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2wd pickup at boat ramps


tomkat

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Buy a 4x4! I was driving an Uplander at the time, was stuck on a gravel ramp at a remote lake for 4 hours. I walked 2 kms to the highway, hitch hiked to the local truck stop, found a friend who would help out with his Chevy 4x4. I offered him money - he refused. This year I dropped off a case of beer at his camp. I swore up & down I'd never go back to that particular lake unless I had a 4x4 under me. I recently purchased a 2008 King Ranch. Awesome truck to drive. Been to my favourite lake with the gravel/sandy launch no issues & more importantly - peace of mind.

Did I mention I love my King Ranch!!

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Buy a 4x4! I was driving an Uplander at the time, was stuck on a gravel ramp at a remote lake for 4 hours. I walked 2 kms to the highway, hitch hiked to the local truck stop, found a friend who would help out with his Chevy 4x4. I offered him money - he refused. This year I dropped off a case of beer at his camp. I swore up & down I'd never go back to that particular lake unless I had a 4x4 under me. I recently purchased a 2008 King Ranch. Awesome truck to drive. Been to my favourite lake with the gravel/sandy launch no issues & more importantly - peace of mind.

Did I mention I love my King Ranch!!

those sure are nice trucks

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A 2wd truck will do pretty good if you know how to drive it. Throw some weight in the back, plus the weight of the boat on the trailer, and you'd be surprised what it can do.

 

All that said, I won't ever drive anything that doesn't turn all 4 wheels. So much easier on the vehicle too.

 

S.

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Alright I give up even the wife says get 4x4 I was just gonna go bare bones f150 base to keep the price down but will probably keep it 10 yrs anyway so maybe I should splurge a bit. Thanks for the input

Good choice! The gas mileage difference will be minimal, but the benefits of the 4x4 are tremendous the odd time you REALLY need it! I couldn't imagine my truck as a purely 2wd vehicle. Have fun with the new ride!

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F150, say it isn't true. Look at them all, especially a Chevy, please. There are great deals out there now on 2013's. I bought a new Chevy in November of 2011 and it was about 10K less then the equivalent F150 then with all the rebates for cash and retire your ride. I may have gone Ford if not for the pricing. I didn't even consider Chrysler because of a business partners bad customer service experience and 2 trannys in as many years shortly after the warranty was up.

 

Good shopping and enjoy the new ride even if it is a Ford!

Edited by Old Ironmaker
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Quick question. Not to hijack the thread.

 

Is it a bad idea for me to purchase a 2wd ford ranger to tow a 16 ft hydrostream boat with? Probably 1000 or 1500 lbs i guess.

 

Issue is i probably cant afford an awd f150, and i have not too much driving experience (17 years old).

no, it's not a bad idea, I'm on my 4th Ranger (2 were 4wd, 2 were 2wd), I don't have any experience with the 4 cylinder engine though

 

unlike most of the other posters, I'm happy with the decision to save the $$$ and have a 2wd pick-up, for what I do, it's rare to need the 4x4, the extra cost was about $4k, there's added weight, more moving parts and the potential for more repairs

 

if money wasn't a factor, for sure I'd have a 4x4

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I have had a 2wd chev quad cab for 7 years, my boat package is close to 3500lbs lund package, in the 3 years i have owned this boat and the 4 previous years with a smaller boat, i have never had one issue pulling out of a boat ramp, or even close with spinning tires. that being said I rarely fish when it is freezing out, so april to nov in southern ontario, I think you would be fine

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Quick question. Not to hijack the thread.

 

Is it a bad idea for me to purchase a 2wd ford ranger to tow a 16 ft hydrostream boat with? Probably 1000 or 1500 lbs i guess.

 

Issue is i probably cant afford an awd f150, and i have not too much driving experience (17 years old).

 

I have a customer here that has towed his 16 foot glass boat with a 4 cylinder Ranger for years. When he first started dealing with me, he had me weld up a hitch receiver to the front of the truck. That's so when he got to the launch, he would unhook the boat from the back and hook it to the front of his truck. Said he never gets stuck, there's a lot more torque in reverse for pulling out of the ramp and he admitted that he couldn't back a trailer up "normally" if his life depended on it. LOL

He has a topper on the truck and a bit of weight in the box and I think that is his saving grace for not getting stuck.

 

Dan.

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Glad you have decided to look at the 4X4 options.

 

Just bought a 2013 sierra because fo all of the incentives and 0% financing and dont regrett it at all. There are wicked deals out there right now if you look for them. I previousely had a 2004 F150 Lariat and it was a great truck for pulling and all around familly use. The only reason I got rid of it was because it was starting to cost a lot to keep it on the road and it had no rockers or cab corners left. It had 200K on it when I got rid of it.

 

The one weird thing I found is that my F150 sat about 2-4 inches higher than my new sierra (I even have the z71 off road package) which make it difficult to take the boat off of the hitch in my Garage. I had turn the portion of the hitch that holds the ball around and re install the ball to get the clearence I need to get my trailer jack to click into place. I plan on jacking it up a bit when the warranty runs out but for now, it works fine.

 

I personally have only had to use 4X4 at a ramp once but I fish the same bodies of water and launch in the same areas most of the time. The biggest issue I have come to see is the degree on incline on gravel or muddy launches. Other than that, I usually launch in 2wd.

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Glad you changed your mind , like others have said it only takes one time to get stuck either at a boat ramp (very embarrassing) or in the bush (major pain in the :asshat: ) and you would be wishing you had spent that extra money on 4WD . Good luck with your purchase and enjoy !

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Actually it's technically all wheel drive, but yes they are much more capable than a 2wd pickup.

Just ask the guy in Alaska with the 4wd suburban who got stuck on the beach and me with my widdle Honda got his arse unstuck and pulled out. :lol:

It pulls my boat, camper and snowmobile trailers just fine too. ;)

 

Subhunter_zpsf3b62e79.jpg

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Sure they do - ridgeline. It's not a full size, but it's an extremely capable and reliable light pick-up that'll tow about 5k lbs, plus it has 4wd.

I think Raf was implying the Ridgeline isn't a "real truck"

 

it's funny, once you get out of the city, nobody buys Ridgelines or Avalanches

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I think Raf was implying the Ridgeline isn't a "real truck"

 

it's funny, once you get out of the city, nobody buys Ridgelines or Avalanches

 

Yep. Unibody = wannabe truck :whistling: Apparently Ford is switching to unibody in 2015 and I imagine those who use trucks for work/offroading will sway away from Ford for that reason.

 

 

After owning a 2wd truck for a few years and now having a 4wd truck for a couple years, I will never own a 2wd vehicle ever again and can't understand why anyone in Ontario would even consider a 2wd truck over a 4x4. Adding weight to the back does increase traction, but it will never compare to a 4x4.

 

Life is just so much easier when you can turn a knob and have power to 4 tires...

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I drive a 4x4 dodge ram 1500 I tow a 18.5 smokercraft. Only once have I had to use the 4x4 to get my boat out of the water..That was when the water was low and I had to almost put the truck in the water to get the boat on the trailer. So ya 2wd you will be ok 95% of the time its that 5 % that would scare me..lol

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