Ford F-150 of lathes?

great white said:
Oh no, they revived the maverick name plate on a truck?

Oh the humanity....
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Yes, it is going for the Honda Ridgeline segment of the market. It would actually probably be a decent compact truck (a real compact not 90% of full size) if they offered a proper 6-1/2 foot short bed option instead of just a silly 4-1/2 foot bed.
 
I suppose my Takisawa TSL-800 coming from a Japanese base design, is more of a Toyota, or more like my Lexus LS430, the older model. Not sexy or over styled, great features, smooth smooth smooth…just so nice to use. And is good for 300K or 400K miles.
 
Aaron David said:
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An F150 isn't a fleet or commercial vehicle. You would need to step it up to at bare minimum to an F350/E350 to deal with commercial use/abuse. The reason I am saying this is your example is for a homeowner, and the SB fits that perfectly. Plenty of parts, several people make new parts/accessories, it is easy to learn on, and with the belt drive, pretty forgiving. And, most importantly, you can do good work on it.
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So in 2016 I needed a truck for my business. I bought a 1980 F100! True I needed a 3/4 or 1 ton but this is what I could afford and what I felt I could develop.
Yes she has air bag leveling system but she was used when I bought it and worked hard for four years before retirement.
Yes I have a 1 ton now but the first four years we worked hard together.
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sdelivery said:
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Mavericks are cool!

Especially with the grabber hood and a built 302/351 under the hood.

I'd love to build one but they're as rare as hens teeth in these parts. Guy up the road has a "Stallion" version sitting in a field, but it's pretty much beyond saving. Rust from about the belt line down, even the firewall and cowl would need to be replaced. Heck, anything over about 10-15 years old is a rust bucket. Anything you find from the 60's/70's is either a barn find or garage queen. All others have "returned to the earth".....
 
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sdelivery said:
P.S. let's see your 36 year old Tundra carry twice its weight rating, nearly half of its empty weight....
Finest On the Road Daddy
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I always had E series 250 work vans when I worked That said, I am also a Chevy/Pontiac guy since day one and always had Chevy 1500/2500 Suburban / pick-ups but in 2016 I decided to try a Ford F150 crew cab for a change.I did this because thinking about how well the E 250s were and reliable they were for work, so I'm still a GM guy but will stay with the ford trucks. Granted I am experiencing trans problems with the 10 speed trans, But it's still a better truck then my previous Chevy crews. I must admit to still owning a 1990 Chevy R3500 crew with an 8' bed, but that's my toy.
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South Bend lathes are too old to be the "F-150". You'd have to go back to the F-100 or earlier models, with the twin I-beam front suspension (or even with front king pins on a solid axle), a standard transmission and transfer case, and locking hubs that you have to switch while standing in the mud. Don't forget the peeling paint and the rust in the bed. These vehicles would still be running if the floor pans hadn't rotted out--they were mechanically very solid as long as one knew the engine would need rebuilding every 100,000 miles. But few have them now because they are more project than daily driver, and they are a lot of work to maintain and to drive. I suspect that description sweeps up most South Bend lathes of old (including mine), which are plentiful to hobbyists precisely because they are too old, too hard to maintain, and too poorly featured for commercial applications.

I owned (from new) an '84 F100 with a manual transmission that was too light to pull my (small) race-car trailer, resulting in me having to replace the clutch at frequent intervals. That sounds about right for a late South Bend, but that was probably the last time the comparison really held up.

A modern F-150 (and I have the SUV version--an Expedition EL) has too much dependence on software-driven technology to be as reliable and sustainable as a South Bend lathe is for hobbyists. Few owners of modern Fords do all their own maintenance any more. The newer engines are better--when Detroit learned how to bore round holes (and other improvements) engines started lasting 200,000 miles routinely instead of 100,000 miles. (Although my Expedition's 5.4L V8 dropped a valve and lunched the engine at 117k--which would have been a disaster had I not purchased the extended warranty.) My Expy has also had a failure of the "smart junction box" which parked it at a dealer for a week 1500 miles from home, forcing me to fly across country and then fly back to fetch it. And I've repaired a range of electrical issues myself, including a ground pin on a plug going to the passenger's heated seat that burned up and charred everything around it. I think these sorts of problems have no parallel in the machining world that hobbyists inhabit with machines made in the USA. Maybe the stories I'm reading lately about Haas mills bears some analogous resemblance to modern Fords, but I can't think of a lathe in that category. Lathes that are like current Fords (including the reliability problems inherent in too much dependence on software-driven technology) seem to be made elsewhere.

True heavy American iron lathes of Yore were less like Ford light-duty trucks and more like Peterbilt or Mack commercial trucks.

Rick "car comparisons are always contentious" Denney
 
Ford
great white said:
Mavericks are cool!

Especially with the grabber hood and a built 302/351 under the hood.

I'd love to build one but they're as rare as hens teeth in these parts. Guy up the road has a "Stallion" version sitting in a field, but it's pretty much beyond saving. Rust from about the belt line down, even the firewall and cowl would need to be replaced. Heck, anything over about 10-15 years old is a rust bucket. Anything you find from the 60's/70's is either a barn find or garage queen. All others have "returned to the earth".....
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