Clifford the Big Red Truck, an F150 Story

[Jester53]

Nice truck!

[Jake]

Mileage: 3,500

I've been blowing through the mileage so far, but 2018 was kinda front-loaded with road trips. My summer will see the driving taper off, and I am starting to plan for a move to Arlington in August. Once I'm moved, I'll be taking Metro (wearing my racing suit for full fire safety) and walking/biking much more than driving at that point.

Still like everything about the truck. Still need to get the bed lined. Weekends are busy through the start of June now so it'll have to wait until then. Does very well on road trips and pulls ~21 mpg at 75-80.

It tows the enclosed like a fucking boss. Gets about 10 mpg doing it but doesn't care what's hooked up and is super stable at 65-70 mph.

Photo from the two weeks where I owned two Ford trucks:

[Jake]

Mileage: 7,000 (Eep)

So I've managed to drive entirely too much, thanks to road trips to VIR, Ohio, Summit Point, and Harrisonburg. But, I'm inching closer to moving and I can't wait to drive less. Still love the truck. It's about due for its first oil change according to the dashboard monitor, so I'm dropping it off tomorrow at Jerry's Ford. While it's there, I'm going to have them look at the transmission - there are some oddities that I'd like to at least have on record. The transmission is a 10-speed developed jointly between Ford and GM (this explains a lot) - it gets pretty jerky around town as it tries to be in too tall of a gear for the speed. There's a whine in 1st when you're going through parking lots (forum sleuthing says it may be the torque converter). I think all of these 8/9/10 speed transmissions have a ways to go, but the good news is most of the weirdness can be fixed with updated programming.

If it's in Tow or Sport mode, it does really well and is far smarter about gear selection. "Normal" is the annoying one.

I've also had it say "Hood Ajar" a few times while driving, so I'm going to have the dealer look at whatever sensor monitors that. Otherwise, all is well.

I took it off-roading last weekend with some friends down in the Shenandoah Valley, between Peters Mill Run (super rocky, to the point of being annoying) and Flagpole Knob (muddy and fun). We had a really varied mix of cars and both trails were tame enough for everyone to have fun. The truck is wide though, so I didn't have the ability to "pick a line" like the smaller trucks. I kept the mirrors folded in the entire time. The Hankook all-terrains were great and I didn't worry much about punctures or lack of grip compared to a highway tire. I'll do a better write-up with more photos on my blog soon.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Has issues with brand new Ford truck, still blames GM. Love it.

The 2018s are so sharp looking!

[JPolen01]

That dual moonroof. Pimp AF.

[Jake]

Has issues with brand new Ford truck, still blames GM. Love it.

The 2018s are so sharp looking!

I will never be un-salty 

In all honesty though, the transmission was co-developed but each brand uses different programming, and with GM, the software will be different model-by-model as it makes its way into the Camaro, their trucks, and whatever else. I think Ford is only using this in the F150 for now, but would not be surprised to see it in the upcoming Explorer as it returns to a RWD-based architecture.

So, hopefully Ford can update the TCM and smooth it out a bit. It would be perfect if it just didn't want to be in 7th gear at 25 mph. I looked up the ratios and 7th is 1:1. Doesn't work unless you've got a turbo to make up for the super-low revs at that road speed.

[Jake]

This mileage isn't as fun with a laptop screen as the odometer:



Heading through the Allegheny Mountains, coming home from Pitt Race:



Fueling up. The Coyote is thirsty AF trying to hold 70 mph in the mountains with all the elevation and no boost.

[rherold9]

Fueling up. The Coyote is thirsty AF trying to hold 70 mph in the mountains with all the elevation and no boost.

Funny that I stopped at the exact same gas station on the way home too! Those pesky red F150s always following each others footsteps

[Jake]

So Ford sent me a mailer about a recall, something to do with... seatbelt pretensioners? I took it to Ted Britt Ford for that work and a TSB that they (finally!) issued about the early 10-speed transmission software requiring an update. I was given a Fusion Hybrid loaner car for a few days, which was devoid of any personality but fun to try and drive solely on the batteries, and picked the truck back up Thursday night.

The transmission shifts a million times better now. It's amazing the first tune even made it out of the factory, it was truly that bad at times. There is still a pronounced gear whine in 1st at slow speeds, but I have talked to a friend at Ford corporate who said it's a characteristic of the trans and Ford/GM worked together to try and eliminate it, but couldn't. Guessing it was a bit of a time crunch sort of thing. Maybe we'll get another TSB for that down the road.

Anyway, Ted Britt is fantastic and easy to deal with but someone hit the back bumper while it was in for service:



I spoke to the service manager and he asked me to bring it back in so they can fix it. He's planning to give me a loaner while they handle it.

Additionally, I ended up using the truck to tow Natalie's dad's old Ford that Dave bought for some inexplicable reason. Tyler and I picked it up Friday night and after I almost abandoned it on 66 East three times, I limped it to my place and messaged Dave, saying we needed to trailer it down. Fun fact! A UHaul auto trailer's deck is the length of a 1985 F150 short wheelbase truck, minus about half an inch. The rear tires fit, but baaaaarely. I put it in Park, strapped the front wheels down and threaded the hilariously small safety chains around the '85's axles. The huge bed cap really killed the aerodynamics of everything, so we stuck to about 60-65 mph and made it down in one piece.





So that's that, I'm all settled in Arlington now and not driving unless I leave town, which is just the best. I think I'll squeak the truck in right at the 15k mile cap for the year when we roll around to March, and the following two years will see maybe 8k a year, leaving me with plenty of excess mileage for some road trips.

[rherold9]

Does it cost extra money if you go over the mileage? or can they break the lease? What happens?

[Jake]

Does it cost extra money if you go over the mileage? or can they break the lease? What happens?

It's a pre-determined cost per mile, but the mileage is only looked at when you turn it back in. So, I get 15k a year for a total of 45k miles, but I could drive all 45k in the first year and park it, with no penalties.

[Jake]

I like trucks. Was at a red light, fully stopped, and felt a little shudder, almost as if the transmission had forgotten to shift down to 1st or something. Really, really mild. Instinct took over and I threw it in Park, got out and noticed a Mercedes CLA stopped firmly against my back bumper. The mid-20s girl driving was entirely unsure if she had just stopped really close, or actually hit me.

Well, sure enough, I got boinked but neither car had any damage. And if she had been going any faster, her illuminated three-pointed star would have nailed the hitch receiver and I suspect outsourced German plastic would be the weaker of the two materials.

Anyway, everything is fine and no paint damage at all. Yippee.

[V1GiLaNtE]

I like trucks. Was at a red light, fully stopped, and felt a little shudder, almost as if the transmission had forgotten to shift down to 1st or something. Really, really mild. Instinct took over and I threw it in Park, got out and noticed a Mercedes CLA stopped firmly against my back bumper. The mid-20s girl driving was entirely unsure if she had just stopped really close, or actually hit me.

Well, sure enough, I got boinked but neither car had any damage. And if she had been going any faster, her illuminated three-pointed star would have nailed the hitch receiver and I suspect outsourced German plastic would be the weaker of the two materials.

Anyway, everything is fine and no paint damage at all. Yippee.

Case of PBR says she was texting.

[rherold9]

Case of PBR says she was texting.

Nahhhh, who would ever text and drive?....

[Senor_Taylor]

Case of PBR says she was texting.

Nahhhh, who would ever text and drive?....

People with friends.



Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[ScottyB]

ball hitches are the ultimate bumper cheat. you can damn near total the other car with those if they boop you in the rear good enough

[Jake]

ball hitches are the ultimate bumper cheat.  you can damn near total the other car with those if they boop you in the rear good enough

I don't leave mine in full-time, because then I'd boop everybody's shins in my apartment parking garage. If it were in last night, insurance would have been called about a radiator for a CLA250.

[Sijray21]

I don't leave mine in full-time, because then I'd boop everybody's shins in my apartment parking garage.

Thank you for doing this... i find it really annoying when people leave it in all the time when they park where people walk. there's a guy here who leaves his huge hitch/ball on and covers most of the sidewalk with his bed, too. i tend to just climb onto the hitch/ball and use it as a step.

[Evan]

i tend to just use it as a urinal.

ftfy

[ScottyB]

so if i understand this right, i guess its OK to step on another man's balls if he puts them in the middle of the sidewalk.