road turtle

I kept it for awhile... but they eventually caught up with me. I was literally 3 months short of the required 10 years to keeping it, but frankly I was done. Thankfully, my brother in law is now an employee... should I ever desire to buy another new vehicle.

What only a tiny group of people know, when the 2005 Mustang was being developed, there was a proposal for a 4dr version that got killed by Nancy Gioa. Her explanation, there is zero chance of a 4dr performance car ever succeeding. Hello, anybody familiar with Dodge Charger? Nancy was the same person that killed the independent rear suspension in the Mustang. Man there were some internal battles over that flawed decision, it actually got the chief engineer removed from his position, that's how serious it got. Don't get me started on Farley. He's a flaming effin idiot. The decision to end sedans was partially flawed on bad math, and partially flawed on Ford wanting to only innovate vs renovate. Honda and Toyota successfully renovate. I have no idea why Ford keeps him around. He screwed up Europe and was put in charge of the entire company? I heard a 3rd hand story of an exec challenged Farley in a meeting, and was retired the next day. I trust my source, but have no further confirmation.

OEMs have always tested vehicles on SE MI streets. Have to keep a sharp eye to find them They often will have just removable vinyl panels covering them, usually right before release. I had the Flex the weekend after it's panels were removed. Took it to Telegraph cruise, and was inundated with people wanting to see the Flex. The first time the Flex hit the street, in full camo, the first photo hit the internet literally minutes after it drove out of the prototype plant. Previously scheduled team meeting an hour later, they showed the pic on the internet and chief engineer reminded people, 1st the camo stays on the vehicle, no matter what. 2nd, do not, DO NOT try to evade a photographer, just drive as normal. BUT, I've seen Ford minivan doctored up to look like a flower delivery van. Also GM had a camaro dressed up with all kinds of crap addons like high wings, curb feelers, etc. I almost missed it, but the M plate caught my attention. Ran into a friend from Chrysler at a gas station one day, he was in a pickup with blacked out wood panels like a urban assault vehicle. Knowing he was an engineer in powertrain development, I asked him WTF was he driving. He said did you look at the plate? That's all I needed to know

you'all ain't going to want to read this, but mark my words, it's going to get worse, a lot worse. Diesel here in south central MI is running 5.39-5.49. My forecast in the spring was 7.50. I still believe we're going to see that.

I've changed out my 5th wheels electric brakes for hydraulic. I now want to tow a trailer behind the 5th wheel... and yes it's legal where I intend to do that. I can tap into the brake signal at the hydraulic system in the front compartment of the 5th wheel, but I have the truck set to electric over hydraulic. What does that setting do in comparison to electric setting?

I'm looking for people's hwy mpg experience with 6.7L

About to do a 2,000 mile trip from AZ to MI. Towing the 5th wheel, I get about 12 mpg. Given the current fuel prices, we're getting into real money, and may leave the 5th wheel in AZ, and just take the truck. I'd expect pretty consistent 75 mph without the 5th wheel. I put together a spread sheet, and it's a pretty ugly number running diesel prices all the way up to 7.50. Although it does give me the option to buy a cargo trailer and bring some stuff back in the fall

Damn... I wish I was still at Ford, SD calibrators literally were within spitting distance from my desk. None of the people I knew are still there

2022 SD I love the ability to leave the camera running on the back of my 5th wheel... but it takes up the entire screen, and behaves like the truck is in reverse, i.e. can't answer the phone etc Is there someway with forscan to make the camera behave more like the bed camera?

I recognize this is an older topic. There is zero possibility of that pin wt being real. A good rule of thumb, pin weight of 22% of trailer GVWR. With 10 speed trans, you can go with the 3.73 gear ratio, it works fine on my 2022D.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this beast. So far, couple of minor issues. Batteries failed at 38 months. Dealer tested them shortly before that, and declared them good. Replaced with AGM. Front camera just went intermittent, dealer installed a new camera. Still worried about CP4, running Opti-Lube XPD in every fillup. I've started using Blue Def Ultimate due to it's lessened propensity to crystalize. Rear roof trim piece, probably got yanked loose in a car wash. Repair requires removing rear window. I passed, dealer recommended using windshield glue on the trim. Knock sensor went bad, throwing a code. Replaced under warranty. One thing I would love to see Ford change, when using the towing camera, Sync 4 goes into backup mode, full screen camera, voice commands don't work. I wish it acted like the bed camera and would operate in split screen. This thing is a beast, I'm pulling a smaller 5th wheel, fully loaded around 13.5k. It will accelerate going up 6% grades, never balking. I stayed with 3.31 gears, and on level grade, easily goes into 10th gear. Adaptive cruise RTFW, especially while towing. I do wish the transmission would downshift sooner. It loses about 5mph while towing before it downshifts. I've gotten into the habit of poking the throttle when starting uphill. Easily holds the speed. Love the huge fuel tank, 48gal... hate parking the CCLB, it's not fun. Rollup hard tonneau cover works well, but it does take up bed space. I like being able to stand on it. I'd probably go to backflip style instead. Replace tires with Michelin, and they ride a bit better.

I'm running Opti-Lube XPD and have switched to Blue Def Ultimate, which seems to have less of an issue with crystalizing.

I know the post is a bit old, but you're looking at empty weight, not GVWR. you're not going to find 42' 5th wheel in the wt range you're quoting. Quite frankly, at 40' you should be looking at a dually, especially with the number of passengers. You'll quickly run out of payload capacity. If you plan to do the mountains out west, diesel will be your friend... but you lose payload capacity. If you decide to go to dually, just step up to the F450.

F350 DRW vs F450 DRW... I'd pick the 450 every day of the week. Tighter turner radius, better brakes, and other HD components.

It's not well supported. I'm kicking myself for not keeping the packages that my kit came in. I had to replace a wheel TPMS sensor, and local dealer parts dept and I spent better part of an hour trying to identify the correct replacement part number. IRC it's a combo trailer/5th wheel kit. Good luck!