Ford F150 Review 2004

The newest Ford truck, celebrates
Ford’s 100th birthday. There is a lot riding on this truck. And one of the
oldest Ford Dealerships turns 90.

All new from the ground up, it’s bigger, faster, longer and more Tonka er than before. I’m not a fan of the
wind tunnels that automobile manufactures design our vehicles in. I know
that helps make them quieter, more fuel efficient being aerodynamic, but
TRUCKS should not look like space ships. Tough looking trucks is what I like. I took me a
while to get used to the look of the Ford F150 1997 model. Ford F150 Review 2004.

All rounding an all. I did finally get used to it and was tickled that Ford didn’t do the
wind tunnel job to the F250/350 with the new Super Duties in the 1999 model.
And now, I can like the new 2004 F150 right off the bat with the bold tough
“in your face” look once again. Big grill, raised hood still with good
visibility and a wider track, rectangle mirrors, 300 horsepower and an off
road champion makes my job a joy! Even the inside is bigger and longer. Ford
remembered I’m a 2XL with wider door armrests, big butt seats with a large
cab that reminds me of the Ford Super Duties series inside and even the
notch cut door windows for the mirrors like big brother F250.

There is a lot riding on this new truck being
the best selling vehicle in America for 21 years and the best selling truck
for 26 years. Competition is growing with the 5th full size 1/2 ton truck
line coming from Nissan this winter. Ford knows how much of the company’s
future depends on truck sales and went with a bold larger entry. Taking
bragging rights with the best towing rating, best payload rating, best cargo
volume, quietists cab, and most configurations in body types. Actually it
looks like each model of cab and bed length has it’s own Gross Vehicle
Weight Rating.

We drove two days through the wooded hill country
around San Antonio Texas. And you know I didn’t baby the trucks. Actually we
(press) wereturned loose with a map and loose we got. We drove through potholes I
thought would bottom out the springs and bend the rims, but they didn’t.
Driving on the dirt roads of Texas, (I should call them rock roads) the
truck cornered and hugged the road like a Baja racer. We climbed what looked
like 40 degree approaches up hills and into creek beds. Watching the trucks that
got ahead of us, (they had helmets I think) I could see the amazing wheel
travel over those speed bumps we call rocks. The new frame is boxed with the
front section hydro-formed. The frame is stronger and I noticed how little
flex the frame has. This gives you more control and better feedback from
what should be flexing, the springs not the frame.  Driving the new F150
now has less bounce and wheel hop from the new wider longer rear leaf
springs with  an exclusive new feature of shocks on the outside of the rear leaf springs. This
gives you more stable wheel travel for clearing obstacles off-road. The truck
responded unbelievably on the back roads and creek beds of
South Texas.

The all new F150 has a new 3-valve
over-head-cam, variable-cam-timing engine with electronic throttle control
in the revised 5.4L V-8. Variable-cam-timing is the future you will see in all trucks eventually. It’s an
efficient way to gain more power from the same displacement engine, a Ford
first in trucks. Just as the variable intake turbo (EVRT) in the Ford 6.0L
diesel Super Duty is going to be in all diesels someday. Ford is leading the
way in truck engine technology and still the only large truck V-8 with
overhead cam technology starting with the 1997 F150. Dodge has it in the
smaller 4.7L now. The new Ford  5.4L cranked up to 300 horsepower and 365
ft. pounds of torque which delivers 80% of it’s torque at 1000rpm, this engine is smooth and very response with or without
a trailer. The new electronic throttle control along with the
variable-cam-timing, work with the improved 4R75E auto transmissions to
expand  the response and feed back from the gas pedal. And running the
gas pedal is all you need to control the F150 with little effort. Actually
the whole truck is easier to accurately control.

The improved 4R75E automatic transmission has
some improvements over the previous 4R75 but is still a 4-speed. I asked Ford
F150 marketing manager Todd Eckart why they didn’t use a 5-speed automatic
and he said, “they didn’t need to.” I will admit the tranny shift points
handled the 7000# trailer well due partly to the new torque converter
turbine sensor, new air mass sensor and the variable cam timing
communicating instantly with the engine computer, probably the EEC V by now,
all to increase torque, power, tranny line pressure and advanced the timing
for that smooth, and I mean real smooth shifting the tranny does at 5000
rpm’s. Though I thought it odd that the 2003 Dodge 1500 has a 5-speed auto
option and the new Nissan Titan full size will have a 5-speed auto as the
standard tranny and yet the all new 2004 F150 will still have 4-geears in a
family of Ford trucks with 5-speed auto’s, like Ranger, Explorer and the new
6.0L diesel.

We pulled enclosed 8×20 car trailers loaded
to 7000#’s with the new 2004 Ford, and 2003 Dodge 1500, Chevy 1500 and
Toyota Tundra.  Ford as you might expect pulled the best and had the
least about of movement from the trailer. All the trailers had WD hitches
set at 10% tongue weight. The new frame is totally boxed, with the front
section being hydro-formed as is Dodge and the front section of the GM
frame. I was told that bed type hitches can be drilled to attach to this new
frame. This new frame we’re told is 9 times stiffer than the previous
C-channel frame.
The wider, longer rear leaf springs with shocks moved to the outside of the
rear springs and this stiff boxed frame all contribute to the remarkable
stability pulling a trailer and driving on tough country roads that grow
potholes at will. This is one of the best trucks for control on country
roads, (gravel or rock) that I’ve tested stock from the factory. I’m sure the 1.7 inches wider
wheel track front and rear is part of the over all equation for the improved
stability. Part of the better feedback you get from this truck is the all
new rack and pinion steering that replaces the recirculating ball system.
There is no free play in the steering so it steers like our front wheel
drive cars.

Among the other improvement in this all new
F150, is a tailgate assist spring inside the 2 inch taller tailgate that
matches the 2 inch deeper bed, a power down window  in the 6 inch
longer Super Cab, the moveable and removable overhead console, and the
optional floor shifter for the auto transmission. Last years torsion bar
front suspension in 4×4 went away to be replaced by a “shock in coil” like a
strut. The short and long arm (wishbone) front suspension is massive as well
as the giant 13 inch front and 13.7 inch rear vented disc brakes second only
to Dodge 1500 brakes. 18 inch wheels for the F150 are a new option for 2004.
Maximum payload for the new F150 is 3000#’s, which sounds more like a 3/4
ton.

The new look of the 2004 F150 is boxy similar
to the nose of the 2004 Expedition. The design started with the Ford Tonka
concept truck. The new F150 has a 2 inch raised hood that doesn’t block
visibility. I like the bold look, cars may look good molded in a wind
tunnel, but a truck should have attitude like an Abrams tank.

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Copyright 2003-05 H. Kent Sundling and MrTruck.net. All rights reserved
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Kent

First 32 years on the farm, moved to the big city to sell trucks to save the farm AD (after the divorce) sold pickup trucks for 10 years in Denver. Last 12 years I review trucks, trailers and towing accessories in horse magazines, Farm Journal, Fence Post and on RFD TV

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