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Truck Rant!!!!!!!!!!!

B

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Occasionally I think about this, but seeing the post by Tom in Mo.'s - Look What Followed Me Home Today (see link below).

Cattle racks aside -

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO A FULL SIZE TRUCK THAT THE BED SIDES WEREN'T SO TALL YOU COULDN'T REACH OVER AND GRAB SOMETHING OUT OF IT FROM THE SIDE??????????????????????

Holy smoke - some of these new trucks, you need a ladder to get over the side to retrieve anything. My brother's F150 is a prime example. I had a '75 F100 (3 on tree, 300 six) two wheel drive and reaching over the side was never an obstacle.

Rant over.....

Bill
Truck
 
That's why I went to flatbed on my 2500 dodge
Im only 5foot 6 inch and these new pickups are very tall
I can relate !!!!!
pete
 
Blame the cowboy wannabe's. These days very few pickups are actually used as trucks. My pickup is a regular cab with 8 foot bed. When I need a people mover I drive my Caravan. Do not understand why anyone would buy a truck with a dinky bed so tall it's all but useless.
 
Used to be that pickup boxes were the right height for a couple of farmers to lean on and solve worldly problems....maybe that's why the world is in a sadder state now. Ben
 
My go anywhere do anything truck is a 2002 Superduty F350 supercab. Even in my sixties I can get in the bed without a ladder to hookup my gooseneck trailer. Even though it sits that low I'd still like to put a flatbed on it if nothing else so I can haul more hay with it. That is one of the few things my wife and I are in agreement on, getting that flatbed. :D
 
Bill,
In 2007 I learned it was the final year for the GMC classic, I found one at the dealer and bought it. If they don't make the classic again, My 2007 will be my last truck.
 
+1 on the 8' beds. I'm a Ford guy but I wouldn't be caught dead in one of the shorty bed things. Oh yea, to help out with the Rant. Two things should be made outta of aluminum:1, Beer cans and 2, Airplanes but definitely not a pickup beds. And another thing Bring Back the Inline Six 4.9L 300 Six Cylinder, yes I know, it had a aluminum intake manifold. bjr
 
My 2000 Chevy reg cab long bed 4wd will be my last. I will do whatever it takes to keep it on the road for what years I might have left.
 
I think a good part of the reason that they are made so high is the way the young guys have been jacking them up. They go and get a truck, and the first thing they do is start putting lift kits into them. So, the manufacturers apparently decided to go along with the trend and raise them right from the factory.
I suppose that is as good a theory as any, eh?
 
I swore once I'd never buy a pickup that I couldn't slam the tailgate on a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

I broke down several years ago and bought an X cab with a 6 1/2' box. I've regretted it ever since. Next time I see a deal I like on a pickup with an 8' box, that sucker's history.

I've often wondered about those huge 4 door pickups with a dinky little box that won't hold as much as the trunk of a full sized car. Actually, years ago I owned a '57 Mercury. You could slide a 4x8 sheet of plywood into the trunk and have about 6" sticking out. I went to a lumber yard once and bought several sheets of plywood. After I'd paid for them, the counter guy asked if I had a pickup. I said, "Naw, I'll throw them into the trunk of my car". He had to see it to believe it.
 
Ya know, Ford still makes a pick-up with an 8' bed, BASE price is $59,000.00 (CDN) ridiculous. They are now oriented to 'Family' pick-ups, that you need to buy the 'optional' step(s) to get in the thing with the kiddies - STOOOOPID !!!
 
(quoted from post at 13:35:49 08/29/16) Occasionally I think about this, but seeing the post by Tom in Mo.'s - Look What Followed Me Home Today (see link below).

Cattle racks aside -

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO A FULL SIZE TRUCK THAT THE BED SIDES WEREN'T SO TALL YOU COULDN'T REACH OVER AND GRAB SOMETHING OUT OF IT FROM THE SIDE??????????????????????

Holy smoke - some of these new trucks, you need a ladder to get over the side to retrieve anything. My brother's F150 is a prime example. I had a '75 F100 (3 on tree, 300 six) two wheel drive and reaching over the side was never an obstacle.

Rant over.....

Bill
Truck
Click to expand...

They (auto companies) figure that will sell more units. Another trend that REALLY hacks me off is going for mileage by putting too tall gears in the pickup trucks, 3:73s with a manual shift or 3:55s with an auto, are about the highest that should be considered for a truck that can pull a load on anything but flat ground and that depends on the torque curve of the engine. If I wanted that I'd be driving a jacked-up Kia! So, another case of 'follow the money'! :roll:
 
Remember the long wheel base step-side pickups? Those were so handy, most all the farmers, ranchers had them. They were really nice for hauling hay.....if I remember right, we could put close to 60 bales on them.
 
Don't think anyone still makes a truck with a manual trans in it do they? I know GM and Ford don't, not sure about Ram.
 
3500 Ram with Cummins Diesel, you can order it. I test drove a 3500 a few years old with the cummins and 6 speed, it sure felt right to me. I want to put this kind of drive train in a ford F550.
 
They lift them and they never even take them off the pavement. Lifted pavement princesses. I lifted my F250 4" because I use it in the woods and have larger tires on it. It pushes less snow with the front bumper with it setting higher as well, doesn't hang you up as easy.
 
Sure do and they have been gone since the early 70's. The 3/4 or 1 ton ford with an 8' step side was a nice truck configured like that. An older friend of mine and my fathers, had bought one from a compressed gas supplier and I think it had a lift gate on it too. That was one handy truck, darned thing sat in a garage buried with junk for years, eventually this big ole house and carriage house was lost on taxes, bet they junked it with the rest of the hoard and boy did this guy have a hoard of some good stuff, much of it was on the surface, what was buried had some value. You cannot see the carriage house, but one thing is for sure, it does not look anything like what is in the link below. I can remember putting in those cabinets in the kitchen, as I did a bunch of work in that house for this guy, aside from the garbage, it looks exactly as it did in the late 80's ! Now it fits in the neighborhood, it stood out like a sore thumb at times.
Hoard
 
I've got an '02 Chevy 1500 W/T. 4.3L v6, 5 speed manual, 150,000 mi. It's got an 8' bed and I can throw stuff over the side without worrying about "scratching the paint". Rocker panels are completely gone like every other Chevy p/u of that vintage. I think I washed it once or twice, otherwise God takes care of that when it rains. Kids and wife say "it stinks". Probably does from having me riding in it after working all day in the woods, dogs all stinky from running through the woods and marshes. But I told my wife she could bury me in it. :lol:

However, the 2 dogs take up the front seat with me and if the wife has to go somewhere with me, one is on her lap. She bangs on the upholstery and puts a towel on the seat before she gets in. Hence..... she desperately avoids going anywhere in the truck. :wink: I've also had to do some pulling around my vacant property with it (tractor, logs, trailers, etc) and I'm worried about having to replace the clutch before it's time. (I put one in about 120k).

So, went to the Chevy website and choked when I saw a new basic p/u was $48k! What's the down payment and monthly on something like that???? Costs 50% more than my first house. Like others have said: "not in my lifetime". And I can't imagine leasing a p/u. You'd be afraid to actually use it or the extras they'd charge at lease end for "damage" would kill you. Guess I'll still keep driving the '02. Maybe I'll even vacuum it out and wash it this weekend, just for the wife.
:D
 
JML755- "Chevy 1500 W/T".

At one time I was curious what the W/T stood for. I called the local chevt dealer and
asked....they didn't know the answer. Checked the 'net', couldn't find an answer....anyboby
here know what W/T stands for?
 
Greg, maybe I'm incorrect, but the W/T trucks were real popular around here in MI, and everyone always said it stood for "work truck". Makes sense I guess, most of them have very limited options.
 
Agree 100% with you Bill. I had two 66 chevys and a 67 before this one and you could reach all the way to the center of the bed without climbing up a tire. Those days are gone.
 
I agree with the newer trucks being too tall. My 2005 dodge is too tall for me and I'm 6'2". IMO they quit making decent trucks in the 90's. My '94 Ford was the best one I've ever had. I could reach half way across the bed. It was a 300cyl with an 8'bed and 3.73 gears. It had just enough modern conveniences to make it nice but not so much that it was impossible for the average guy could work on it.
 
After buying mu 05 F 150, I told myself I would never buy another Ford, because of the high bed. From the posts looks like all the pickups are built that way now. Just about everyone here hates the high side pickups. I am sure most of the nation has the same feeling. I wonder why they keep making them? I am sure if one of the auto makers would make a basic pickup again, they would sell real good. Stan
 
I don't like the tall bed height and the tall bed side on the newer 4WD trucks either. However I must admit the newer trucks do ride much smoother than my 1994 ever did.

Running boards have been popular on 4 WD pickups for thirty years or more. I wonder why we don't see more tall pickups with the running boards extended back to the rear wheel well? Extended running boards would be as handy as a step side box without sacrificing cargo room.
 
I'm sure it has to do with economics- better profit in selling $60K toy trucks than $15K W/Ts. A kid I work with drives a $70K Cadillac and just bought a $60K Denali "truck" so he can garage the Caddy in the winter. Blacked out, leather seats, tinted windows, black rims, jacked up, useless as a truck.
 
Get over it guys. The average new 1/2 ton 4X4 truck buyer lives in the burbs, the truck will never leave the pavement or haul a trailer. But you have to own one to be cool! Cross over for the little woman and newer 1/2ton, 4 door, short bed 4X4 is the big seller followed by the cidiots who just have to have that 3/4 ton in diesel, also 4 door, short bed 4X4, that will never leave the pavement as long as the first owner owns it. The real problem is us old pharts who keep driving a vehicle till it's got well over 200K on it or it's dead. If we traded every few years for a new one our wants and desires would be met. My last trade in had 312,000 on the clock.

Rick
 
last year a pal bought a new Ram pu. From the factory it had air ride suspension, and lowered for loading. It seems like a great idea. I don't know if it was special order.
 
I agree with your first sentence. Why criticize the manufacturers when they are selling as many
pickup trucks as they can make? What kind of business sense would it be to displace the high-
margin, high-spec models that the average consumer obviously wants with low-spec, odd-ball variants
that people want to hang onto for half of forever? Where's the profit in that? Companies like GM,
Ford, and FCA (and Deere, CNH, AGCO, you name it) are in business to make money, plain and simple.
They aren't in business to cater to every wish and desire that comes along - if they would they
would not be around for very long. If a person laments the death of the "old school trucks" they
should direct their frustration at the over 1.5 million people who buy full-size trucks in the US
every hear for "blowing the curve" for them.
 
Hard to believe a Chevy dealer didn't know what W/T stood for but I would bet they don't sell many to the average consumer.
 

JML755, you can get a new truck for a lot less than that if you shop around. The local Chevy dealer has been advertising a basic 3/4 ton 4x4 crew cab for $34K. It's a basic W/T but has everything that most people need. I found a brand new F250 Ford 4x4 for $27K. It was a 2014 carry over. That is still a lot of money but a lot less than the F250 King Ranch that I heard advertised on the radio for "only" $61,000 :shock:
 
As a kid on the farm we had a 72 Ford 250 and a 73 Olds Delta 88. Both were about the same size. You could get in and out of both. As I get older I've noticed that the cars are trying to shrink and the trucks are growing. I recall the neighborhood trucks from the 70's and being able to see into the truck box. Todays kids will never know what their neighbors are hauling..... I have a 1/2 ton 2 wheeler and use the box every day with my construction job. I have a 5' long 3/8" rod with a hook tucked under my side tool box so I can retrieve the things I can't reach. Part of that is age, part wisdom, and mostly tall truck... Ma got a new vehicle last year and we went with an SUV for the fact that she and I can get in and out with out a hoist or a ladder. The cars we looked at were just too low.
 
I didn't read all the posts but what I get is folks are complaining about trucks that are too tall. Well don't you guy know it is cool to have a "tall" truck? You got to look cool ya know. Even if it doesn't work if you look cool you are OK. Myself I don't like pickup bodies, my 07 dodge 2500 has a flatbed on it that I made. I can have 10", or 2' sideboards as I choose or none at all, and I don'g have wheel wells sticking into the cargo area. I haven't had a pickup body on my "pickup" for more than a couple of years since 1978. And the floor height isn't much different than a "tall" pickup.
 
In 07 I drove a 07 dodge 2500, 6 sp with cruise control, sliding rear window, and nothing else, off
the lot for 20,100. Have prices gone up that much now? It was special order and I waited 2-3 mos
for it as there were none around.
 
I have that transmission in my 07 dodge hemi. It is good with the exception that reverse is a little high for backing up trailers without sort of riding the clutch. You just go too fast.
 
If you put a load on them the bed gets lower. It's only an issue if you drive around with it empty all the time.
 
I've bought a few of them with that set up - the first thing I had to do was remove the running boards. There needs to be flex between the cab and the bed when hauling loads over rough ground - the solid running board from the front wheel to the rear wheel affects that flex and in my case usually results in the mounting screws being ripped out of the body.
 

I drove Toyotas for decades. Put over 300K on 2 of them. Finally bit the bullet and got a "farm" truck. 97 F350, crew cab, long box 4wd, $4k. Yeah, $4000.00, not $40,000.00. I won't pay what a house cost for a truck/car. The PO put big tires on it and they are wearing so well I see no reason to spend money changing them. When they do wear out I'll put a narrower, stock type tire and wheel on. I didn't know it had a lift kit when I bought it, about 2" they tell me. That will go as well if I keep it long enough. It's a great truck as long as gas stays relatively low and I don't have to make tight turns.

Place I used to work had an 60's IHC pickup with 9 foot step side bed. Rode like there was zero suspension, but you could fill the bed with lead and never know it. Those were WORK trucks!
 
My trucks are Dodge Dakotas and they are the same size as the full size trucks were in the 60's-70's. Only problem is they forgot to put a 8' bed on them, the Dakota up to 96 did carry a 8' bed. Now the 2000 extended cab that I did have before got it totalled by a stop sign runner and the 2001 regular cab that I have now both in the 2 wheel drive modeld I can reach in the bed. Not in the 2003 quad cab 4 wheel drive model that I also now have. All had factory size tires. I bought a 3 step stool that fits on the back seat so I can get to the bed, about 6" higher being a 4 wheel drive but for the disk breaks they went up to a 245-70-16" tire from the 215-75-15 on the earlier trucks. And that 215-75-15 is same size that the 70 GMC and 74 Chevy had from factory. I will 99.99% of time just use the back seat to haul cargo even if it is just groceries. I had a 86 Ford F250 that I needed a ladder just to get in the cab and it had factory size tires on a 2 wheel drive so it is not just ne new ones that are so overheight.
 
I like my crew cab F-150 for being able to haul family but the 6.5' bed is useless as teats on a boarpig. It's a company truck so I can't complain too much but I'm working on buttering my boss up to getting me an F250 crewcab with 8' box. I haul equipment to customers regularly and while I can get the equipment in the bed all my supplies and tools go in the back seat. An extra foot and a half of bed would go a long way for me.
 
One of the meanest things Ford did to us though was put them little plastic thread gizzmos on on the release rods on the tailgate latch. They keep strippin' out and now I just leave the access panel off and have small pair of vise grip pliers attached to the release rods. Fix-Or-Repair-Daily. bjr
 
(quoted from post at 12:35:49 08/29/16)-

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO A FULL SIZE TRUCK THAT THE BED SIDES WEREN'T SO TALL YOU COULDN'T REACH OVER AND GRAB SOMETHING OUT OF IT FROM THE SIDE??????????????????????


Bill
I say the same every time I see somebody standing beside the newer pickup. Look like little kids, can't even reach over the box sides. Cool means nothing to me and I'll keep driving my 35 year old truck with the 8 foot box I can climb into from the ground as long I can keep it running.
39857.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the tip. I have seen one set of long running boards that were split between the cab and the box, now I know why. I like to have a topper with side front doors "contractor or sportsman doors" but I can see that won't be as handy on a taller pickup unless I add running boards along the front of the bed.
 
(quoted from post at 04:04:44 08/30/16) Hard to believe a Chevy dealer didn't know what W/T stood for but I would bet they don't sell many to the average consumer.
Click to expand...

They haven't used that term since 1998, and most employees at a car dealership are not "truck nerds." Most of the employees at a car dealership were still in grade school and couldn't care less about trucks in 1998.
 
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