck, b ut apparently the 8.1L engine was too inefficient so it got replaced by a 2.7 Ecoboost. And a regular cab/long bed was replaced by a crew cab/6' bed. I  miss that old truck.

Kiltedpadre > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 12/07/2018 at 04:54

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I intentionally avoided any usage type discussions. My new and old job are just too far apart in terms of day to day workload.

At my last job I was hired as “the water guy” and was the EPA person of record for their treatment system. The job was with a village small enough that I actually spent more time doing streets and maintenance work than water work. The entire public works department was 3 full time and 1 part time employees.

That truck was in 4x4 a couple times a week and needed to pull a hot box asphault trailer. I wouldn’t even consider that with this truck.

In reality I’d be better served with a lwb Ford Transit Connect with a ladder rack here than a full size truck. I’ll probably need 4x4 occasionally when I visit our auxiliary well field, but I only need to go there monthly.

There I never left the shop without a couple types of shovels, a pick, and some empty buckets in the bed. Here I’m mainly hauling portable lab equipment, sample taking/collecting tools, and small hand tools. I’d just need the rack for long water keys and a small extension ladder.

The last stock SC 5speed > Kiltedpadre 12/07/2018 at 07:27

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Is the locker selectable?

Can   settings be changed to allow start/stop to be turned off and  stay off?

Kiltedpadre > The last stock SC 5speed 12/07/2018 at 09:09

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Locker is selectable; pull out the 4x4 knob and it locks.

Nope, have to remember to hit the off switch each time. It’ll be habit eventually.

shop-teacher > Kiltedpadre 12/07/2018 at 09:22

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Sounds about right.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Kiltedpadre 12/07/2018 at 12:07

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My usage case was more similar to your first one... But it didn’t change when the truck got replaced.

Hauling trailers loaded with landscaping equipment   up Rocky Mountain roads that are closed to the public all winter because of weather just simply isn’t something you can do with a 2wd truck. And while we did occasionally put a skidsteer behind the new truck, despite it being barely under the 8500lb tow  limit, it wasn't comfortable at all, especially on narrow roads, tight corners, and double-digit grades.