On the road, you see them
towing the load. It's the F-350. You can't buy a better tow rig,
which is why it's tough to find any other rig. The next best thing
is a Dodge, and you know what that means, less power and no Crew
Cab. Below that is the Chevy. It's tough to find one pulling the
load, and that independent front suspension just doesn't do it for
those hard at work getting the job done.
Little over a month ago, we picked up on a
full-blown tow vehicle. We hunted down the rig with the right
options, found a few dealers with the right price and stumbled onto
a few problems that the average buyer usually encounters when
purchasing a big-buck off-road rig - the sly-as-a-snake
salesperson.
First off, buyers beware. Some
Sales Snakes are as twisted in their lies as a Clintonian Fairytale
published by the Democratic Party each election year. To make
themselves a buck and proclaim dominion over your livelihood, the
Sales Snakes will do damn near anything. This demonic combo can
craft a concoction of trouble for the average buyer, and with our
purchase of our 2002 Ford F-350 Power Stroke, it damn near did. At
the very least, it provided for undo headaches and a few senseless
hits on the credit report, knocking us down to the lower
700's.
Anyway, we made off with the truck
and an excellent deal from our new friend Terrino at Clairmont Ford
in Claremont, California. With a new way of doing business, we were
in and out within 45 minutes. We could have easily shaved 20
minutes off the time but had an interesting conversation with
Terrino, who outlined some of the pitfalls of car buying and shared
some inside juice on what goes on behind the scenes. We stuck
around to hear what he had to say. We'll share more with you next
month.
With some 38 gallons of diesel
and some 5,000 miles on the odo, this rig is getting near 20 miles
per gallon on the road and towing. That puts our range on a tank of
fuel at about 700 miles, enough fuel to get us from Las Vegas to
the village of Puertocitos in Baja California with ease. Just wait
until we find an aftermarket fuel tank to mount in back of the
bed!
As for the truck, it's a behemoth 172-inch
wheelbase Ford F-350 4x4. We figured if you're going to go big, you
might as well go all the way. Granted, it's hell weaving our way
through the super market parking lot, but then again, if we wanted
a nat for a car, we would have gone with a Yugo.
We opted for the Navistar diesel and the XLT
package. Why not the Lariat? Who the hell wants to sit on the hump?
Surely, not my wife. And, why the diesel? As for the diesel: why
would you go for anything less than 20-plus miles per gallon while
towing enormous loads and a longer-lasting power plant that a gas
motor just can't keep up with on the hills?
So far, we've logged just about 6,000 miles on the white Crew
Cab. Why white? Well, when you're in the desert, black becomes a
bit hot and white is more resistant to the abuse of brush and tree
branches than any other color. The new gray Ford introduced to the
market for 2002 is a good looker, but versatility and function is
our game. White is the answer.
4x4 is the only way to go. The
Off-Road package includes a locking differential that's already
pulled it's first Chevy out of the rough. Now, we're not much into
the push button 4x4 activation, which is why on Great White we have
the manual shifting unit, but the push button in the Big Ford works
and works well.
Crew Cab? Well again, versatility is the answer.
Although tougher to navigate in the tight stuff than a shorter well
base rig, the Crew Cab (four door) was the way to go when hauling
larger number of people to various photo spots for such races as
the Baja 1000. We can fit six adults comfortably as well as means
for each of them to get around once we drop them off in the outback
of Baja.
While on a recent trip to San
Felipe, some 3,000 miles new, the Power Stroke was nearing the 20
mile-per-gallon mark on the break in. With a Jeep, two big Honda
XR's, 30 gallons of spare fuel, firewood, food, four ice chests and
all the camping equipment you can shake a credit card bill at, we
headed south. On the way to and from, we noted a few upgrades that
were most certainly in need.
After countless miles of silt, our air filter was
dust, literally. And, we only had logged about 3,000-odd miles on
the thing. Needless to say, it's time for a real air filter that
can breathe in the most adverse of situations, and at worse, we can
clean on the spot.
Pro Kawasaki desert racer and
ORC friend Dayton Rapor (yes that's his name), left, gave the Ford
a knowing nod when it saved his day at the Adelanto Grand Prix with
a refill of ice and cold refreshing Gatorade. Perhaps the Ford will
join him on the Baja 500 prerun. Who knows?
Secondly, we logged a flat. It's time for a real
tire. Early on, we made a pact. We said that there would only be
one brand of tire that would live beneath the wheel wells of this
rig. And, there's no doubt that the tire we owe that honor to is
B.F. Goodrich, particularly the new All-Terrain KO. We've had great
experience with the tire in the past and can go on about its
success - both from our personal experience as well as the tire's
history.
There are a number of other things
we have slated for this project, one of which is for some Rhino
Lining from our friend and fellow racer Ed Fries, owner of Rhino
Linings of North County and Class 5-1600 racer. We've already
thrown a few dings and obnoxious scratches in the back of the bed
and want to put an end to it, hauling around motors, axles, dirt
bikes and quads. As for experience with Ed Fries' work, we've
already taken our clapped out CJ down there a few years back during
the Baja 500 and liked the outcome. You can't beat a good Rhino
Lining. And Ed Fries has got it.
Photographing the top end of the San Felipe 250 course, we
drove hard through the whoops. After a mere hundred feet, the stock
shocks were hot as hell. The truck was bouncing around like a
25-cent wonder ball that you'd buy your kid in the gum ball
machine. Each one was about as painful as each month's payment is
expected to be. We've got it in our mind that we need some help in
the OEM shock department, and we'll take you there.
Anyhow, we'll catch you in the future when we fill
you in on what deal went down and how we went about the purchase of
our new Power Stroke F-350.
Until then, Fidel Gonzales
Here's the big beast somewhere near Parker,
Arizona, towing the load through the rough on our way back from the
San Felipe 250. Rather than take the asphault through this section,
we opted for a scenic break to fire up the four-stroke Honda XR's
and explore in the Jeep.
Before leaving San
Felipe, we stopped off at Rice and Beans, where we emerged taste
buds in shrimp tacos and cold Pacificos.
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