Interesting Uber ride
 

On 12/5/2015 1:01 PM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 11:49:50 -0500, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 12/5/2015 10:36 AM, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 12/5/2015 10:31 AM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 09:46:51 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/5/2015 9:24 AM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:22:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/4/2015 2:36 PM, John H. wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 17:10:20 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/3/2015 1:12 PM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 12/3/15 1:04 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 12:38:51 -0500, Justan Olphart

wrote:

On 12/2/2015 4:58 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 08:09:12 -0500, Justan Olphart

wrote:

Did you drive the Honda 90 MPH down US 75?

===

On occasion, more often 80 to 85. The car was always very
solid at
that kind of speed - good tires of course, and everything in
balance.

Europeans drive that fast all the time even faster in
Germany. The
US, particularly the eastern states, has always been more
sedate. I
see signs of change however. At one time anything over 70
would get
you a guaranteed ticket on the New York State Thruway.
Nowadays a lot
of people are running 75+.


I trained my petal foot to think about safety and fuel
economy. That
usually means at or under the speed limit.

Little old ladies in Kias are telling you that you are #1 if
you drive
around here.


I do 70 when possible on the interstates, but no more. I-95,
the last
time I drove to Florida, was crowded. I take a special delight
after
some yahoo blasts past me at more than 80 and see the guy
pulled over a
few miles down the road by the police. My wife's new car gets
30+ mpg at
70 mph. I like that.


My Ford F-250 gets better gas mileage at 75 mph than it does at
60-65
mph. Weird, but it has to do with the gearing and when the torque
converter locks and unlocks. If I keep the RPM's up high enough
so it can climb steep hills without the TC unlocking (or
downshifting
out of overdrive), my gas mileage goes up to a whopping 15 mpg from
about 13. :-) Fortunately, I don't drive much or very far in it.
Last long distance trip was to SC, last December.

The adult day care center that I drive for has a fleet of high top,
handicapped equipped (power lift and strap-downs for
wheelchairs) vans.
They are all Ford F-350 SuperDuties. Mileage is horrible
... I have
to fill mine 3 times a week sometimes ... but they are rugged.
He used
to have GM and Chevy vans but gave up on them. They just didn't
last,
usually having transmission failures and engine problems.




I do like my Chevy diesel. Got 20 mpg going to Williams, Az for
thanksgiving. Normal around town is 14.5

On pure interstate to and from NC, without the trailer, mine gets
a tad over 22.
Around town about 15-17. With the trailer, about 12-13. Can't
complain. Most of the
around town stuff is done with the motorcycle, which gets about
40, around town.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!


You guys with the GM diesels have the Allison transmission which is
probably about the best one made. The gas powered GM and Chevy vans
have a regular GM transmission. Those are the ones that the
transportation company had a lot of problems with.

They still have one GM van that I've used a couple of times.
Definitely
has a nicer, softer ride compared to the Fords which ride like ...
well
.. trucks. They live a hard life though.

My Silverado rides like a big Cadillac. The Allison transmission
does a great job,
especially with the tow/haul mode enabled.

The Allison transmission is great. It was the only thing I liked about
the POS Pace Arrow motorhome I had. Ford came out with a transmission
called a "TorqueShift" that is used in the F-250, F-350 (and up)
SuperDuty series of pickups and trucks. It behaves in a very similar
fashion to the Allison in tow/haul mode. Jury is still out on
reliability although you don't hear about many problems.

Is your Silverado a 2500HD or a 3500HD model? The Ford diesel I had
(that had all kinds of engine problems) was a F-350 which is comparable
to the 3500 series produced by GM. The one I have now is a F-250 which
is comparable to the 2500 GM series. In both cases, the Fords ride a
lot "stiffer" than the GM's. I almost bought a Silverado 2500 but,
because I was so used to Fords, it felt *too* soft to my liking. But,
that was a few years ago when I was doing a lot more with trucks
(hauling and towing) than I do now.

Mine's a 2500HD. If you think that Ford's bad, you should try a Dodge
Ram 1500. All
it took was a ride around a couple blocks. My wife said there's no way
she'd ever
ride in the damn thing. Unsprung farm wagons gave a smoother ride.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!

Fiat Ram 1500. Now that's a real truck. If Donnie is ever inclined to
get a real truck, he should get one of those. ;-)


One smart decision Fiat made was to not mess with the Ram trucks. They
spun it off as it's own division. They are considered very good trucks.


On the Open Range (RV) forum, one guy mentioned he'd just bought a new Ram something
or other. The next comment was someone telling him to start saving $8000 for a new
transmission. There wasn't much argument there.

Transmission problems in Rams were "the buzz" back in 1997 when I bought
one. I towed a few boats with the 1500 that were technically too heavy
for the truck but I never had a problem. Then again, I never towed them
*that* far with it. Usually it was the big old Century arc I had to
Jim's place to have the outdrive or some other problem fixed. I hauled
the boat owned by a former poster in this newsgroup ("Wavelength")
several times with it as well.

I think once a reputation starts, it remains forever, regardless of what
the real story is or if the original problem was solved. I don't know
though because I don't own a Ram anymore.

Interesting Uber ride
 

On 12/5/2015 11:49 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/5/2015 10:36 AM, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 12/5/2015 10:31 AM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 09:46:51 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/5/2015 9:24 AM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:22:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/4/2015 2:36 PM, John H. wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 17:10:20 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/3/2015 1:12 PM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 12/3/15 1:04 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 12:38:51 -0500, Justan Olphart

wrote:

On 12/2/2015 4:58 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 08:09:12 -0500, Justan Olphart

wrote:

Did you drive the Honda 90 MPH down US 75?

===

On occasion, more often 80 to 85. The car was always very
solid at
that kind of speed - good tires of course, and everything in
balance.

Europeans drive that fast all the time even faster in
Germany. The
US, particularly the eastern states, has always been more
sedate. I
see signs of change however. At one time anything over 70
would get
you a guaranteed ticket on the New York State Thruway.
Nowadays a lot
of people are running 75+.


I trained my petal foot to think about safety and fuel
economy. That
usually means at or under the speed limit.

Little old ladies in Kias are telling you that you are #1 if
you drive
around here.


I do 70 when possible on the interstates, but no more. I-95,
the last
time I drove to Florida, was crowded. I take a special delight
after
some yahoo blasts past me at more than 80 and see the guy
pulled over a
few miles down the road by the police. My wife's new car gets
30+ mpg at
70 mph. I like that.


My Ford F-250 gets better gas mileage at 75 mph than it does at
60-65
mph. Weird, but it has to do with the gearing and when the torque
converter locks and unlocks. If I keep the RPM's up high enough
so it can climb steep hills without the TC unlocking (or
downshifting
out of overdrive), my gas mileage goes up to a whopping 15 mpg
from
about 13. :-) Fortunately, I don't drive much or very far in
it.
Last long distance trip was to SC, last December.

The adult day care center that I drive for has a fleet of high
top,
handicapped equipped (power lift and strap-downs for
wheelchairs) vans.
They are all Ford F-350 SuperDuties. Mileage is horrible
... I have
to fill mine 3 times a week sometimes ... but they are rugged.
He used
to have GM and Chevy vans but gave up on them. They just didn't
last,
usually having transmission failures and engine problems.




I do like my Chevy diesel. Got 20 mpg going to Williams, Az for
thanksgiving. Normal around town is 14.5

On pure interstate to and from NC, without the trailer, mine gets
a tad over 22.
Around town about 15-17. With the trailer, about 12-13. Can't
complain. Most of the
around town stuff is done with the motorcycle, which gets about
40, around town.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!


You guys with the GM diesels have the Allison transmission which is
probably about the best one made. The gas powered GM and Chevy vans
have a regular GM transmission. Those are the ones that the
transportation company had a lot of problems with.

They still have one GM van that I've used a couple of times.
Definitely
has a nicer, softer ride compared to the Fords which ride like ...
well
.. trucks. They live a hard life though.

My Silverado rides like a big Cadillac. The Allison transmission
does a great job,
especially with the tow/haul mode enabled.

The Allison transmission is great. It was the only thing I liked about
the POS Pace Arrow motorhome I had. Ford came out with a transmission
called a "TorqueShift" that is used in the F-250, F-350 (and up)
SuperDuty series of pickups and trucks. It behaves in a very similar
fashion to the Allison in tow/haul mode. Jury is still out on
reliability although you don't hear about many problems.

Is your Silverado a 2500HD or a 3500HD model? The Ford diesel I had
(that had all kinds of engine problems) was a F-350 which is comparable
to the 3500 series produced by GM. The one I have now is a F-250 which
is comparable to the 2500 GM series. In both cases, the Fords ride a
lot "stiffer" than the GM's. I almost bought a Silverado 2500 but,
because I was so used to Fords, it felt *too* soft to my liking. But,
that was a few years ago when I was doing a lot more with trucks
(hauling and towing) than I do now.

Mine's a 2500HD. If you think that Ford's bad, you should try a Dodge
Ram 1500. All
it took was a ride around a couple blocks. My wife said there's no way
she'd ever
ride in the damn thing. Unsprung farm wagons gave a smoother ride.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!

Fiat Ram 1500. Now that's a real truck. If Donnie is ever inclined to
get a real truck, he should get one of those. ;-)


One smart decision Fiat made was to not mess with the Ram trucks. They
spun it off as it's own division. They are considered very good trucks.


Would you recommend one for Donnie's boat hauling adventures?
I remember one of your Rams being pushed down the road by your boat. :-)

Interesting Uber ride
 

On 12/5/2015 1:18 PM, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 12/5/2015 11:49 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/5/2015 10:36 AM, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 12/5/2015 10:31 AM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 09:46:51 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/5/2015 9:24 AM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:22:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/4/2015 2:36 PM, John H. wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 17:10:20 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/3/2015 1:12 PM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 12/3/15 1:04 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 12:38:51 -0500, Justan Olphart

wrote:

On 12/2/2015 4:58 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 08:09:12 -0500, Justan Olphart

wrote:

Did you drive the Honda 90 MPH down US 75?

===

On occasion, more often 80 to 85. The car was always very
solid at
that kind of speed - good tires of course, and everything in
balance.

Europeans drive that fast all the time even faster in
Germany. The
US, particularly the eastern states, has always been more
sedate. I
see signs of change however. At one time anything over 70
would get
you a guaranteed ticket on the New York State Thruway.
Nowadays a lot
of people are running 75+.


I trained my petal foot to think about safety and fuel
economy. That
usually means at or under the speed limit.

Little old ladies in Kias are telling you that you are #1 if
you drive
around here.


I do 70 when possible on the interstates, but no more. I-95,
the last
time I drove to Florida, was crowded. I take a special delight
after
some yahoo blasts past me at more than 80 and see the guy
pulled over a
few miles down the road by the police. My wife's new car gets
30+ mpg at
70 mph. I like that.


My Ford F-250 gets better gas mileage at 75 mph than it does at
60-65
mph. Weird, but it has to do with the gearing and when the
torque
converter locks and unlocks. If I keep the RPM's up high enough
so it can climb steep hills without the TC unlocking (or
downshifting
out of overdrive), my gas mileage goes up to a whopping 15 mpg
from
about 13. :-) Fortunately, I don't drive much or very far in
it.
Last long distance trip was to SC, last December.

The adult day care center that I drive for has a fleet of high
top,
handicapped equipped (power lift and strap-downs for
wheelchairs) vans.
They are all Ford F-350 SuperDuties. Mileage is horrible
... I have
to fill mine 3 times a week sometimes ... but they are rugged.
He used
to have GM and Chevy vans but gave up on them. They just didn't
last,
usually having transmission failures and engine problems.




I do like my Chevy diesel. Got 20 mpg going to Williams, Az for
thanksgiving. Normal around town is 14.5

On pure interstate to and from NC, without the trailer, mine gets
a tad over 22.
Around town about 15-17. With the trailer, about 12-13. Can't
complain. Most of the
around town stuff is done with the motorcycle, which gets about
40, around town.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!


You guys with the GM diesels have the Allison transmission which is
probably about the best one made. The gas powered GM and Chevy vans
have a regular GM transmission. Those are the ones that the
transportation company had a lot of problems with.

They still have one GM van that I've used a couple of times.
Definitely
has a nicer, softer ride compared to the Fords which ride like ...
well
.. trucks. They live a hard life though.

My Silverado rides like a big Cadillac. The Allison transmission
does a great job,
especially with the tow/haul mode enabled.

The Allison transmission is great. It was the only thing I liked
about
the POS Pace Arrow motorhome I had. Ford came out with a transmission
called a "TorqueShift" that is used in the F-250, F-350 (and up)
SuperDuty series of pickups and trucks. It behaves in a very similar
fashion to the Allison in tow/haul mode. Jury is still out on
reliability although you don't hear about many problems.

Is your Silverado a 2500HD or a 3500HD model? The Ford diesel I had
(that had all kinds of engine problems) was a F-350 which is
comparable
to the 3500 series produced by GM. The one I have now is a F-250
which
is comparable to the 2500 GM series. In both cases, the Fords ride a
lot "stiffer" than the GM's. I almost bought a Silverado 2500 but,
because I was so used to Fords, it felt *too* soft to my liking. But,
that was a few years ago when I was doing a lot more with trucks
(hauling and towing) than I do now.

Mine's a 2500HD. If you think that Ford's bad, you should try a Dodge
Ram 1500. All
it took was a ride around a couple blocks. My wife said there's no way
she'd ever
ride in the damn thing. Unsprung farm wagons gave a smoother ride.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!

Fiat Ram 1500. Now that's a real truck. If Donnie is ever inclined to
get a real truck, he should get one of those. ;-)


One smart decision Fiat made was to not mess with the Ram trucks. They
spun it off as it's own division. They are considered very good trucks.


Would you recommend one for Donnie's boat hauling adventures?
I remember one of your Rams being pushed down the road by your boat. :-)


That was the Century ... likely on it's way to your house for repairs. :-)

That thing was a heavy boat. Probably water logged. The trailer had
surge brakes that didn't work. I was leaving Scituate, coming down to
the stop sign at the end of the Driftway (before they put to rotary in)
and tried to stop. Fortunately I wasn't going fast because the stupid
boat pushed the Ram halfway out into the intersection.

Interesting Uber ride
 

Mr. Luddite
- show quoted text -
"That was the Century ... likely on it's way to your house for repairs. :-)

That thing was a heavy boat. Probably water logged. *The trailer had
surge brakes that didn't work. *I was leaving Scituate, coming down to
the stop sign at the end of the Driftway (before they put to rotary in)
and tried to stop. *Fortunately I wasn't going fast because the stupid
boat pushed the Ram halfway out into the intersection."


A couple of years ago when I was towing my new boat, which was 500 pounds over the RAV4's rating, I was attacked and ridiculed by a number of the motley crew in here. One especially short one threatened to kill me if I injured one of his family members, even though I lived over a thousand miles from him and hadn't been over the border in at least 25 years.
Quite the bunch of dandies we suffer in this group.

Interesting Uber ride
 

On 12/5/2015 3:33 PM, True North wrote:
Mr. Luddite
- show quoted text -
"That was the Century ... likely on it's way to your house for repairs. :-)

That thing was a heavy boat. Probably water logged. The trailer had
surge brakes that didn't work. I was leaving Scituate, coming down to
the stop sign at the end of the Driftway (before they put to rotary in)
and tried to stop. Fortunately I wasn't going fast because the stupid
boat pushed the Ram halfway out into the intersection."


A couple of years ago when I was towing my new boat, which was 500 pounds over the RAV4's rating, I was attacked and ridiculed by a number of the motley crew in here. One especially short one threatened to kill me if I injured one of his family members, even though I lived over a thousand miles from him and hadn't been over the border in at least 25 years.
Quite the bunch of dandies we suffer in this group.


I don't know of anyone who hasn't broken some rules once in a while in life.

In the situation I described (above), I had no clue the
surge brakes weren't working. They don't actuate without the weight of
the boat on it, so I didn't notice anything was wrong on the drive to
the marina to pick up the boat. Even if I had known though, I probably
would have still taken a chance to get it home or where ever I was
taking it. It's not like I was towing it a hundred miles.

Interesting Uber ride
 

wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 18:59:36 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:22:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

They still have one GM van that I've used a couple of times. Definitely
has a nicer, softer ride compared to the Fords which ride like ... well
.. trucks. They live a hard life though.

An E150 is a truck. A Chevy Van is a van box on a "C" body car
chassis. There is no reason why it shouldn't be able to ride like a
1974 Sedan De Ville. They just had to beef up the springs to get the
half ton rating.


Van does not have the long overhang from the axles in the back or front, so
will never ride as smooth as a 74 caddie.

The main difference there is just the seating position. The caddy
driver is centered between the wheels and the van driver is almost
over the front wheels. The best ride in a conversion van is in the
seats behind the driver. They called my stretch E150 (AKA Moby Dick)
the limo if you were in the back.


Not the seating but the polar moments of the weight away from the axle.
Harder to move that pendulum of a rear bumper will give a much smoother
ride.

Interesting Uber ride
 

Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/5/2015 9:24 AM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:22:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 12/4/2015 2:36 PM, John H. wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 17:10:20 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/3/2015 1:12 PM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 12/3/15 1:04 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 12:38:51 -0500, Justan Olphart
wrote:

On 12/2/2015 4:58 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 08:09:12 -0500, Justan Olphart
wrote:

Did you drive the Honda 90 MPH down US 75?

===

On occasion, more often 80 to 85. The car was always very solid at
that kind of speed - good tires of course, and everything in balance.

Europeans drive that fast all the time even faster in Germany. The
US, particularly the eastern states, has always been more sedate. I
see signs of change however. At one time anything over 70 would get
you a guaranteed ticket on the New York State Thruway. Nowadays a lot
of people are running 75+.


I trained my petal foot to think about safety and fuel economy. That
usually means at or under the speed limit.

Little old ladies in Kias are telling you that you are #1 if you drive
around here.


I do 70 when possible on the interstates, but no more. I-95, the last
time I drove to Florida, was crowded. I take a special delight after
some yahoo blasts past me at more than 80 and see the guy pulled over a
few miles down the road by the police. My wife's new car gets 30+ mpg at
70 mph. I like that.


My Ford F-250 gets better gas mileage at 75 mph than it does at 60-65
mph. Weird, but it has to do with the gearing and when the torque
converter locks and unlocks. If I keep the RPM's up high enough
so it can climb steep hills without the TC unlocking (or downshifting
out of overdrive), my gas mileage goes up to a whopping 15 mpg from
about 13. :-) Fortunately, I don't drive much or very far in it.
Last long distance trip was to SC, last December.

The adult day care center that I drive for has a fleet of high top,
handicapped equipped (power lift and strap-downs for wheelchairs) vans.
They are all Ford F-350 SuperDuties. Mileage is horrible ... I have
to fill mine 3 times a week sometimes ... but they are rugged. He used
to have GM and Chevy vans but gave up on them. They just didn't last,
usually having transmission failures and engine problems.




I do like my Chevy diesel. Got 20 mpg going to Williams, Az for
thanksgiving. Normal around town is 14.5

On pure interstate to and from NC, without the trailer, mine gets a tad over 22.
Around town about 15-17. With the trailer, about 12-13. Can't complain. Most of the
around town stuff is done with the motorcycle, which gets about 40, around town.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!


You guys with the GM diesels have the Allison transmission which is
probably about the best one made. The gas powered GM and Chevy vans
have a regular GM transmission. Those are the ones that the
transportation company had a lot of problems with.

They still have one GM van that I've used a couple of times. Definitely
has a nicer, softer ride compared to the Fords which ride like ... well
.. trucks. They live a hard life though.

My Silverado rides like a big Cadillac. The Allison transmission does a great job,
especially with the tow/haul mode enabled.

The Allison transmission is great. It was the only thing I liked about
the POS Pace Arrow motorhome I had. Ford came out with a transmission
called a "TorqueShift" that is used in the F-250, F-350 (and up)
SuperDuty series of pickups and trucks. It behaves in a very similar
fashion to the Allison in tow/haul mode. Jury is still out on
reliability although you don't hear about many problems.

Is your Silverado a 2500HD or a 3500HD model? The Ford diesel I had
(that had all kinds of engine problems) was a F-350 which is comparable
to the 3500 series produced by GM. The one I have now is a F-250 which
is comparable to the 2500 GM series. In both cases, the Fords ride a
lot "stiffer" than the GM's. I almost bought a Silverado 2500 but,
because I was so used to Fords, it felt *too* soft to my liking. But,
that was a few years ago when I was doing a lot more with trucks
(hauling and towing) than I do now.



My truck rides very smooth with 1600# of camper in the back. On rough
freeway with empty bed, is not a smooth ride.

Interesting Uber ride
 

Ooops...I may have exaggerated slightly. Forgot that I took a day trip to Maine around Labour Day 2007 to purchase the Princecraft Yukon from big Tom of Connecticut.

Interesting Uber ride
 

On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 13:19:58 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 18:59:36 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:22:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

They still have one GM van that I've used a couple of times. Definitely
has a nicer, softer ride compared to the Fords which ride like ... well
.. trucks. They live a hard life though.

An E150 is a truck. A Chevy Van is a van box on a "C" body car
chassis. There is no reason why it shouldn't be able to ride like a
1974 Sedan De Ville. They just had to beef up the springs to get the
half ton rating.


Van does not have the long overhang from the axles in the back or front, so
will never ride as smooth as a 74 caddie.

The main difference there is just the seating position. The caddy
driver is centered between the wheels and the van driver is almost
over the front wheels. The best ride in a conversion van is in the
seats behind the driver. They called my stretch E150 (AKA Moby Dick)
the limo if you were in the back.


Not the seating but the polar moments of the weight away from the axle.
Harder to move that pendulum of a rear bumper will give a much smoother
ride.

My stretch E150 had as much or more ass out behind the rear axle as a
caddy

Interesting Uber ride
 

On 12/5/2015 7:58 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 13:19:58 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 18:59:36 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:22:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

They still have one GM van that I've used a couple of times. Definitely
has a nicer, softer ride compared to the Fords which ride like ... well
.. trucks. They live a hard life though.

An E150 is a truck. A Chevy Van is a van box on a "C" body car
chassis. There is no reason why it shouldn't be able to ride like a
1974 Sedan De Ville. They just had to beef up the springs to get the
half ton rating.


Van does not have the long overhang from the axles in the back or front, so
will never ride as smooth as a 74 caddie.

The main difference there is just the seating position. The caddy
driver is centered between the wheels and the van driver is almost
over the front wheels. The best ride in a conversion van is in the
seats behind the driver. They called my stretch E150 (AKA Moby Dick)
the limo if you were in the back.


Not the seating but the polar moments of the weight away from the axle.
Harder to move that pendulum of a rear bumper will give a much smoother
ride.

My stretch E150 had as much or more ass out behind the rear axle as a
caddy


Same thing with the E-350 I drive. It's a l o n g ass van.
Still rides like a brick though.

This conversation prompted me to look at the build sheet on my F-250
and I discovered why it may be a bit stiffer than others. It has the
factory "plow prep" package. I looked up what that is and it includes
heavier front end springs along with a couple of other things like a 200
amp alternator. It's rated for a plow weighing up to 750 lbs and
a fixed, plow mount assembly of up to 100 lbs. That's a lot of extra
weight hanging on the front of the truck. That prompted me to check
the weight of the plow I have. It's a stainless, medium duty "Snow
Dog". The mount assembly bolted to the frame is 80 lbs and the plow
itself is 450 lbs. So, I am well within the truck's rated capacity.

Hopefully I won't have to use it much this winter ... unlike last winter.