RobertRyan
Australia
Senior Member
Joined: 03/16/2008
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Quote:What do you mean by that? Both Ford & Chevy are introducing major upgades to their pickup lines next year. The last chevy upgrade was on the old frame anyway.
Yes ,major upgrades to their full size Pickup Line...New Midsize Pickups need to wait a little longer. Diesel powered mid size pickups that have virtually the same payload capacity of a HD full size Pickup....you will be waiting for ages.
Quote: rode shotgun for a few days in one of the Ranger Diesels in Romania last year. Surprising acceleration, I told them that if they had these in the US I would buy one. They were surprised that they weren't available here. When I told them that the only diesel PU in the US was larger than that, they were surprised. "They make them bigger?" was the incredulous question.
They are pretty nifty. Payload in Australia 3100lb and towing 6600lb.
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BenK
SF BayArea
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Joined: 04/18/2002
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I'm old enough to remember these exact types of comments when the first
Japanese cars and trucks showed up in the late 60's.
Detroit lost me around 1970 after I had enough experience with them
all. From British, Italian, French, German, American, Japanese and
two home made (my Dune Buggy and old M5x Jeep).
Lost me on 'cars', not trucks. Though I owned a 1970 Toyota FJ40 and
the family owned several Datsun & Toyota mini trucks.
Laugh all you want, but 'they' have been eating Detroit's lunch for
decades, continue to and looks like into the future.
AND....it is not just the OEMs and their bean counter management, but
the buyers who drive this.
-Ben Picture of my rig
1996 GMC SLT Suburban 3/4 ton K3500/7.4L/4:1/+150Kmiles orig owner...
1980 Chevy Silverado C10/long bed/"BUILT" 5.7L/3:73/1 ton helper springs/+329Kmiles, bought it from dad...
1998 Mazda B2500 (1/2 ton) pickup, 2nd owner...
Praise Dyno Brake equiped and all have "nose bleed" braking!
Previous trucks/offroaders: 40's Jeep restored in mid 60's / 69 DuneBuggy (approx +1K lb: VW pan/200hpCorvair: eng, cam, dual carb'w velocity stacks'n 18" runners, 4spd transaxle) made myself from ground up / 1970 Toyota FJ40 / 1973 K5 Blazer (2dr Tahoe, 1 ton axles front/rear, +255K miles when sold it)...
Sold the boat (looking for another): Trophy with twin 150's...
51 cylinders in household, what's yours?...
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lesmore49
canada
Senior Member
Joined: 11/25/2004
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BenK wrote:I'm old enough to remember these exact types of comments when the first
Japanese cars and trucks showed up in the late 60's.
Detroit lost me around 1970 after I had enough experience with them
all. From British, Italian, French, German, American, Japanese and
two home made (my Dune Buggy and old M5x Jeep).
Lost me on 'cars', not trucks. Though I owned a 1970 Toyota FJ40 and
the family owned several Datsun & Toyota mini trucks.
Laugh all you want, but 'they' have been eating Detroit's lunch for
decades, continue to and looks like into the future.
AND....it is not just the OEMs and their bean counter management, but
the buyers who drive this.
Ben, your post triggered memories for me back in the '60's. I was really into motorcycles back then (still am, come to think about it) and I recall back then that the Japanese motorcycles were no threat to the British and American (Harley) motorcycles, because they (Japanese) would never make a motorcycle over about 350cc.
Or least that's what the smart money running the British and Harley factories had figured at the time.
Boy...did they have a wrong #. 
The British bikes (500-750) and Harley-Davidson (883-1200) owned the large displacement market (500cc+ up..back then) till Honda brought out it's so nicknamed black bomber...the 450 DOHC twin. It was 50 cc less than the Brit's starter big bike, but it put out as much or more power and didn't leak it's vital oil out of the crankcase, like the Brits and the Harley's did.
When ('69) Honda brought out their 750 four, then Kawasaki ('73) brought out the 'King' the 903cc four...it was all over for particularly the British bikes and to a lesser degree Harley. Harley was fortunate that a bowling equip. company bought them out.
The Japanese bikes were faster, more durable, more reliable, didn't break down with regularity...as did the British and Harley.
Now the M/C market is Japanese, with Harley having a lock on the nostalgia market with their antediluvian OHV big twins.
The British bikes...Triumph was resurrected and is doing fine. But the Brits who run Triumph today, are canny..modern day businessmen and learned the lessons from the past. They build nostalgia and up to date, competitive motorcycles which are in demand.
The moral of my story...history repeats itself...if your not careful...domestic auto makers could probably learn from the new Triumph.
Les
BTW...I still have two motorcycles...a '78 Yamaha SR 500 single (copy of the British big singles)and a British big twin...Matchless 750cc scrambler (Desert Sled)....so I'm not anti Brit bike , I suppose. But I do keep a cake tin under the Matchless' crankcase to catch leaking Castrol oil...don't do it with the Yamaha, though.
* This post was
edited 11/07/09 02:15pm by lesmore49 *
lesmore49
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BruceStarkey
Ontario, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 05/02/2004
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Good Sam RV Club
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Les, we could have some fun posting pic's (if I knew how) of specialty tools required to keep a mid 60's Triumph in top running form, then asking folks to guess what it was for, but it just occurred to me this is a "Tow Vehicles" forum Haaaar!
Today is just the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!
'04' International 4400 LoPro 310Hp/950FtLbs 10Spd Harley/RV Toter
'05' Mobile Suites 38RL3
'01' Harley Ultra in the bike barn.
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lesmore49
canada
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Joined: 11/25/2004
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BruceStarkey wrote:Les, we could have some fun posting pic's (if I knew how) of specialty tools required to keep a mid 60's Triumph in top running form, then asking folks to guess what it was for, but it just occurred to me this is a "Tow Vehicles" forum Haaaar!
I don't know how to post pix either...I'm too old to learn.
I have quite a few British Whitworth tools I bought, in order to work on my '67 Matchless. I bought them from Walridge Motors in London, Ont.
One of the British tools that would throw people is my sump plug/ fork wrench...very odd looking tool, but it works perfectly on the Norton 750 engine and the elongated, beefed up Norton Roadholder forks on the Matchless.
I don't know about you but because of the vibration of the Norton engine, the orig. owner safety wired a lot of the fasteners in order to keep them there. With a mid 60's Triumph I would think you also have vibration 'issues'...lol.
Good thing for as you know it's not the easiest thing to replace British Whitworth.
I think my Matchless Scrambler would qualify for the Tow Vehicles forum...I've got the scrambler 'tow package' which includes , HD shocks and the low geared tow rear end ratio of about 4.94...
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BenK
SF BayArea
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Joined: 04/18/2002
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Love motor cycles, but scared after too many either got hurt or killed
when I was in high school.
My path was with sports cars. MGB, Triumph, Tiger, Jag, Morgan, Lotus,
Ferrari, Masterati, Nissan, Volvo, Toyota, Subaru, etc, and my fav Lamborghini & Datsun.
Not all mine, but wrenched buddies and their parents or friends.
Was one of very few in my group who had a complete set of metric tools.
Originally a domestic iron kid, but after touching foreign and finding
the huge difference in them. Mainly that they had a 'soul' that Detroit
has lost.
In the late 60's and early 70's when seat belts became mandatory, noticed
that on domestic setups, once you belted up couldn't touch anything
other than the steering wheel and shifter. Had to unbuckle to change
the radio station.
One of my worst cars was an Audi 5000S. Bought used, so not really it's
fault. Ditto a Nissan Maxima uncle gave me. Not it's fault as cousins
never took good care of it. Currently drive a 1991 Caddy STS inherited
from dad. A true hot rod, but now the all aluminum V8 is leaking coolant
and show the difference to the BMW GF drives. The caddy is faster off
the line, but she can then catch and pass all the while getting better MPG
Domestic 'cars' lost me in the 70's. Domestic trucks still king of the
hill and still is, but domestic CEO's and upper management killing
themselves and continue to get their lunches eaten. If they continue,
trucks will too be lost to me...
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BruceStarkey
Ontario, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 05/02/2004
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Les. Those little stubby screwdriver's with the hex end on them for using a wrench on them to adjust the primary chain tensioner of later unit construction twins, must have a bsket full of those somewhere. I too have all of the BSW, BSF, wrenches and some taps & dies as well from trying to keep all the brit stuff running and as I remember, that was the fun of a Sat. afternoon for a bunch of us to gather at someones garage and wrench on them so we could go for a ride on Sunday.
BenK. I know exactly what you mean by "soul". When in the Navy I bought an old 1.5 litre Riley that had those suicide doors on the front and the biggest chrome headlight pots I'd ever seen along with the very same oil pressure indicater my triumph M/C's all had, the little poppit valve pin that pops out when pressure builds, only it was on the floor beside the shift lever and it used to leak and p*** oil up my pants leg, now THAT'S soul. Later I ordered a brand new 67 MGB and the options list included the walnut steering wheel & shift knob, wide badge bar for the front bumper with Lucas driving lights on it, Lucas PL700 conversion headlights, chrome luggage rack for the trunk (oops "boot") lid, wire wheels with knock-offs and Borg Warner overdrive. I loved that thing! But later family requirements mean't it had to go for something that would carry more.
I would love to have that little Riley back. Observatroy hill in Victoria B.C. was so steep ,that little car couldn't grind it's way up in first but reverse was a much lower ratio so I used to back all the way up with my dates, to stargaze. What fun!
Back on topic; I'd buy one of those little diesel Rangers in a heartbeat as the ideal run errands around town vehicle & park on the property and slowly load it with accumulated junk from years of pack-ratitis and haul it to the landfill. If something even remotely resembling one of those comes on the market it'll sell well up here.
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Keith99RS
Suffield, CT
Senior Member
Joined: 11/14/2005
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Quote:Yes ,major upgrades to their full size Pickup Line...New Midsize Pickups need to wait a little longer. Diesel powered mid size pickups that have virtually the same payload capacity of a HD full size Pickup....you will be waiting for ages.
Fords 2009 F150 has some new parts but is far froma full redesign. The tranny was already seeing use in the Expedition, minor changes to the been here since forever 5.4L V8, same rear end, same chassis, minor interior changes and so on. Hardly whose sale changes. Same goes for their 2008 versions of the 2008 Superduties. MOre of an evolution than a throw out the old and debut new. The only truck fitting that description in the 1500 Ram. That is truly a frame up new vehicle. The bigger issue is n one of the Big 3 currently have a platform in the pipeline here in the US to utilize that can hold a diesel option. Add in that they also have no diesel engine here in the US to fit the application even if they did have a small truck platform. What diesel would they put in the Ranger or the Colorado? Keep in mind the Ranger overseas is not the Ranger we have here.
Smoke 05 Titan SE CC 4X4
K&N panel filter
PRG 2.5" Leveling kit
Bilstein front,Icon rear shocks
Powerstop slotted rotors
18" Wrangler AT/S LT's
2009 Fleetwood Prowler 2702BS
Primus Brake Controller
Reese DC w/ 1,000lb/10,000lb WD
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RobertRyan
Australia
Senior Member
Joined: 03/16/2008
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Quote:The bigger issue is n one of the Big 3 currently have a platform in the pipeline here in the US to utilize that can hold a diesel option. Add in that they also have no diesel engine here in the US to fit the application even if they did have a small truck platform. What diesel would they put in the Ranger or the Colorado? Keep in mind the Ranger overseas is not the Ranger we have here.
Factor in as well the ongoing recession; I think Pickups as a whole make up only 10% of the whole vehicle market, so total redesigns will not be that common;some US buyers reluctance to buy small diesels or any diesels and lastly the cash cows for the "Big 3" for want of a better term are the full size Pickups.
Ranger towing 25ft 5th wheel
PDF describing the 26Ft lightweight Cutloose 5th wheeler towed by a Ranger.
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lesmore49
canada
Senior Member
Joined: 11/25/2004
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BenK wrote:Love motor cycles, but scared after too many either got hurt or killed
when I was in high school.
My path was with sports cars. MGB, Triumph, Tiger, Jag, Morgan, Lotus,
Ferrari, Masterati, Nissan, Volvo, Toyota, Subaru, etc, and my fav Lamborghini & Datsun.
Not all mine, but wrenched buddies and their parents or friends. Had a '62 Volvo PV544s with B18S engine...wanted a Tiger and an Austin-Healey 3000..could of got either one for $ 1900 in '69. Instead bought a '67 Camaro 327 RS Coupe, 4 speed. Slapped on red line tires and a big Smiths Tach (remember those).
Great selection of sports cars you had back then Ben. San Francisco would be a hot bed for them...not many on the Canadian Prairies, except British (lot's) and Japanese. Always wanted a Datsun 240Z and the early Toyota FJ.
Was one of very few in my group who had a complete set of metric tools.
Originally a domestic iron kid, but after touching foreign and finding
the huge difference in them. Mainly that they had a 'soul' that Detroit
has lost.
In the late 60's and early 70's when seat belts became mandatory, noticed
that on domestic setups, once you belted up couldn't touch anything
other than the steering wheel and shifter. Had to unbuckle to change
the radio station.
One of my worst cars was an Audi 5000S. Bought used, so not really it's
fault. Ditto a Nissan Maxima uncle gave me. Not it's fault as cousins
never took good care of it. Currently drive a 1991 Caddy STS inherited
from dad. A true hot rod, but now the all aluminum V8 is leaking coolant
and show the difference to the BMW GF drives. The caddy is faster off
the line, but she can then catch and pass all the while getting better MPG
Domestic 'cars' lost me in the 70's. Domestic trucks still king of the
hill and still is, but domestic CEO's and upper management killing
themselves and continue to get their lunches eaten. If they continue,
trucks will too be lost to me... I've been largely a GM guy since 'the '60's, but the way things are going I've been doing a lot of re-thinking..may go Japanese. First new car after U. was a '73 Toyota Corolla..stripper model, no carpets, rubber mats, etc., optional 1600cc Hemi engine, 4 speed, optional larger tires and disc brakes. C+D back then said it was the hot setup for econo cars in the SCCA Showroom Stock races...so I bought one. Did go well for it's time.
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