ford or chevy

[duff]

Owned a ford 250 and pretty much broke the bank trying to fix a problem that would ruin the starter after about a month. Finally got rid of it for next to nothing. Had a Toyota that rusted in half...Been a GM guy for most of my life but had an s10 that had some odd problems too. I will stick with my 1500 work truck. Can't stand all the fluff they put on trucks anymore.

I avoided this post for a few days as well, I must be bored this morning!

[Russ Koon]

Yeah, I hate the "fluff" too.

My favorite all time hunting/fishing rig was a '64 Scout I bought well used. Had 88K on the odometer, but the guy who owned it first was employed iinspecting pipelines and the Scout had put on most of those miles in low range and 4WD.

It was basic as they come, no padding and stiff as a board, but it had a Detroit locker in the rear from the factory, and would go anywhere that I was silly enough to point it.

And when something did break or wear out, I could fix it in a few minutes, because I didn't have to disassemble a bunch of other stuff to get to the problem, and I didn't need to attach some goofy analyzer to diagnose it.

It had the factory hand throttle knob on the dash, and that thing worked better than any cruise control I've had since. The old 4-cylinder was low enough on energy to just set the throttle to keep up with most of the heavy trucks on the superslabs , and the Scout would slow with them on the upgrades and speed up with them on the downgrades without as much driver input needed as my modern vehicles that maintain constant speeds.

Saw another one the other day that appeared to be only slightly rusted, peeking out from behind a barn , and was sorely tempted to stop and ask about it. I'd probably be
looking for another warm place to sleep if I brought it home, though.

Like my current vehicle pretty well. It's not simple as the Scout, but seems to have been built using tried and proven stuff for the most part and is more servicable than most vehicles its age. It's a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. Handy little rig, and gets very good mlieage for a 4WD (23 mpg hiway on my recent NE trip) if I set the cruise at 60 and don't have stuff tied on top or riding out back on the Hitch-hauler. It's got 185K on it and runs and drives absolutely new, and has zero rust. Haven't needed to do much to it so far....isn't that always the way it goes, the ones you CAN work on are the ones that never need it.

The few times I have worked on it, I found the repair access to be very good. Had to use extreme measures on a stuck oil filter and managed to mess up what should have been a simple wiring job when installing a frame hitch, but neither of those were problems created by Jeep, and the access was good for fixing them.

About the only disappointment with the factory equipment I've had was the headlights. They were barely adequate when driving two lane roads until someone would approach in the other lane, and then they were completely inadequate. Couldn't see the roadside edge or the mailboxes that I was somehow successful in missing when another vehicle was oncoming.

I'd never had headlights to wear out or get weak before....they'd always just been working or not. But finally tried some new ones last week and the difference was incredible! I did get some that were supposedly even better than new OEM's. Highly recommend the change if you think your old headlights may not be as bright as they were or should be.

It's just right for one guy and his stuff to go out west for a week or so, but gets extremely small when trying to take two guys on such a trip. Two guys can do it, but they should pack very sparingly and with little duplication of gear.

And getting in or out of the front seats can be a little challenging for those who are either "calorically challenged" or even older than I am, but I won't admit to it being a problem for me.

Pretty good piece of American engineering and manufacturing, IMO.

[voodoofire1]

I turned wrenches and built hot rods for 25 years, grew up a ford man, had some chevy's, and a few dodges, heck even worked in a dodge dealership, I'm still driving the first ford truck I ever bought 20 years ago, but I also have 2 toyotas, 1 is a motorhome and gets 20+ on the highway. the other is one of my 4WD toys, it's been drove to the Badlands numerous times, been flipped and rolled twice, been through every imaginable thing they have there and still brought me home without a peep, Try that with a chevy or a dodge, I've driven passed many that thought they could do it, and they were broken, gotta hand it to Toyota, while the domestic brand employees wer crying about more money, more benefits, and standing behind the union, Toyota was doing their homework, nothing is as tough as a Toyota...