B,
The Fords are both 1995 leaf sprung TTB front 3/4 ton POS's. I have never hated two vehicles more in my life. We bought them both to haul our live-in trailers. Four of them, each weighing about 8,000lbs. Besides the horrid ride, the mileage sucks. All below 8 mpg unladen. We have three 3/4 ton GMC's and each of them out pull, out drive and out mileage the two Fords. Plus, the three of them all have twice to three times as many miles in the oilfield. No vehicle is cheap to repair or maintain in the oilfield but the three GM products are in the shop less and the repairs are always cheaper. I usually would never complain about any vehicle, especially when it is provided for me to use in the field, but I will do everything I can to avoid driving those POSs.
That being said, there are tons of Fords in the oilfield. Lots of companies like Schlumberger and Halliburton drive fleet vehicles with generally good results. Our company is small and can't afford a new 3/4 ton every year, but the ones we buy aren't too used and we usually are able to get about two years out of a rig before we have to retire it. Spencer and I are just trying to get your goat. We're comparing apples to oranges. The torsion bar front IFS in all of our GMC's are silky smooth on even the roughest terrain, but the leaf sprung TTB on the Fords is THE WORST DESIGN EVAR!!!! EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR...EVAR... It is actually painful to drive those trucks. It abuses your guts, it deafens your ears and there isn't a door panel that lines up well enough to keep the constantly leaking exhaust out of the cab.
If you keep working for Ford and designing better and better trucks, maybe we will think about buying another Ford and I'll let you know how we like them!!
James
