A Bit of Perspective

[Highway 11]

It seems like this forum has tended more negatively in recent months, which is to be expected. Less people will come to a forum to post about their perfectly functional trucks than their problematic truck. Let me post a different perspective.

I'm working in a remote reserve in Northern Ontario for the next little while. The roads up here are horrible. Think more pothole than actual road. Maintenance is a do it yourself affair or drive 4+ hours to the nearest garage. So most trucks get maintained once a year.

Up here, a pickup truck is mandatory - nothing else survives. 90% of the trucks here are 2015+ F150s. No Tremors or Raptors, maybe the occasional FX4. Just your working man's truck using all the suspension travel while locked in 4H for weeks on end. In comparison 10% of the trucks are a GM product and I've seen just 1 Ram 1500.

I asked around about why everyone has an F150. They just last, apparently.

Just food for thought.

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[JExpedition07]

I’ve taken my STX with the locking axle through more than most Raptors will see in their lifetime. A Raptor is a horrible off road truck to begin with, the wheelbase is long, it’s too wide and heavy, etc. it’s a pure dessert runner. No good for trails. The Tremor is a much better fit, but I’m not sure the Torsen adds much functionality when the going gets that bad. The Tremors main benefits are the meatier tire and lift. If the locking rear in 4H in the regular F-150 isn’t getting you through, the little tractive force that Torsen provides probably is not saving the day unfortunately.

Torsens react more when you have momentum and some juice. A couple Raptor guys tested the Torsen on YouTube, it was all but worthless when navigating at lower speeds. Nobody is flooring their truck when they are stuck, it’s counter-intuitive. Perhaps it helps keep you from getting stuck slightly.

 

[Kodiak]

Thanks for your perspective and posting it.

Sadly a lot of the current issues are around an unforced error by Ford. The 2024 model was already a "late arriver", so that just creates the opportunity for people to go searching for outlets to vent. Then compound that with a rush to get the new tailgate out mid year when it really was not ready to just flow into the production, or not fully fleshed out with regard to production capabilities. This should have just been a 2025 feature. So many people come for one issue, but stay to comment on other issues too. This can make it seem like a lot of negitivity but it really is just part of the normal ebb and flow of a forum.

Throw in a troll here and there and it seems much worse than normal, but it will be back to the mostly outstandlying helpful forum that it really is. Sometimes you just have to dig deeper than other times, but it is a wealth of information from some very knowledgeable people and a fine community to be a part of.

 

[Probity]

It seems like this forum has tended more negatively in recent months, which is to be expected. Less people will come to a forum to post about their perfectly functional trucks than their problematic truck. Let me post a different perspective.

I'm working in a remote reserve in Northern Ontario for the next little while. The roads up here are horrible. Think more pothole than actual road. Maintenance is a do it yourself affair or drive 4+ hours to the nearest garage. So most trucks get maintained once a year.

Up here, a pickup truck is mandatory - nothing else survives. 90% of the trucks here are 2015+ F150s. No Tremors or Raptors, maybe the occasional FX4. Just your working man's truck using all the suspension travel while locked in 4H for weeks on end. In comparison 10% of the trucks are a GM product and I've seen just 1 Ram 1500.

I asked around about why everyone has an F150. They just last, apparently.

Just food for thought.

An interesting and valid perspective.

A question for you - when I think of far-north anywhere (Canada, Alaska, Russia, Scandanavia, etc) I think of extended and extreme cold. My point of reference is 1980's/90's/2000's working in areas close to or above the arctic circle. All HD trucks and almost all medium & light duty trucks were diesel. You could count gasoline vehicles on 1 hand. Cost and availability (diesel vs gasoline refining, etc) drove this (gasoline generally only came in ~210 liter drums).

So where you work obviously has ready access to gasoline. Do F150's outnumber Superduty Powerstrokes where you work?

Just curious....

 

[Theo Caldwell]

We believe in the product and are voting for Ford with our dollars. We are frustrated when we see poor communication and have to decipher smoke signals to grasp what's going on.

 

[Highway 11]

An interesting and valid perspective.

A question for you - when I think of far-north anywhere (Canada, Alaska, Russia, Scandanavia, etc) I think of extended and extreme cold. My point of reference is 1980's/90's/2000's working in areas close to or above the arctic circle. All HD trucks and almost all medium & light duty trucks were diesel. You could count gasoline vehicles on 1 hand. Cost and availability (diesel vs gasoline refining, etc) drove this (gasoline generally only came in ~210 liter drums).

So where you work obviously has ready access to gasoline. Do F150's outnumber Superduty Powerstrokes where you work?

Just curious....

It's unseasonably warm this year. But it'll go down to -50C in the winter normally. Fuel is either trucked in when the roads are good enough or flown in on a DC-3 with a fuel bladder. You fuel up at the Northern Store.

Until recently the community ran off a diesel generator. Since it's been hooked up to the grid I just see little gas generators kicking around.

There's not many 3/4 ton trucks here. My work truck is a Chevrolet 2500 HD with a gas V8. Sounds like shit but it'll run.

 

[TarnishedCopper]

It seems like this forum has tended more negatively in recent months, which is to be expected. Less people will come to a forum to post about their perfectly functional trucks than their problematic truck. Let me post a different perspective.

I'm working in a remote reserve in Northern Ontario for the next little while. The roads up here are horrible. Think more pothole than actual road. Maintenance is a do it yourself affair or drive 4+ hours to the nearest garage. So most trucks get maintained once a year.

Up here, a pickup truck is mandatory - nothing else survives. 90% of the trucks here are 2015+ F150s. No Tremors or Raptors, maybe the occasional FX4. Just your working man's truck using all the suspension travel while locked in 4H for weeks on end. In comparison 10% of the trucks are a GM product and I've seen just 1 Ram 1500.

I asked around about why everyone has an F150. They just last, apparently.

Just food for thought.

I think that this forum gives truck owners a place to vent their frustrations. It seems things at Ford are done in a "Helter-Skelter" fashion. This forum also demonstrates how the difference in resolution to problems differ from one dealership to another, and even with Ford itself. How do some owners get issues resolved while others are simply passed-off by dealerships and Ford? .

It's obvious that Ford gets in no hurry to find cures for its problems, or fix items that have been recalled. My truck is still awaiting the fix for the rear axle bolt. It seems to me that Ford is building a vehicle that they have attempted to over-complicate, and over equip without testing the longevity and dependability of the options, or the quality of the parts. (Some of which we know many are imported from other places) (e.g. 10 speed transmission)

Heck I was not even able to get Sirius XM radio (something that has been available now for decades) the NAV package, heated steering wheel, or extendable towing mirrors even though my truck has the MAX-Tow package.

Ford gets a big fat "F" as a grade from me.

 

[mrerick]

I'm on my 4th Ford F150 right now. First a 1985, then a 1993, 2019 and now a 2023 PowerBoost.

They have all be great trucks that required basic maintenance until I sold them. There were a few issues with each. The 1985 rusted away in New York's salt infested winter roads, and the 1993 ran well until traded for the 2019 which I still have. The PowerBoost has had no problems since purchase last year.

I keep buying the Ford F150 trucks because they have been reliable and durable. The PowerBoost is the most complicated of all of them, and yet the complexity seems to be decently integrated and stable. Software seems to be the majority of today's engineering work.

My dealer is nearby and has a competent service department.

 

[TeamCanada]

Living in Alberta and the tough conditions we have here in the winter, oil field, gas lines, etc.
Just go to a motel in the middle of winter and see that Ford outnumbers any other make by 10 to 1.

A lot of Superduties for company trucks, that will leave them running for weeks when it is cold and not shut them off. Guys that spend all their times on the highways getting to and from work will oftet use GM for their softer suspensions for highway driving, but the F150's are by far, the biggest use truck up here.

 

[Chili]

I was a life long GM buyer and I'm pretty smitten with my 22 F150. It's just a great truck. If say a full generation ahead of what GM has. Reliability? I hope so. Has 12k on it now.

 

[amschind]

I completely agree. A friend worked on Ford's assembly line for many years before switching careers, but his brother still builds them. He loves Fords, and hears more of my complaints that anyone. The REASON for the complaints, at least from me, is the underlying quality of the product. Ford builds great vehicles, but many of them have odd unforced errors that blemish an otherwise amazing product. Nobody complains that flies are landing on a steak that has been rotting in a trash can for 4 days; it really bothers people if the $150 dry aged Tomahawk has a big ole house fly land on it right as the waiter sets it down. The underlying quality makes the flaws stand out AND harder to understand.

My whining comes from the fact that I see tiny and cheap changes which could result in a great product being essentially perfect. If F150s were unsalvageable garbage ,there would be no point in complaining.

 

[Atlee]

I think that this forum gives truck owners a place to vent their frustrations. It seems things at Ford are done in a "Helter-Skelter" fashion. This forum also demonstrates how the difference in resolution to problems differ from one dealership to another, and even with Ford itself. How do some owners get issues resolved while others are simply passed-off by dealerships and Ford? .

It's obvious that Ford gets in no hurry to find cures for its problems, or fix items that have been recalled. My truck is still awaiting the fix for the rear axle bolt. It seems to me that Ford is building a vehicle that they have attempted to over-complicate, and over equip without testing the longevity and dependability of the options, or the quality of the parts. (Some of which we know many are imported from other places) (e.g. 10 speed transmission)

Heck I was not even able to get Sirius XM radio (something that has been available now for decades) the NAV package, heated steering wheel, or extendable towing mirrors even though my truck has the MAX-Tow package.

Ford gets a big fat "F" as a grade from me.

I bet Ford wishes it had never introduced that 3/4 Float axle for the Max Tow pkg. Through 2020 Max Tow didn't have that axle and the trucks worked fine.

 

[WalterMitty]

I think two things at the same time can be true…..

I think Ford builds a decent truck, they have been at it for a very long time, and sell a ton.

I also think Ford wins at the fleet sales game. Lots and lots of companies, municipalities, etc. buy Ford trucks. Ford plays this game (IMHO) better than GM and RAM.

 

[PPK]

F150 is a great truck. On #2 for me. Just replaced a jgc. i went Tahoe and not ford.. too many recalls on my ‘22 f150. I would not mind a problem or even two. Mine has four.. I had a $2k ford coupon too.. I did not even test an expedition.

 

[Jimalt]

It seems like this forum has tended more negatively in recent months, which is to be expected. Less people will come to a forum to post about their perfectly functional trucks than their problematic truck. Let me post a different perspective.

I'm working in a remote reserve in Northern Ontario for the next little while. The roads up here are horrible. Think more pothole than actual road. Maintenance is a do it yourself affair or drive 4+ hours to the nearest garage. So most trucks get maintained once a year.

Up here, a pickup truck is mandatory - nothing else survives. 90% of the trucks here are 2015+ F150s. No Tremors or Raptors, maybe the occasional FX4. Just your working man's truck using all the suspension travel while locked in 4H for weeks on end. In comparison 10% of the trucks are a GM product and I've seen just 1 Ram 1500.

I asked around about why everyone has an F150. They just last, apparently.

Just food for thought.

Thanks for posting! I’m on my 9th F150, tried a Silverado…good, just not as good. So many people enjoy complaining - you are a breath of fresh air!

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