Joe Soper
Member
Finally pulled the trigger on a 2020 Supercab Base in Leadfoot. cant wait to get the keys, hopefully in next couple of days.... Got a pretty decent deal and a great deal on my trade in.
I've been in a dealer optioned '14 Hi-Rider from new. The dealership here in Abu Dhabi spec'd a few to be done up in a workshop in the states before being imported here and all the mods were under Ford Warranty. I managed a great deal on it in Apr 2016 as it was still new on the lot, got it for about 30% less than their original sticker price. it was a standard F-150 Supercab FX-4 but with lots of bells and whistles... 6.2L engine, 6" Pro-Comp Lift with other suspension upgrades, BAK tonneau, 20" XD Rims and 33" Nittos (which were changed to 17" Methods and 35's about 4 years ago) On board Viair compressor and tank, and several other options.
I'd never had any major issues and had told my missus that i'd drive it til the wheels fell off. Turns out I wasnt far off. Took it for a service about a month ago, was told that i needed to replace the upper and lower control arms, i knew that was coming so had no issue with that. then they said they found metal shavings in the tranny, they actually sent pictures as well. I told them to go ahead with the rebuild and to be fair they updated me with pictures all the way from start to finish including breaking it down to reveal several significant issues. Anyhow they repaired and i took the vehicle back after about 10 days.
We spend a lot of time out in the desert this time of year as it is cool enough to camp. We usually camp about 35KM off the beaten track in absolute isolation. Pulled up to our normal camp spot on the first weekend after getting it back, parked the truck and noticed a lugnut in the sand behind my truck. THought thats a bit odd as the only tire tracks where we go are ours. Turns out to be one of mine, how it fell off only ten feet from where i stopped is a bit of a mystery, but there were 3 other lugs that were almost off as well. I grabbed my tire iron and started to get them all back and tight, nope not happening, they are smaller than the other lugs on the rest of the tires. WTF!!! There were three other vehicles out with us and none of theirs would fit either. Managed to to get them hand-tight and get out of the desert the next morning having to stop every couple of miles to retighten. Found a mobile tire repair on the highway and he got them tightened back up properly.
Went back to the shop where I had the work done and they advised that they had some problems with the wheels, turns out the idiots had over torqued the lugs and snapped several of the stems right off the spacers and just welded new ones back on and used whatever lugs they had that looked close enough to the others and fit. Then they had the gall to advise me that that was actually extra work that they had done for free... (really?? you half ass fixed something that you had broken and were actually thinking about charging me for it,?)
Basically crux of it is I dont trust anything that theyve done to the truck but will be a ballache and cost even more cash to have someone else tear apart the tranny to validate the the work.
At the end of the day the wife gave me the nod to start looking for new truck. And here I am now just waiting for keys!!! cant wait to get it out in the dunes, the old girl wasnt bad but also wasnt purpose built like the raptors are.....
Sorry, just looked up and realized I had almost written a book....
I've been in a dealer optioned '14 Hi-Rider from new. The dealership here in Abu Dhabi spec'd a few to be done up in a workshop in the states before being imported here and all the mods were under Ford Warranty. I managed a great deal on it in Apr 2016 as it was still new on the lot, got it for about 30% less than their original sticker price. it was a standard F-150 Supercab FX-4 but with lots of bells and whistles... 6.2L engine, 6" Pro-Comp Lift with other suspension upgrades, BAK tonneau, 20" XD Rims and 33" Nittos (which were changed to 17" Methods and 35's about 4 years ago) On board Viair compressor and tank, and several other options.
I'd never had any major issues and had told my missus that i'd drive it til the wheels fell off. Turns out I wasnt far off. Took it for a service about a month ago, was told that i needed to replace the upper and lower control arms, i knew that was coming so had no issue with that. then they said they found metal shavings in the tranny, they actually sent pictures as well. I told them to go ahead with the rebuild and to be fair they updated me with pictures all the way from start to finish including breaking it down to reveal several significant issues. Anyhow they repaired and i took the vehicle back after about 10 days.
We spend a lot of time out in the desert this time of year as it is cool enough to camp. We usually camp about 35KM off the beaten track in absolute isolation. Pulled up to our normal camp spot on the first weekend after getting it back, parked the truck and noticed a lugnut in the sand behind my truck. THought thats a bit odd as the only tire tracks where we go are ours. Turns out to be one of mine, how it fell off only ten feet from where i stopped is a bit of a mystery, but there were 3 other lugs that were almost off as well. I grabbed my tire iron and started to get them all back and tight, nope not happening, they are smaller than the other lugs on the rest of the tires. WTF!!! There were three other vehicles out with us and none of theirs would fit either. Managed to to get them hand-tight and get out of the desert the next morning having to stop every couple of miles to retighten. Found a mobile tire repair on the highway and he got them tightened back up properly.
Went back to the shop where I had the work done and they advised that they had some problems with the wheels, turns out the idiots had over torqued the lugs and snapped several of the stems right off the spacers and just welded new ones back on and used whatever lugs they had that looked close enough to the others and fit. Then they had the gall to advise me that that was actually extra work that they had done for free... (really?? you half ass fixed something that you had broken and were actually thinking about charging me for it,?)
Basically crux of it is I dont trust anything that theyve done to the truck but will be a ballache and cost even more cash to have someone else tear apart the tranny to validate the the work.
At the end of the day the wife gave me the nod to start looking for new truck. And here I am now just waiting for keys!!! cant wait to get it out in the dunes, the old girl wasnt bad but also wasnt purpose built like the raptors are.....
Sorry, just looked up and realized I had almost written a book....
