RowdyRebel

There are a LOT of things that will affect ride quality...wheel base, suspension type, spring rate, and tire size being the big ones. Also, forward axle vs. axle back will have a noticeable difference, too.

nah...got big plans for the truck. Gonna pull the bed & bolt a 5th wheel on. Couldda used it last night....got stuck in the mud pretty good backing into the driveway last night. Had to anchor the back axle of the trailer to the F250 with a chain in order to pull the truck back towards the trailer when I raised the bed...and even then, I had to put the truck in reverse and let the drives spin as it went up the last 2 stages. Otherwise, it would have pulled the trailer (even with the trailer brakes set) towards the truck (with brakes released) as the bed went up.

...if only I could afford a truckload of guns & ammo

http://www.tom-phillips.info/flash/ball.to.drive.you.crazy.swf

...or a boat anchor

Time for racing at Bristol

...and then, if you are caught, the EPA will be after whatever is left in your bank account. Seems like it would be easier to just find a wrecked pre-emission truck with a good engine and swap everything.

It's an '07...DPF...you can have it. When I was looking at trucks, I found an '86 pete with a 3406B 425hp cat & 15 speed. It was a fire dept truck...VERY clean...VERY low miles (like in the 20K neighborhood). From the pics, it looked to be in showroom condition. Unfortunately, I didn't call on it...I've heard them old 425 cats would pull pretty good. I'd rather have thissun http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=2103450 Pull the dump box off & put on a 5th wheel, paint it white and I'd run it...

It all depends upon the memory of the voters, and how effective the GOP is at reminding the voters of Obama's left-wing ways. Nothing really surprises me anymore. Any number of "man on the street" interviews done in 2007 and 2008 leading up to the election, when asked, the dumb masses would say the republicans were in control of the congress because Bush was the president and he was a republican. So, despite the congress being responsible for writing the budgets and passing legislation, Bush (and the republicans) got the blame for the left-wing policies which followed. The only thing which would prevent the opposite from happening with Obama in the white house and the GOP running the congress is the news media. The media was MORE than happy to allow the public to continue thinking the republicans were running the show taking us into the economic downturn...even though it was democrat policies leading us there. Now that their guy is in the white house, even if they are GOP policies and Obama is forced (kicking & screaming behind closed doors) to abide by 'em because it's the only legislation (budgets or otherwise) that will be coming out of the congress, the media will play it off as HIS doing. The only wild card is how well he can stay on-script ("HOPE" the teleprompter doesn't break) to pull it off.

I've only got 429K on mine...SHOULDN'T be having problems...

GOP congress + democrat president last time around led to balanced budgets with projected surpluses. One of my biggest fears, though, is that when the GOP DOES take back control of the congress and puts an end to this BS....no more bailouts, etc....and gets the country back on the road to smaller government, responsible spending, etc., Obama (much like Clinton) will take "credit" for it, and the dumb masses will re-elect him for another 4 year term. When the GOP takes over, they also need to make sure that they get credit for any improvements to the economic and fiscal conditions in America due to the "change" in legislative policies....not let Obama get away with taking credit for the successful and positive outcome of policies put into effect which are completely opposite of those he was trying to implement when his party controlled the congress.

Yup. Did pretty good 'splainin it. My truck will grunt & pull the load from 1200 rpm on up....it'll pull like a motherf***er between 1400 and 1800 (if it decides to build boost pressure...it's hit-or-miss sometimes there is 30+ psi, sometimes I'm lucky to get more than 20 ). At 1800, it falls on it's face. Even if it HAD built 30 or so psi of boost, as soon as it gets to 1800 rpm, boost pressure drops to 20 and even as RPM's go down the boost doesn't come back. It really OUGHT to pull better than it does... Been 130K since I ran the overhead...was going to do it last month but had to dump the money into the transmission instead. Hopefully I'll have enough left over after taxes to take care of it...but then I'll be needing tires probably late summer/early winter. Been a year and a half on this rubber already... I need to win the lotto or something...

Whether the bill passes or not, voters are going to be anti-democrat this next election because they have been exposed for what they really are. If the GOP can take the "Kennedy seat" in Massachusetts, any and EVERY seat is in play. They will lose their majority whether this passes or not. I think what they are looking at is that by saying "screw you, America", those in extreme left leaning districts will be safe. The "moderate" blue-dogs are already toast. If the bill fails, the left-wing nut-jobs will face challenges from the left in the primary for not being enough of a left-wing nut-job.

When my tach says 1800, my GPS says 75. With the 11R24.5 tires and the T2180B w/ .71 top gear, that would make the rears closer to 4.42. 4.17's ought to be pushing 80 mph @ 1800 rpm. I know my speedometer ain't reading right...reads out 5 mph slower than the GPS (which is weird...usually discrepancies are a % of the speed)...the question is the accuracy of the tach.

On 2 wheels, 90 mph is "relaxed cruising speed". In an 18, though, 80 mph is a "white knuckle, edge of the seat, keep yer eyes open fer them bears, hope I don't get a ticket" kinda ride I keep saying I've got 4.17's...that's what I was told when I bought it...but the more I run the numbers, either my tach and/or speedometer are off, or it's got bigger gears....like 4.35 or even 4.42 gears One of these days, I need to figure it out...

Politics is one of my favorite topics of conversation.

I've got 4.17's in mine...they do aight, I guess. It'll run 70-75 mph all day long...doesn't tach out 'til the low-to-mid 80's. The reason for the 5.04's would be that I've never seen a 12R24.5 tire rated for more than 65 mph...and 65 mph with 12R24.5 tires and 5.04 rears would happen around 1700 (give or take). If you put bigger tires on the truck without changing the gearing, you won't pull as well...gotta change 'em both for best performance, and I like big tires (read the damn sig line ) Besides...it's a truck. It oughtta pull like a Muthaf***a....that's what makes the money. Faster top speeds only git ya in trouble...which costs ya money and possibly your license.

If ya wanna go to Calif***ya, you'll have to downgrade your equipment to meet the emissions requirements of "new" trucks. I haven't heard anything about any mandates for upgrades outside of that wretched state, though.

The thing I didn't like about a few trucks I've driven with full lockers is that it was all-or-nothing. Either you were fully locked in (and couldn't steer), or you weren't locked in at all (and couldn't move). Then I drove a company freightshaker that had full lockers on the 2 separate switches...which worked out well. When you needed power from both axles, you could engage the power divider. When you needed power from both sides, you could lock the diffs. When you found yourself in a sticky situation and needed max traction, you could flip both switches and be fully locked. My truck has 38K Mack rears...wouldn't mind swapping 'em for full lockers (but they gotta be Mack). Shouldn't be too hard to put a 2nd switch in the dash and run air from it to the diff locks. I've got 4.17 gearing in my rears now...if that changed any, I'd either go to 4.35 and keep the 11R24.5 tires or I'd go up to a 12R24.5 tire with 5.04 gearing. Yup. Still spendin' money in my head that I ain't got

'cept fer the fact that he's sitting on the wrong side of the truck to drive...and driving on the wrong side of the road...it's a pretty good video

I prefer the "stick it in the low hole and crawl it out" approach....less likely to tear shit up if/when a wheel finds traction. I hate spinning my wheels.

Get a GPS unit to use as a speedometer

oops...fergot about the full lockers Gotta have it on 2 separate switches, though...one for the power divider, and a second to lock the center diffs for them situations where ya need all the traction ya can scrape together ta git ya out of a jam. ....and every time I have to dig my chain out of my side box for a pull, I'm wishing I had a better set-up.

...yeah, I'm good at thinking about spending money I ain't got

....'cuz Mack don't have any Seriously, if I were spec'ing any OTHER brand truck, I'd do it....but why buy a Mack if'n ya ain't got a Mack drivetrain? Hell, a DT521/RT521 tandem with a 3.70/5.04 gearset riding on a 52K Hendrickson AR2 air walking beam suspension would be a pretty sweet setup...'specially with 600+ HP under the hood and an 18 speed transmission and some aggressive tires like Michelin's XDE M/S* in 11R24.5