Soliciting thoughts- 2019 DRW F350 stolen (salvage but clear title)

[Nmr1981]

Maybe the plates come back to a F 250 (and same color) so they were disguising it. Preventing it from being discovered as stolen. Although a truck person could tell something was up.

Absolutely all f250 are single rear wheels while 350s come in single or dual rear wheels. I could see someone taking off the king ranch badges for a lesser trim but again most car people would be able to spot it a mile away.

Way back at my first job at a dealership in high school I had to remove the z71 sticker off of a brand new truck. the guy didn’t want the locals to know that he spent extra being he was a township employee I suppose. Loved that job.

 

[GON]

An older article but same concept.

https://www.statesman.com/story/new...migrant-smuggling-authorities-say/9824628007/

RH,

Wow- the article you posted potentially connects a lot of dots. From the article:

Nyert said that evidence includes the removal of a back seat to fit more people and the placement of wood blocks under truck springs to make heavy loads easier to handle.

In other cases, drivers of such trucks have led South Texas police in high-speed chases and been found with undocumented immigrants when they're finally stopped.

 

[PimTac]

Interesting read. Ford was hesitant to use chipped keys thus the trucks became favored for theft.

“Ford initially didn't outfit models with anti-theft systems in which a computer chip in the truck must match the key, saying it would make key duplication costly for owners. The company began doing so in 2008, according to Ford officials.”

A replacement key is cheaper than getting a truck stolen.

Now for that damage to the bed,,,,,,

 

[panthermike]

You know, this could be a massive Youtube hit. Buy a vehicle and then drive across the country looking for parts and fix it before you get back to 'home base'.

@GON , seriously, love reading about your adventures.

 

[Nayov]

My 2001 Ranger Edge had a chipped key , so not sure why they said Ford started that in '08.

 

[LDB]

Another interesting adventure to follow. Out of curiosity, did you calculate mpg on the trip back?

 

[GON]

Another interesting adventure to follow. Out of curiosity, did you calculate mpg on the trip back?

The truck has excellent tools for using technology to calculate fuel mileage. Displays average MPG for past 30 minutes.

15.5 MPG overall. as low as 14 at 75MPH, as high at 16.7 at lower published highway speeds. This MPG was many times through mountain passes at high published speeds. This is a very large truck- I was impressed to say the least. Beat the mileage by far of my 5.4l v3 SD, and my V10 SD.

Of note, here is a picture of the estimated mileage before fuel runs out. It is a dynamic number based on fuel economy for the past 30 minutes. The 48 gallon tank is super nice to have, one is not continually stopping for fuel, or needing so stop in a high priced fuel area. I stopped for fuel to rest- never because I was at risk of running low on fuel.

This picture also shows mileage going through Northern New Mexico (15.6MPG for past 30 minutes).

 

[panthermike]

Wow that range is nice and you're right not bad for a truck of that size at those speeds. Also I'm sure those off-road tires affect the fuel economy to some degree.

 

[GON]

Wow that range is nice and you're right not bad for a truck of that size at those speeds. Also I'm sure those off-road tires affect the fuel economy to some degree.

PM,

That is something I would like to change- put OEM or equivalent tires on this truck. Can't justify it- have a lot of other things on this truck that need attention and money. I am a big fan of quiet tires and OEM spec tires on trucks.

 

[mrsilv04]

PM,

That is something I would like to change- put OEM or equivalent tires on this truck. Can't justify it- have a lot of other things on this truck that need attention and money. I am a big fan of quiet tires and OEM spec tires on trucks.

Start looking for some like new OE tires that someone took off... then sell what you have now.

 

[JWC86]

PM,

That is something I would like to change- put OEM or equivalent tires on this truck. Can't justify it- have a lot of other things on this truck that need attention and money. I am a big fan of quiet tires and OEM spec tires on trucks.

Keep a eye out for OEM take offs. People sell them for next to nothing.

 

[Number_35]

@GON, like the others here, I've really enjoyed following your adventures with vehicles, and your thoughts on real estate.

So, after months and months of wondering, I must ask, what is your day job? It sounds like you work for long intensive stretches that take you all over the world, followed by time off that allows you to pursue these wonderful vehicular adventures.

Secondly, have you narrowed down where you want to retire to? As I recall, you wanted to be as close as possible to grandchildren, but found the western U.S. housing market to be very pricey.

 

[Fla]

Wow that range is nice and you're right not bad for a truck of that size at those speeds. Also I'm sure those off-road tires affect the fuel economy to some degree.

Good point! I'm on a couple of F-150 forums and a LOT of people there have noticed that larger and/or heavier tires really hurts the MPG. I don't know if that's still true for the F-350s but I suspect that it is.

 

[CKN]

Good point! I'm on a couple of F-150 forums and a LOT of people there have noticed that larger and/or heavier tires really hurts the MPG. I don't know if that's still true for the F-350s but I suspect that it is.

The law of physics says it is true.......

 

[We're Metals]

@GON I registered just to say I like following your threads

 

[Fla]

The law of physics says it is true.......

I don't think that very many people realize how well TUNED a modern vehicle is, from the factory, to the tire size and a lot of other items on the vehicle. They think that they can just throw on larger or heavier tires and it wouldn't affect the performance (including MPG). That's simply not true any more. The factories are pushing to get even .01 MPG improvement and are installing air dams, setting the vehicle heights, rake angle and thousand other fine details to get every bit of mileage that they can so changing tire size can have a big impact.

Heavier tires, even when they're the same size as the OEM tires, really kills MPG in stop and go situations such as in town driving. My bone stock f-150 gets 20+ MPH on the open road even at 70+ MPH, but about 14 when I'm driving in town.

 

[meep]

Man this is so true… the precision of tuning. TC partial engagement, top gear use at low speeds, shift strategy, all gets a little wonky if you are paying attention.

I’ll also give @GON a shout out - love your posts and adventures and your thoughts on things as you go through them!

 

[BHopkins]

Hour from home. Stopped in a construction zone.

The biggest unknown. Why are the rear seats headrests still in the truck? One likely needs the headrests to sell the rear seats.

Next would be why is there a patch at the left tail light wires. Makes , zero sense. And no words damaged whatsoever when the center pulled.

I have speculation on this, would enjoy your thoughts on these three items.

@GON , I have a theory on the headrests. Perhaps removing the headrests makes it easier to get the seats out of the truck. Then the headrests were left, because it simply wasn't important to get rid of them.

 

[ctechbob]

Man this is so true… the precision of tuning. TC partial engagement, top gear use at low speeds, shift strategy, all gets a little wonky if you are paying attention.

I’ll also give @GON a shout out - love your posts and adventures and your thoughts on things as you go through them!

Totally agree. That's why, within reason, you take 3 brand new trucks. Lets say a Ranger, F150 with the 27 or 3.5, and F250 with the 7.3 gas, hook them up to equal loads, and tow with them. I'd be willing to bet a nice steak dinner that if they all traveled at the same speed, with their 10 speed transmissions, all of the MPG outcomes would be close to the same.

We've gotten to the point with the transmissions and tuning that we're able to operate the vehicles right at where they're most efficient and at that point, it is a physics/math problem where it takes X amount of energy to move Y load at Z speed and the outcomes are all close to the same.

I've been seeing that lately towing our travel trailer. People with bigger trucks are getting almost identical mileage towing similar trailers regardless of the engines (Gas only, diesel is a different math problem given higher compression and higher fuel density)

 

[GON]

@GON, like the others here, I've really enjoyed following your adventures with vehicles, and your thoughts on real estate.

So, after months and months of wondering, I must ask, what is your day job? It sounds like you work for long intensive stretches that take you all over the world, followed by time off that allows you to pursue these wonderful vehicular adventures.

Secondly, have you narrowed down where you want to retire to? As I recall, you wanted to be as close as possible to grandchildren, but found the western U.S. housing market to be very pricey.

N35, I will start a separate thread on my day job, retirement location, and my next job.

And since you are in Manitoba, had one of the most memorable experiences of my life fishing north of the 60th parallel in Manitoba in 1981. You live in "god's country".