Re: Family Truck Accident

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:29:43 -0500, MX Tuner
<mxtuner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 08:25:07 -0700, IdaSpode <not@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>blathered:
>
>
>><snip>
>>>>My one last question, answer it honestly and I'll leave you alone.
>>>
>>>Like *that* will happen.
>>
>>I think the *that* in the sentence is you giving an honest answer.

This is getting a little strange. If I am reading the header info
correctly, about the time you were posting this on Tuesday, I was
pulling out of the KTM shop when a little light came on in my head and
I considered something I hadn't before: "maybe Mark really doesn't
know about modern trucks and that a "1/2T" truck ain't what it used to
be 30 years ago."

I just assumed a guy your age, being an auto and bike mechanic, dirt
biker, truck owner and recent truck buyer, would know more about this
than you do.

I owe you a sincere apology Mark, I am sorry I railed on you like I
did, I really thought you were just jerking me along, to which I was a
willing jerkee of course...

In that light, and to placate my guilt, let's look at this thread as
"educational", not a flame fest. I bet you know more about trucks than
you did before this, I know I do.

I knew that the whole 1/2T, 3/4T thing was not necessarily valid any
longer, but I really started looking the the details when I went to
buy a travel trailer in 2000. I had a F150 w/302 5sp at the time, I
had to find out what the max tow rating and payload figures were. I
quickly determined the F150 wasn't going to pull the size of trailer
we were considering. I ended up buying an old 85 F250 w/460 auto. It
had plenty of power but had a huge appetite for fuel to go with it. (6
mpg w/trailer, about 11 w/o trailer). Like someone said, "it will pass
everything on the road except the gas station." <G>

I realize you may not be interested in specs, if the truck does what
you want, that's all that's really important. From what you've said, a
1/2T truck will do what you want. I'm still maintaining my position
that the Titan IS a 1/2T truck.

>I had a few minutes sitting in traffic so I made a couple calls. Seems
>none of the local Dodge or Ford dealers are nearly as savvy as you.

That doesn't surprise me much, some of the sales people I've talked to
were amazingly ignorant about their products.

>They all seem to state basically they all are close to teh rated
>capacity. The F250 ("3/4 ton truck" ) will hold about 2200 lbs in the
>bed (payload capacity). The F350 (a full one ton truck) will hold (and
>I quote) "a little over that but not much more." The Ford guy did say
>if a large towing capacity was necessary, he'd recommend a Dually for
>stability with that much weight.

After looking further, it would appear in the payload dept, the
published data for Chevy gives it few hundred pounds over Ford and
Dodge, the max tow ratings are close.

Here are three screen captures of data from kbb.com, for the Titan,
F150, and 2500HD Chevy and a scan of the 04 data *** for Chevy.

http://www.spodefest.net/rmd/trucks.htm

My whole point in this "discussion" has been, when looking at
published specifications, the Titan compares more closely with the
F150/1500 class of American truck than the F250/2500 class.

Payload capacities are given for a base model, it's computed by taking
the GVWR and subtracting the empty weight of the truck. Once you start
adding "optional" equipment, be it 4wd, bigger engine, AC or power
seats, you have to deduct the weight of these items from the
"payload". So in the real world, with the truck equipped the way most
people would equip it, the payload is no longer near the figure for
the "base model".

If you think about it a little, if a full size 1/2T, truck would only
carry 1000 lbs, my previous example of three bikes/riders/gear/fuel
would grossly overload it by 500 lbs. Kinda like a VW bus I once
owned, much more room in it than it had motor to carry the weight.

>The Dodge dealer was similar but said their 2500 diesel would hold
>about 2800 but that was "off the top of his head". I couldn't get much
>accurate info from him. They did say their 3/4 and 1 ton trucks could
>be equipped to tow upwards of 11,000 lbs if needed. Both stressed the
>importance of being able to not only get the load going but also
>getting it stopped. The Dodge guy was quite proud of the fact they had
>the largest brakes available.

<snip>
>I'm honestly happy you like your Chevy. One of my biggest peeves with
>Chevy was their lackluster service organization. From the bottom rung
>to the service manager to the customer service reps I talked with
>concernng known issues (rattling timing chain) that they wouldn't help
>with. The truck was a piece of *** and their service backed that up
>completely.

We own three Chevys right now, a 01 Malibu, a 04 Malibu and my 04
Silverado. The 01 has had zero problems, even being driven by my
non-mechanical 18yo son. The 04 Mailibu had one warranty issue with
the steering system and one with a noisy AC fan.

The level of service has been outstanding so far, I've hooked up with
a good service rep, he's gone out of his way to help me more than
once. Oddly enough, my wife is hooked up with the wife of my rep, she
has also gone the extra mile for us.

Quite some time back I think I posted about the fuel line problem I
had on my truck. The line was installed incorrectly resulting in less
than optimal flow. In heavy load situations the engine would sense the
low fuel flow and go into limp mode, 2000rpm.

It happened once when Chris, Murray and I were on our way to a ride on
a Sat. I limped back a few miles into town, the mechanic tried to
diagnose it, the normal diesel mechanic was not there on Saturday.
This guy really could not find the problem, reset the 'puter and we
were on our way.

All was fine until about a month later when I started up the same
freakin' hill, long and steep. I had my truck loaded with bikes and
gear, my travel trailer hooked to the bumper, headed out for a long
weekend of camping. It did the same thing as I passed a slow truck at
the bottom of this hill, low fuel flow, limp mode back to the dealer
in the small town of Mtn. Home. This time I had my wife call ahead of
time, I was pissed...

When I got there, the owner of the dealership was standing in the
service dept. He told me they didn't work on trucks owned by KTM'ers.
It seems he is a big time dirt biker too, he insisted on talking bikes
as both the service manager and I stood there, anxious to get on with
getting my truck in the service bay.

They found the problem and said I could get a rental car if I wanted
one. I said I didn't need a car, I need a truck. The guy laughed a
little and said they didn't have a rental truck.

The owner overheard this and came over, offered to let me use their
own "tow vehicle", a 3/4T chevy w/454 or some big ass gasser.

They helped me transfer bikes/gear, helped hook up the trailer and
sent me on my way, saying they'd see me the following week.

That is customer service.

>MX Tuner

David - 05 KTM 200EXC
djones<at>LSidaho.com
http://www.spodefest.net/rmd
.