Reliability with a Ford Truck, you must be kidding here. BTW the Diesels may be reliable but Ford does have a spotty history with Diesels.

That 3.5 liter V6. Every single one has the water pump within the timing chain gallery. As they have ALWAYS done water pumps have the front seal start to leak around 100,000 miles due to the offset drive of a pulley and and belt/chain constantly putting a pull on that shaft. The really clever bit here is that when that front seal starts to leak that coolant ends up in the oil pan. If you want to be preventative you will need to have the water pump replaced at about 85,000 miles and a cost of about 4000 dollars. Note with the Mechanic Shortages of today plan on that water pump replacement taking about 6 months at a Ford Dealer.

Then there is the 2.7 V6. Here Ford decided to put a WET timing belt in the Timing Chain gallery to drive the oil pump. That can start breaking down at 90,000 miles and by 120,000 miles it can come apart and lock up the oil pump. So here we have another 4000 dollar service needed at 80,000 miles.

The only good news is the Coyote V8 and the 2.3 turbo 4 are well designed engines that will last a long time with regular oil changes and servicing. Note don't run the turbo 4 super hard, that will shorten it's lifespan.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

Gene, you know Jesus drove a Ford, right?

They used Hondas for car pools. "The disciples were all in one Accord."

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

Gene, you know Jesus drove a Ford, right?

They used Hondas for car pools. "The disciples were all in one Accord."

Dang Paul, These big trucks it could of felt like a bump in the terrain. Obviously the tail gate was down. Hooking up a trailer, loading garbage or wood? Anyone move the truck for you?

On the Aluminum bodies. They don't give up much to light steel. It is pretty tough stuff.

Glad it is easily fixed.

Does a magnet stick to your tailgate? I read that the Super Duty tailgates are still steel despite the rest of the bed and cab being aluminum. Curious what the truth is. Ford's AI chat bot doesn't know.

Im going out on a limb here but what if this was the scenario?

Truck parked in a lot. Tailgate may have opened either by a false latching condition, someone “parking lot shopping” in the bed of the truck or inadvertently left open by Paul. Another vehicle backed into the truck, nobody around. That vehicle’s driver got out, saw the damage.

He now closes the tailgate as they figured if there are no witnesses, by the time the owner notices it it’ll be too late to check any cameras. And with the gate up, who knows how long it’ll be before the pickup driver notices the damage.

It’s not as farfetched of a story from my experience. I had a tailgate handle fail on my GMC, it didn’t fully release after opening and under hard braking one day the tailgate opened.

And no, I’ve never been in Maine so it wasn’t me….

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Does a magnet stick to your tailgate? I read that the Super Duty tailgates are still steel despite the rest of the bed and cab being aluminum. Curious what the truth is. Ford's AI chat bot doesn't know.

I checked, it IS aluminum.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Im going out on a limb here but what if this was the scenario?

Not impossible, but also not likely.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I checked, it IS aluminum.

Thank you.

On another note. I see Ford has dropped the 6.8 gas engine and is now just doing the 7.3. Also dropping one of their diesel versions of the 6.7. All in their Superduty line. Smart moves imho.

Your Corvette was mad at the time you were spending with your pickup and hired your motorcycle to do a hit job.

That is why you were unaware of the damage.

Solution: make sweet nothings with the corvette, and don't put her away wet

quote:

Originally posted by lizardman_u:
Your Corvette was mad at the time you were spending with your pickup and hired your motorcycle to do a hit job.

That is why you were unaware of the damage.

Solution: make sweet nothings with the corvette, and don't put her away wet

Must've been my tractor, I sold all my bikes when I bought the Vette.

On a coincidental note, I just parked the Vette back in the garage after a short run and patted her fanny. This weekend is supposed to be gorgeous, I might have to make my inaugural Route 9 Run.

My new tailgate arrived this afternoon.

I must say I'm EXTREMELY impressed. Genuine OEM Ford take-off from S&L truck bodies on Ebay. The tailgate was absolutely pristine, not a mark on it. It was packed very carefully, wrapped in styrofoam sheet, then shrink-wrapped, then cushioned in a heavy duty cardboard box with 3/4 inch foamboard insulation around the perimeter. Shipped USP Ground and got here from California in a week.

$420 including tax, free shipping. Fantastic deal.

I did have to transfer the camera and wiring harness from the old tailgate which was a little fussy but not technically difficult. The camera is integrated into the latch assembly. Two 10mm nuts and four clips and the whole assembly comes out, just as quick to pop it into the new tailgate. Biggest "problem" was removing the push-clips for routing the wiring harness without destroying them.

You're lucky. I need one too, and the best price I can find for mine (2012) is $1000+. Need to see if the body shop can fix it for less than that.