rev up your engines today I'm going to talk about what makes the full-size
f-150 pickup truck probably the most popular best full-size pickup truck
around and in this case it's a 2004 and effects for off-road version and as you
can see even all this thing's been ridden hard and put up with it's got a
166 thousand miles on it sixteen years off still going strong still original
engine original transmission original transfer case and that's being the FX4
not gigantic in the back but there are seats in the back even got the Texas
hand it's got the vulnerable 5.4 liter v8 engine this particular one puts out
300 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque got a lot of pulling power this
thing can tow 9,500 pounds and the bed can carry 2,900 pounds so it has no
problem carrying me around it's got dual exhaust through that great v8 sound
weather just got a nice idler you're rubbing it up
that sound alone made Henry Ford Millions
this is one serious work truck they aren't great on gas but that's not what
this is for this is a serious work truck I run in one of these years ago when we
went to Lake Tahoe in the winter they had like 300 something matches of snow
got the all-wheel drive one never got stuck had no problems they gave me a
choice at the rental sooner they said you can get a car but you're gonna have
to put chains on it or you can get a four-wheel drive Ford and I said give me
the Ford there's serious ground clearance for driving but not the
insanity of those nuts that put them way way way up in the air
it still handles really good in the mouth to be honest off in between
hundred and fifty two hundred and twenty thousand miles you might have to do the
transmission over before it has remanufactured ones available they work
quite well and no matter where you live you can always get parts for Ford's at
least in North America but I mean hey they got big plants all over the world a
lot of people don't know this but for decades Ford has been the largest
selling vehicles in England so the English use them all the time too they're
not bad into these big gigantic pickups over there the roads are too small but
here in Texas we got lots of Road plenty of room for a big old pickup they got
killer air-conditioning for our hundred-degree 95% humidity days here in houston but
these v8 engines put out a lot of heat the heaters work ready
too you'll melt yourself air in Texas and when I rented the one in lake tahoe
freezing cold outside I had to turn the heat down to low got too hot inside just
the general comfort level is nice these leather seats are great this thing's
old it's a work trucks so of course it's all worn out here but hey otherwise it's
still in pretty decent shape to the badge of a workman's truck see it's all
worn out the driver seat but on the other seats the love is pristine my
customers never had a problem with the all-wheel-drive system you can have it
on two wheel or we life or we all all just by the flick of a switch and yeah
this is all the one came a basic CD player stuff as you can see my customers
already put the Sirius XM radio with it and that's all the other listens to and
really far has been perfect the suspension system of these things over
the years this is an older one in the present decade hey they've upgraded the
suspension systems my wife doesn't like riding in pickup truck she says their too high
their too bumpy three years ago I was Road testing I took her for a ride she said
I don't wanna I hate riding in those trucks she says this thing really rides good
because they perfected that too they've made it so that somebody wants a cushy
ride you can get a cushy ride even though it's Oh f-150 it's a whole range
of trucks various options you can stick out but when it comes out for 150 I'm a
traditionalist I like the plain v8 engine
no turbocharger gasoline direct injection
none of that high-tech stuff that's going to break a plain old fuel-injected
v8 engine that with minor maintenance can run these things can last in
definitely I get customers of them had five hundred thousand miles on they were
on their second transmission but you're getting your money's worth even if you
got to put a little bit of money and something like that that's a comparison
I got customers have Silverado pickup trucks any automatic transmissions in
them they will last generally less than half as long as these ford transmissions
will ford really was the one who started mass-produced v8 that were affordable
and lasted a long time I don't have foolish things and I'm like GM and
putting a 4-cylinder which is proven to be a massive failure anyways you get one
of these I advise don't get one of those v6 ones
stick to the normally aspirated v8 engine because a lot of those tests are
kind of lies you put a 4-cylinder engine the back pickup truck it can have higher
gas mileage ratings but yeah you start tolling a bunch of stuff and fooling
with a payload those ratings go right down a toilet big v8 engine can handle
it the other engines when you stress them out they're gonna wear out faster
but their guest mods are gonna go right down the toilet no I do have to say I'm
impressed by one new technology they put in they got that massive 10 speed
automatic transmission that they also put in the Mustangs they had a little
problem here and there with software which they could easily correct but the
transmissions themselves are extremely large extremely powerful and they
actually get decent gas mileage because not only their 10 speed transmissions
but the last three gears are overdrive to get the most gas mileage you can when
you're just cruising down the road and a set speed not take it Toyota Tundra they
make a nice big truck too but the sales are nothing compared to these f-150s
because you gotta face it Toyota they're not in the business of
making large trucks that's not where they make all their
money both sides trucks is more of a sideline for Toyota they sell a lot of
small and midsize pickup trucks with your excellent trucks but full size yeah
floors been making them for so long and they just keep perfecting them as time
goes on and it's aspect the up 150 kind of takes after the Japanese business
models are starting out and over decades improving on the pickup truck scene what
people want adding it in all right in the later model once they started
putting a whole bunch more aluminum so they had seven eight hundred pounds or
more or less weight so they got a little bit better gas mileage they've improved
these things incrementally over the years which is what the Japanese have
traditionally done with their good manufacturers so I mean they copied
Henry Ford on a mass production of cars maybe Florence turned around took a page
out of the Japanese playbook improve them incrementally over time don't throw
the baby away with the bathwater if you make a mistake fix it and then go on and
improve that because there's a lot of guys out there looking for a serious
work truck just decide what you want if you're really serious about pickup
trucks I'd say start by looking at the Fords and especially if you're looking
for a used work truck Rams they can be okay when they're brand new but when
they age man do they fall apart you do not want to buy a used ram
I've Customers that bought new ones they're okay for maybe 80 90 thousand miles before
they started falling apart but you never want to buy a used one high mileage I've
made customers my Fords it had 200,000 miles put another 200,000 miles on and
sadly he used to be able to get that with his Chevy pickup truck and I was a
young mechanic in the 60s Ford and Chevy there were neck and neck over who makes
the better pickup trucks but quite some time ago years ago
Ford pulled way ahead of them I mean the only thing Ford making the United States
now is pickup trucks SUVs and Mustangs they're spending a lot of time with
pickup trucks they sell a lot of them they know what their doing
I never buy new anything because as far as I'm concerned they all cost way too
much brand-new so I look around for a good used one if you're in the market
they're used by a lot of commercial guys if they buy something that falls apart
their business isn't gonna buy another one here again we got the Japanese
philosophy coming through make your customers happy and they'll keep buying
your vehicles, so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair
videos remember to ring that Bell