Ford Pickups vs the Rest: 2010

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

6.2L Raptor has arrived

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/trucks/1008_2011_ford_f150_svt_raptor_6_2_drive/index.html

So MotorTrend finally got hold of a 6.2 L Raptor to test drive.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

The new Ford Raptor has created quite a buzz among both truck and 4X4 enthusiasts. Much of this buzz has been praise but the critics have been vocal as well. The new Raptor is lacking in several areas. These include affordability, power, towing capabilities and size.

First off, the price of this behemoth is astronomical. At a base price of $38000, this truck is outside the price range of most people. Fully loaded, this truck can cost over $45000. In today’s struggling economy, the wisdom of Ford’s executives must be questioned. How did they justify spending the funds to develop such a niche market truck and how do they expect people to afford it?

The standard engine for the new Raptor only puts out 310 Hp. This most underpowered $38000 truck on the market. Dodge and Toyota both have 5.7 L V8s that are putting out more than 380 Hp.

The lack of power coming from Ford’s 5.4 L engine is exacerbated by the extra weight that the Raptor has been loaded down with. The Dodge Ram has a curb weight of just over 5000 lbs; where as, the Raptor weighs in at nearly 6000. This, along with the suspension being tuned for Baja off road racing, leads to the Raptor having a max payload capacity of only 1020 lbs and a max towing capacity of only 6000 lbs. The Dodge Ram has a payload capacity of 1420 and towing capacity of 10000 lbs. This lack of towing capabilities makes this truck nearly useless for most ranchers and anyone else who uses their truck for actual work (which includes the majority of Ford’s customer base).

Since this truck isn’t useful to those who need it for work, then one might assume that it would be good for a city boy who just likes to go offroading on the weekends. This city boy would run in to a problem with the Raptors size. At an enormous 86.3 in wide, this truck is wide enough that federal safety standards require it to have extra marker lights. This extra width can make the truck difficult to maneuver and a monster to park.

Enthymeme

WATCO: of the upgrades on the Ford F 150 SVT Raptor?

Audience: friends back home and my girlfriend

Claim: The upgrades found on the Ford F 150 SVT Raptor make it the best factory built 4X4 vehicle ever.

Reason: The upgrades give this truck capabilities both on and off the road beyond anything previously achieved by a stock vehicle.

Assumption: Better capabilities equal better 4X4

So I'm going to make a presentation/ paper to basically argue this claim to my friends back home. Two of them are not what you would call Ford guys. So this should be interesting.

Extra Width and lack of Power?

In his review of the Raptor, Paul Serendynski lauded its performance on and off the road pointing out that the Raptor has created a class of it own in stock 4X4 vehicles. There were only two cons that Paul was able to find in the Raptor. These are the lack of power that is offered by the 5.4 L Triton V8 which is the largest engine available in the F 150s and the extra eight inches added to the width of the Raptor can make parking difficult. Both of these cons seem to be the main cons that are being voiced by all the writers that have reviewed the Raptor. However, these cons have been addressed by Ford. The extra width is essential to the Raptor. It was necessary to produce the unbelievable suspension travel that was achieved. The extra width does make tight parking spaces difficult but the Raptor was designed as a 4X4 pickup and not as a city car, even though the Raptor handles all the other duties of a daily driver with ease. The lack of power has also been addressed by Ford. The 5.4L Triton V8, although not able to throw you back in your seat, is more than capable of handling anything that you can throw at it off the road with 310 Hp and 365 ft/lbs of torque. If this truck didn’t carry the SVT badge then the 5.4 L would be satisfactory. For those who don’t mind spending an extra $3000 for an extra 100 Hp and 70 ft/lbs of torque, the new 6.2 L V8 is now available for the Raptor which makes it the most powerful ½ ton pickup on the market. This should satisfy even the likes of Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor.

Edmunds.com Reliable?

Edmunds.com is an established web based source for automotive information. It was launched in 1995 as the first automotive information web site and has maintained its position as the top site for reviews and specifications on new cars. Last year, the executive editor, Paul Serendynski, for Edmunds.com wrote a review of his test drive of the brand new Ford F 150 SVT Raptor. Paul has been a car enthusiast since he was a teenager and upon receiving a bachelors degree from Colorado University Boulder, landed his first job writing about cars at Peterson Publishing. Since then, he has worked for automotive titles including Hot Rod, Circle Track, Rod and Custom and Super Street. Paul Serendynski and Edmunds.com have established themselves as reliable sources for reviews and technical reports for new cars.

In his review, Paul does an excellent job of pointing out all the changes and gizmos that were added to the Raptor from the base F 150. He does this from a non biased perspective that allows the reader to still have the opportunity to make a decision about the truck. He also is quick to point out the cons that he sees in this new truck. By keeping his review unbiased, Paul continues to keep Edmunds.com a leading and reliable source for automotive information.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Gear ratios

key terms

Terms to define:

Horsepower(HP):

Torque:

Horsepower and torque are the two measurements that are used to tell customers how powerful their cars are. But what do they mean? In the simplest terms torque is the measure of force over a distance and horsepower is a measure of force over time. For cars torque is measured in ft-lbs and HP is actually a unit that is equivalent to 33000 ft-lbs/minute. The unit of HP was developed by James Watt towards the end of the 18^th century when he needed a way of letting his customers know how powerful his new steam engines were. To help this make sense, think of a 1 pound weight. If you lift it 1 ft then you just did 1 ft-lb of work. If this were to take you 1 minute then it would be 1ft-lb/min or if it took you 1 sec then it would be 60 ft-lb/min. Or if an engine were to exert the force need to move 33000 lbs 1 ft in one minute then it would have 1 HP.

I posted a link to another site that goes into more detail if your interested

Drivetrain: This includes the engine and the wheels and everything in between. IE: the engine, transmission, transfer case, differentials and axles.

Vehicle Curb Weight: This is the weight of an unloaded vehicle.

GVWR: Gross Vehicle Weight Rating: This is the maximum weight that the vehicle can support including its own weight. IE: vehicle curb weight plus passengers and cargo

Payload capacity: This is the maximum cargo weight that a vehicle can carry. This statistic can be manipulated in how the manufacturer measures it. For example the manufacturer could simply subtract the vehicle curb weight from the GVWR or they could figure the weight of the driver and passengers into the figure.

Fuel type (flex fuel): Flex fuel refers to the ability of an engine to run on a blend of multiple fuels. In the U.S. this typically refers to gasoline and ethanol. The standard for flex fuels in the U.S. is E85 or 85% ethanol 15% gasoline.

Wheel base: the distance from the center of the front tire to the center of the rear

Ground clearance: the distance from the ground to the lowest part of the chassis

http://www.lcool.org/technical/diffs/diffs.html http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential.htm These sites help to explain differentials and lockers.

Open Differential: a gear mechanism that allows a single input and dual output. The driveshaft is the input power and the differential sends that power to the wheels on the axle. When turning the wheel on the inside of the turn travels less distance then the one on the outside. The differential is designed to allow the tires to spin at different speeds in turns. However with open differentials, the amount of torque available is equal only to the least amount being produced at either tire. This means that when one tire loses traction it loses torque and therefore neither tire receives any torque.

Center differential: Just as the inside tire rotates at a different speed as the outside tire in a turn; the front tires rotate at different speeds than the rear. When a vehicle has power going to all 4 tires (4WD or AWD) then this becomes an issue. Trucks and SUVs that are only designed to operate in 4WD at low speeds and on slippery surfaces don’t usually need to compensate for this but vehicles that operate in 4WD at high speeds on dry surfaces (pavement) often use a center differential to allow for this.

Limited slip differential: is designed to prevent the loss of torque to both tires when one loses traction. These types of differentials are found mostly on SUV’s and trucks.

Locking differential: This type of differential uses essentially locks the axle together so that the same amount of force is sent to both tires. This way if either tire loses traction then the other tire remains unaffected. If used at high speeds on surfaces with good traction then this can damage the axle, tires, and drivetrain.

Locking hubs: Since many part time 4WD vehicles do not have center differentials and are designed to only use the 4WD in low traction low speed situations, locking hubs were developed to give operators the ability to disconnect the wheels from the driveshafts which allows the tires to spin independently of each other.

Final drive ratio: This is the ratio of the input gear to the output gear. This means that in a truck with 4.10 gears the driveshaft must turn 4.1 times to turn the tires once. The chart in the following post shows ideal gear ratios and tires sizes.

Suspension travel: This is the measured distance that the wheel can travel.

Tow rating: The maximum weight that a vehicle is capable of towing

Monday, April 5, 2010

Horspower vs Torque

This site gives a very good introduction in simple terms to what horsepower and toque mean in the automotive world. http://www.vettenet.org/torquehp.html