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The driver has a lumbar support knob you can adjust as well.
It's been a while since I've had anything to say, but I've been monitoring. I saw where there is now an investigation into the Steeltex tires that come as OEM equipment on our trucks. Two questions:
1) Anyone having problems with them?
2) Anyone know where I can find info on this beside the Firestone site? I don't expect that site to be exactly unbiased and cutting edge on a possible recall/investigation.
FYI: My 00 4x4 CC with V10, auto and 3.73 gave me 14.7 mpg on a 300 mile road trip the other day. Cool weather, no a/c, windows up, average speed about 60 with one hour @ 75-80. Flat country here in Georgia. That's as good as my old 94 F150 4x4 w/5.0 auto gave me. Thanks for any help on the tire issue.
PS- I had the stumble one morning. I eased up my driveway with a cold engine. When I got on it and then immediately off and right back on it, it darn near died. Like it had an old manual choke that was not opened. When it caught, it hasn't done it since (15,000 miles later). I suspect I addled it's little brain with the footwork and a cold engine.
NHTSA Opens Probe into another Firestone Tire Brand
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received more than 160 complaints about another Firestone brand of tires reportedly involved in accidents in which two people died and a dozen were injured.
"The majority of the complaints occurred at highway speeds and allege a blowout, tread separation or other major failure," NHTSA said in its investigation report about the Steeltex R4S and A/T light truck tires.
The tires are original equipment on Ford F250 and F350 pickups, the Ford Excursion, General Motors' Suburban and G Van, a commercial vehicle.
A spokesman for Ford, Mike Vaughn, said the tires are used on all 75,760 Excursions and 40 percent of the F-series trucks and Econoline vans. Vaughn said Ford is cooperating with NHTSA's investigation.
Similar reports led Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. to issue a recall of 6.5 million Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires last month. Those tires, standard equipment on the Ford Explorer, have been linked to 101 U.S. traffic deaths and more than 400 injuries.
Bridgestone/Firestone officials say they still have not determined the cause of the problems but have focused their investigation on manufacturing shortcomings at its plant in Decatur, Ill.
The R4S is a mud and snow tire and the A/T is an all-terrain tire with an aggressive tread. Both models are available in 15-, 16- and 16.5-inch sizes.
NHTSA had no estimate of how many of the tires have been produced. Bridgestone/Firestone did not respond to repeated requests for a total figure.
Bridgestone/Firestone officials appeared caught off guard by Friday's announcement. They later issued a statement stressing the investigation "is not a finding of a defect but rather is a process to determine the facts surrounding complaints that have been filed with NHTSA."
Spokeswoman Anitra Budd said the company "will continue to have a policy of being open and responsive" to NHTSA.
NHTSA, the agency in charge of auto safety, has seen a surge in tire complaints since the Firestone recall was announced.
"Obviously, there's certainly a heightened sense of awareness about tire problems, and we've seen an increase of complaints across the board," said an NHTSA official who did not want to be identified. "However, this increase is much more significant than we've gotten with any other brand."
NHTSA's investigation report showed a total of 169 complaints involving the Firestone tires since Jan. 1, 1998, with all but two occurring in the last two months.
GM spokesman Greg Martin said his company had received "no reports or any information that suggests any problems with these tires."
"We monitor the performance of our tires, and we haven't seen any indication of a problem," he said.
Ford received harsh criticism after the Firestone recall was announced because it acknowledged ordering its own recall of the same tires in 16 other countries after receiving reports of problems. The foreign recalls began more than a year before the U.S. recall, but Ford never alerted NHTSA.
Bridgestone/Firestone has been criticized for not ordering a recall sooner, even though the company's data on claims for injuries and property damage indicated problems with the tires at least as early as 1997.
NHTSA also has been faulted for not being more vigilant in its oversight of the companies.
NHTSA opens any investigation with a preliminary inquiry in which it gathers information from the manufacturer. The investigation can continue to an engineering analysis, where government engineers examine the product. That is the stage of NHTSA's investigation into the ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires. An investigation eventually can lead to a recall.
Bridgestone/Firestone voluntarily recalled the 6.5 million tires but balked at NHTSA's request to add another 1.4 million more tires. NHTSA issued a consumer advisory for those tires on Sept. 1, saying they had a high failure rate and could pose a safety problem.
___
On the Net:
Bridgestone/Firestone: http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com
Ford Motor Co.: http://www.ford.com
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov
mac24 ... thanks for the heads-up on the R4S tires .... I have them and the only problems I've had is they seem to be nail magnets. Have had three nails in tires in 9 months.
regarding the tire issue i have the 265/75 tires and not noticed any problems with them i run about 70-75 psi in mine.
Two months later, we were on that same stretch of hwy in Springfield (we live in Tulsa about 3 hours away), and we started to get the thumping noise again. This time we pulled off and there was a bubble in the tread. Firestone gave me a prorated discount on some new tires.
I found it stange that the recall of these tires were also '96 tires. Seems to me some lack of QC in 95-96. Anybody know where these tires are made? Are they the same location as the recalled tires? General tires came with the F-250, but our Excursion has the Steeltex tires on them.
Yep, my V10 fires up like my foot is on the gas and immediately settles down to an idle. Always has (15,000 miles in 8 months-2000 F-250)
were holding there own to the time I sold it. I see the guy is still running them, must have a few miles on them by now, I had 35,000 before I sold it. The downside of this size tire is there expensive to replace with an E rating. The Gsa's go for $176 a peice. I'm open to other tire suggestions.
I know this is an isolated case of the thousands of SD's produced, but instead of me winning the lottery, I got this. But I was told there is one other simular case, that still has not been resolved.
Again, please forgive my venting.
P.S. My truck used to start up as if injected with nitros oxide on occasion and then sputter.
2000 sd v10 cc lariat sb 4x4
good luck
EEE
AMUSINGLY, I RECEIVED THE FORD EXTENDED SERVICE PLAN THAT I COULD BUY IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY. I CAN'T WAIT TO CALL THEM AND ASK FOR IT COMPLEMENTARY AFTER ALL OF THE INCONVENIENCE I HAVE EXPERIENCED WITH ONLY 5K MILES.
THANKS ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND INFO.
P.S. WHERE IS THE MAF LOCATED, JUST IN CASE?
He said that as the truck sits overnight and gets some moisture on the belt pulleys that a thin layer of rust builds up. And the noise is due to that and goes away when the rust wears off. Now this is a very serious old man, I don't know if he was blowing smoke or not!!
Since I have my fleet business with his shop, I wouldn't think he would but who knows!
It is interesting that several of us with 2k's are hearing the same thing in the cold.
I locked up the tires (left front slid on the pain t lines) but was only down to about 20mph when I felt the thud resonate through the frame..
I pulled over to inspect the damage..
The deer was either thrown or stumbled about 10 feet off to the side of the road and didn't make it any farther..
I was almost afraid to look at the front of the SD.
Amazingly enough, virtually no damage at all.. There's a slight dent just above the right tow hook where the plastic/metal meet. It wasn't pushed back, down, or toward the wheel at all. Most folks wouldn't even notice it.. Measuring the height of the dent and comparing it to a normal car, the deer would have made contact with the grille/hood.
Be careful out there.
I've heard rumors that the front bumpers on the SD's were really weak, but in this case it seemed to hold up well. I bet had it primarly hit farther to the right it might have pushed the bumper back some, but because the main hit was near the frame
up coming from there instead of ford?) if all else
fails from the factory, from a testimony of this
new shift flare fix kit at ford-diesel.com:
"Hi all monty here with the lates test on the
shift flare kit, all i can say is "JUST DO IT" YOU
WON'T BELEVE IT.. "(he goes on into installation
procedures)
"..REMOVE THAT BIG SMILE FROM YOUR FACE.!!
We have just finished the final test for the shift
flare valve kit. It was tested in a stock Ford
F350 no computer chips, no modified exhaust, and a
new transmission ( with a very bad shift flare.)
Truck was driven for about a week, and
approximately 1,000 miles, transmission shifts
have been spot on every time. With no hesitations
or flare. Weather towing a trailer or empty shifts
are consistant.The lock up shift with this new kit
is unbelievable, very positive every time. Fuel
milage was increased 1 mile per gal. over previous
milage, this would be due to the positive shifts
and no lag time."
-- this kit's available from http://www.riley-enterprises.com/ it's not on the
web page but there's a toll free # you can call
(he's on vacation right now, but he says he
still checks and returns messages)
my trucks at the dealer right now and if it still
has the problem, i'm gonna go with this (hopefully
i won't have to)..
THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR HELP.
SD 250 4 X 4 CC LARIAT AUTO, LS 3.73 V10
I have a SD 350 with the stock plastic box rails on it. I have had a cap (canopy) put on the truck and had an ongoing problem with leaks coming in between the plastic box rails and the bottom of the canopy. They used the foam tape when they put the canopy on the truck, and we have been back several times now for them to try resealing it. They are now claiming that it has to do with the ridges in the plastic box rails. I have trouble seeing this because the ridges run lengthwise. I'm sure there must be lots of you with canopies on your SD trucks, so I wanted to see if anyone else has this problem, or more important, if you DON't have a problem so I can go back to the canopy manufacturer.
Steeltex - In reading the horror stories on Ford-Diesel I went and got some BFG AT KOs. Not worth the risk in my book to keep running the Steeltex. Saving the Steeltex in the barn for the possible recall. WHopefully it will work out because I wanted some more aggressive tread anyway. Had just under 8000 miles with no problems - but one never knows. We feel much better cruising down the road now a days.
I have the Pace-Edwards rolltop cover on my F250. Under the cover I have the stock plastic rail covers on the bed. My cover leaked until I took those rails off and siliconed them back down. water was coming in between the bed and rails as I was driving down the road.
Hope this helps.
I also had a 97 F350 Diesel and went thru three tranny's in a few weeks, one (new one)lasted two hours. They found the routing of the coolings lines restricted the flow to the out-put shaft and it was getting hot and seizing up. Just flat stripped the shaft. I unloaded it after they fixed it. Took a beating though.
Now this one is acting up at 43K. It acts like it wants to shift and then doesn't. I have a hard time getting it to go into reverse and the "OFF" like blinks on the OD.
I have a MaxRPM chip in it. I removed it just in case it was causing the problem but it still exists. By the way, MaxRPM chip adds 100HP and I forget how much torque. A go getter.
Anyone else having tranny problems, lets hear it. I'll keep you posted if I find out anything.
Bowhunter in IN.
So by adding alot of torque/hp wouldn't you be going over the 'documented' limit of the 4r100? I'm sure the tranny folks have some buffer built into the numbers, but I'm wondering if your hi performance mods aren't contributing to the demise of your tranny?
Also, a 100hp gain seems to good to be true..