New England B.S. Thread

I get that you can 'turn it off' but aren't all the internal features (read as potential failure points) still there? Is it the activation/deactivation that causes the failure or just how it's built?

The videos I've seen on the Fords, it seems really easy to turn off as long as you don't have a really fancy version that doesn't have the button on the dash to turn off 'auto off'. You basically just jump out the button so that 'feature' never engages and it runs/drives like a normal vehicle. Another option is put a trailer tester in the trailer plug. Makes it think it's towing so it won't turn off the engine.

 

Yeah the always-off mod was easy to do. It was just one of multiple reasons. My next truck, maybe - but I'm also leaning to a 2.7 3rd gen Tacoma too Whatever we'll see in ~5 years. I want to keep this for 20+ but with the mud/dirt....might want to trade it before I have to deal with replacing everything

 

From what I've heard is when they rebuild the motor/heads, or at least before, they would replace the parts with non-cylinder deactivation stuff because it is such a common cause. I know the break cam shafts and burn valves on a pretty regular basis

 

2.7 3rd gen? I hope you're never in a rush to get anywhere lol. My 2.7 regular cab feels a little under powered on a second gen, even before adding my mods

 

I envy you. The longest I've had something has been four years and I start getting the itch after 2. There's an F-150 Lariat SuperCab with absolutely every possible option except FX4 that should be showing up at a nearby dealer soon and depending on incentives and such it's tempting.

 

GM uses cylinder deactivation, but Ford doesn't.

The auto stop doesn't bug me. On my commute it rarely does it. My only stops are within the first couple minutes and the engine is too cold to shut down then. Even when it does, it's so quick to start back up that I rarely disable it.

 

So....Get a locker and maybe suspension?

I get the desire but I also like not paying money. So that was why I got the tacoma TRD OR. Anything else, within 5 years I knew I would trade in for a TRD OR Tacoma.... So I got one of them. Planned to keep it 20+ years. But...a 4th gen plug in hybrid could change that. BUUT I also ended up really liking tearing into puddles and do it more than I thought I would be, soooo I also might cut and run before that becomes my problem to deal with

That engine will last forever, which is why I want one. I'm fine with slow, I don't see much highway, don't jack rabbit off the line, etc. - I drive trucks pretty slow for the most part. Long bed, too, wouldn't have to take the wheels off my bikes to get them in the bed. It's a maybe, we'll see what happens in the next 5 ish years, especially if we end up jumping ship and moving down south!

 

It has the locker as a standalone option even without FX4 (my current truck does too). So, just suspension and skid plates. I'm not taking a brand new truck anywhere where they'd matter.

 

The rear locker is one of those things I keep saying 'I'll get that on my next truck' and I've yet to own a vehicle with a locker. For what I do, just having 4wd gets me where I need to go. I was excited to have 2lo with the Super Duty also, but nope, auto lock hubs, not true locking...

 

It was handy on my '99, but I only ever used it on slippery boat launches with the F150. And honestly the traction control system on the Ram sorts things out just as well, without the clunking and banging until it engages.

 

I have used it once where it was actually useful, and even at that, I probably could have gotten up without needing it.

 

I have never actually needed it. I engage it occasionally just to keep it working (I know with the older TRD Off Roads if someone didn't use it for years, it often wouldn't work when they needed it). Mine engages pretty much immediately, but sometimes doesn't disengage for 30-40 ft and you find out quick when you try to turn. I think it's just a cool feature to have and occasionally I have a situation where I use it instead of 4WD (though that would work too) and it works.

 

Chipping away at some landcruiser maintence items. Already have pretty much everything off the front of the engine. Pulled the radiator, fan, fan bracket previously. Made a ghetto crank pulley holder out of some aluminum angle and flat stock i had laying around. I have the rad out to replace it, so it was ridiculously easy to use my Dewalt impact on full ugga-dugga setting to zip the crank pulley bolt out. I also broke the cam pulley bolts loose with the holder still on the crank pulley. Working slowly but surely to do t-belt, water pump, crank seal, cam seals, t-stat, all iders/ pulleys, serp tensioner, alternator, radiator, fan bracket, fan clutch, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, plug gaskets, heater tees, all rubber hoses and probably some other misc stuff i'm forgetting.

In my zeal to clean out the crud from the crank pulley threaded holes i tapped right through the plastic timing belt cover behind it. Good times.

 

Guys, I’ve been driving for 20 years and not once found myself in a situation where I ‘needed’ a rear locker. I made it through my first 6 years of driving without even having 4wd. I’m well aware I don’t need a locker, but I definitely ‘need’ a locker.

 

Don't fords and dodges use an e-locker like toyota? No clunking and banging like the GM G80 luchbox lockers. Hit the switch and you're locked with no clunking or banging besides it engaging once.

 

The clunking and banging is likely just the Dodge under normal operating conditions.

 

I wouldn't mind having it on the Ram; I can think of instances where it'd be handy for plowing, if the traction control couldn't cope. But I haven't run into that yet.

 

The Power Wagons do, but the rest just have a brake-actuated traction control system.

Only when I've got a drawbar in the hitch, so far.

 

So basically like atrac. Which works pretty damn well. I will say I've never used my locker in a normal situation. Only ever wheeling or in deep snow. Its basically useless for any normal circumstance 99% of people encounter

 

$30 shipped to your door is our price. I paid more than that for my parts alone when I did mine before we sold them lol PM me if interested