What is the point of that truck if ain't even able to use it for it's intended purpose?
this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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I was never into trucks, but a cascade of circumstances put me in one. I hate to admit it, but I love that damn thing. I'm always throwing shit in the back, taking more camping trips, more wilderness trips, fishing low pressure spots, hauling trailers of shit, it does everything. The only thing that could come close utility wise would be a minivan, though I'd lose the offroad capability. I don't love the gas mileage, but I'm looking at a possible ethanol conversion.
All that to say, if you have a truck, use it like a truck.
If you use the truck as a truck, it’s fine. I’ve got a cousin that has a giant truck… to haul his camping trailer that fits him, his wife, and their FIVE kids. The daily driver is a hybrid SUV, again, for five kids.
My wife and I, just the two of us, have a little Ford Fiesta. It’s perfect for us, and honestly we could deal with something smaller if we had the money for it, but the Fiesta was the right price at the right time.
That's the thing, it's not the trucks themselves that are the problem. It's the size of them these days and their perception as a do-it-all vehicle. Theres just no reason the average truck user needs to sit 5 feet off the ground unless they're hauling something in the ballpark of a 75-foot luxury camper on a regular basis. Not to mention the height of the hood and headlights, the ubiquitous extended cabs which kinda defeat the purpose by shortening the bed (Hauling the family and their stuff is what mini vans and station wagons always were for), those trucks with permanent covered beds parading as SUVs... Regular consumer vehicles and work vehicles alike seemed to get by without those things before the 2010s and not much has changed since then, unless you count the need to compete with the size of what everyone else is driving.
But good luck finding a light duty low-to-normal-rise truck with a full size bed that does just what you need for occasional use without the compromise on efficiency for daily driving if that's what you so choose. I'm beginning to think that all this marketing around trucks isn't actually about selling them to people who need trucks to use them as trucks 🤔
Last thing is there aren't any real incentives to reach better fuel efficiency on truck platforms. It doesn't cost nearly as much more to develop and manufacture them as customers are willing to pay for them- trucks make up to 90% of profit for a company like Ford. Plus they're a loophole in US emissions policy. So more thought and funding could be put into making them more efficient, but that's not what the buyers are buying them for and that's not what the government is incentivising for, so the industry just goes "meh, just make 'em bigger, add some tech gimmies, and then go heavy on the marketing so we can squeeze more out of the customers this year than we did last year".
Whew sorry that was a bit of a rant... I just have a permanent bug on my shoulder when it comes to what capitalism has done to transportation in the US.
Doing an ethanol conversion will only get you worse gas mileage btw. Ethanol contains 25% less energy than gasoline by volume, so you need to burn more of it to make the same power.
That's a big reason while I'm on the fence. There's a lot of conflicting information regarding actual costs and pollution. If I can determine that overall costs are reduced, even with the lowered gas mileage, and the exhaust pollutants being reduced, then I'll do it. As it stands, I haven't seen anything that appears definitive.
Ethanol has been in use in Brazil since the 70s. The fuel is cheaper than gasoline, but you need to burn more of it. The rule of thumb was that the break even point was around 70% the price of gasoline (but that was applicable to the mostly compact car fleet of Brazil - every vehicle would have its own number).
It definitely pollutes significantly less. You also have zero issues with carbonization in the motor as alcohol has a decent detergent action. You should get a bit more life out of your catalytic converter.
You get a few "free" HP if the conversion is done right.
Cold mornings are your enemy. Alcohol takes longer to heat up your engine, so there's a gasoline reservoir for cold starts that the on-board computer doses until the engine is warm enough to not sputter out.
If your conversion leaves you with a flex motor (any mixture of gas and ethanol), you can switch to E25 in high winter (or eyeball it at the pump for something like 50/50). Helps avoid wasting fuel heating the engine from a cold start when it's white out.
Ethanol is highly hygroscopic, so components in your gas train that don't deal well with water can start to rust. This was an issue mostly in the days of leaded gas, but nowadays all gas has some ethanol in it, so you're probably fine.
So, this is something I've also wondered. My main use for a truck is pulling the camper to the mountain, but I've heard that putting premium fuel just before your trip will help you, but that does not make sense as premium fuel is less volatile because it's meant for higher compression rates in more performance tuned engines.
Correct, don't use premium fuel unless your engine requires it.
Amen. I grew up in rural Ontario where everyone and their kid has either a pickup truck or a beat up old Cutlass. I yearn to have a pickup because of how awesome they are. Challenge is I live in suburbia. It doesn't make sense and I can't justify it. People really need to think critically more about their purchases.
Same here, and the added benefit that you can throw whatever shit on the back without a real care of damaging it, and then just hosing it down. On an SUV or Minivan I would be making sure that everything was clean or carefully covered so not to spill on the carpet and shit.
Pavement princess
I work in the freight industry and I handle the dock pickups basically all day, this kind of crap happens all the time
Literally people tell me not to scratch the rhino liner all the damn time, it's annoying
Do you tell them to get a real work vehicle? Gotta get to their ego I reckon
Usually I show them how far my forklift can place their freight without scooting it (which is never far enough (only when they complain about the potential for scratches)) then mention, "Unfortunately without scooting it you'll have to load this by hand."
Usually this gets them to relent and then I get to show them how tough the lining is by scooting the freight and not damaging anything
Sometimes though they still don't want it scooted so they end up having to load it by hand by themselves (I can't help by hand as it's a liability thing) which always brings a smile to my face
Literally today some dingus ended up loading 5000lbs of flooring into their F-550 by hand because they didn't want the rhino lined bed scratched
Edit: I accidentally a word
The hell...I have a pickup with bedliner that we use (in part) for picking up pellets for our pellet stove by the ton. They put the pallet on as far as they can while it's fully on the forks, then lift up the end of it and push the pallet on to the truck the rest of the way. No issues at all, and we've been doing it for several years now.
I throw all kinds of crap on it. A few years ago we were getting rid of fencing the previous owners had left...the only thing I had to worry about was them tangling enough that I wouldn't be able to get another piece in (we have a cap on our truck). That's the whole point in getting the bedliner. I'd refuse to help someone doing that.
why the hell did they bother to put rhinoloner then? That's wild i can't believe there are people that think this way.
Hey now, don't make fun of the mentally challenged
This is glorious, thanks for sharing.
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But it's rhino liner. Isn't that what it's meant for?
People are so superficial.
One day my friend told me not to grab any tools on the way to a junkyard, as they had everything we would need already loaded.
Later on, they didn't want me using said tools because they were new and might get scratched or the ratchet gears damaged. Kinda wanted to punch him in his idiot mouth.
Mate, I'd punch him too.
I treat my tools well and even baby the fancy ones a bit. But god damn, they're fking tools, they're meant to be used and eventually everything breaks.
A friend's somewhat classic car has a tire change kit and we get a flat tire, they don't want to have the change kit show any wear, so we end up waiting hours for roadside assistance to come change a tire... not with the included tire though.
Punch 'em.
eventually everything breaks
Not good tools! I have tools that were my great grandfather's, and they still work perfectly.
I have been in that exact position before. The hard cover was locked and the keys for it disappeared somewhere on the job site. We needed the piece of crown moulding to finish a job we were working on so we did exactly what you see in the photo.
Should the keys not be on the fob with the key to operate the vehicle?
Aftermarket hard top that locked into the top of the tailgate. You could unlock the tailgate but wouldn't be able to pull it down.
If memory serves me the hardtop keys were given to someone to get a tool and never returned to the driver.
This is why vans are superior to trucks.
Unless you are carrying chemicals constantly and don't want to be smelling the fumes all day.
My renault came with a solid steel cargo barrier and small glass window. You could carry a lion in the back and probably be fine.
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because they eliminate the margin case of losing your aftermarket hardtop keys?
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They mean that the key should be on the same keychain as the ignition key.
Nah, those guys are truck jousters, on the way to face off with their arch enemies
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His friend only shares the cab but not the bed
He brought the hard wood for nothing.
Shocking that that is not a Ram.
Silverados are just as bad
A wagon could fit that
I like the look of these new long bed minivans.
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