All Entries Tagged With: "ford"

Ford’s EcoBoost Tear-Down Stunt Is Gimmicky

At next week’s Detroit Auto Show, Ford will be tearing-down an EcoBoost engine live in front of the public as an attempt to prove how tough and reliable their new twin-turbo V6 truck motor is. While this sounds like a great way to demonstrate the toughness of this particular motor, it’s really just a gimmick.

Ford's "live" EcoBoost tear down is more of a gimmick than a predictor of engine reliability

To be sure, Ford’s plan sounds impressive:

Ford powertrain engineers will tear down an engine that…has the equivalent of 160,000 miles and 10 years of rugged use. Engineers punished it in temperature and load extremes simulating nearly 10 years of use – a regimen tougher than any consumer could ever subject a truck to….It hauled 55 tons of lumber…It ran at full throttle for 24 straight hours towing 11,300 pounds [and] completed the world’s toughest desert endurance race, the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000 in Mexico

The thing is, there’s a difference between simulated wear and tear and the real world.

The UAW Will Forever Handicap Ford, GM, and Chrysler

Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) are not an homogeneous group. Most are conscientious, hard-working, and fine examples of everything that’s right with American manufacturing. This post will discuss unreasonable wage demands and video of UAW members drinking and smoking marijuana during their lunch hour, but it is in no way meant to slander the UAW’s hard-working majority. The issue isn’t the average autoworker – it’s the system that the UAW has created.

The Tundra Is Now America’s “Most American” Pickup

Every year, Cars.com uses domestic content data from NHTSA and automaker-supplied data to pull together a list of the “10 Most American” vehicles. Over the last three years, the Tundra – with 80% domestic parts content – has been on this list.

* – The Ram 1500 ranking excludes regular cab trucks, which are assembled in Mexico.

On the Cars.com list, the Tundra is now the second-most American truck available…but only if the Ram 1500’s stats exclude regular cab models. If Ram’s “American made” numbers reflected the foreign-built reg cab’s it’s likely that the Tundra would be the only truck in the top 10 most American vehicles. For that reason, it seems clear to us that the Tundra is now officially the Most American truck you can buy.

What do you have to say about that, Ford, GM, and Chrysler-Fiat truck owners? 🙂

Power Take-Off Units and Ford’s New Live Drive PTO

For anyone who has ever worked with mechanical equipment in the construction or agricultural industries, the term ‘power take-off’ or PTO is a familiar one.  For the rest of us, a short primer is in order to help understand what this device is and how it can be useful to truck owners.

What’s A PTO?

In the simplest terms, a power take-off (PTO) is a device which is coupled to a vehicle’s transmission and which shifts the engine’s power output from turning the driveshaft into instead rotating an external splined shaft to which a wide range of equipment can be attached.  Commonly found on farm tractors, a PTO can be used to power anything hydraulic – from a hay baler to a snow blower to a cement mixer to a roll-out.  PTOs are extremely useful devices when it comes to powering equipment far off the beaten path, where it might not be possible to run electrical power or practical to store reserves of fuel.

Tow trucks use PTOs to power hydraulic lifts and roll-outs.

Commercial vehicles such as fire trucks, garbage trucks, dump trucks, and tow trucks are excellent examples of PTO units in action in our daily lives.

Forbes Says Ford F250, Chevy Colorado Worst Trucks

Compiling data from Consumer Reports and JD Power, Forbes has announced their Worst Made Cars list for 2010. Shockingly, Ford’s F250 and the Chevy/GMC Colorado-Canyon made the list:

• Cadillac Escalade
• Chevrolet Aveo
• Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon
• Dodge Nitro
• Ford F-250
• Jeep Wrangler

While the Forbes article certainly makes some good points, it seems a little flawed (and perhaps a little harsh).