My father doesn’t need a heavy-duty truck. This thing is dying a slow and painful death (it runs fine but that’s where my compliments end):
In my lifetime of 37 years he’s had three plow trucks. Approximately 25% of each of these trucks has returned to the earth on my parents’ property or elsewhere before being finally retired. See?
And this truck is MILES better than the last one, a 1985 F-150 whose frame literally broke in half while I was driving it - by the way I kept plowing with it like that for the rest of the year - the one before that was a 1967 Scout whose body was nearly detached from its frame, it had no heat, well, no rear end at all, but of course it ran great. The last two had zero brakes by the time we got rid of them. The F-150 caught fire once while I was plowing (nest in the heater core).
He likes using the F-250 for moving gravel and rocks and stuff, and it’s sure better than a half-ton for that. But he drove a 2002 F350 the other day - a friend loaned it to us - and he thought it was “too big.” I have news, the modern F-350 and F-250 aren’t that different, if at all, from a driver’s perspective - if at all. They’re both big.
My point is, he doesn’t need a big truck. He’s got a 1979 F100 for Truck Things in the summer. We have friends with heavy trucks (dump trucks, even) and there are businesses who will bring you two yards of rocks if you want. Sure they’ll charge you but not as much as the ownership costs of a seldom-used F-250 that’s a constant headache. The last few loads of ledge-pack gravel I got cost me a case of beer each.
He needs a Tacoma. It’s a truck, it can do Truck Things, but he can also drive it everywhere. Half the trouble with these other plow trucks is that they sat around, mostly, from April to November. I don’t blame him for not driving a 20 year old 3/4 ton truck 6 miles to get coffee in July. Not to mention, my mother NEVER drives it. But that’s just not good for a vehicle unless it’s in a completely dry, stable place. Not a field. Or the woods. ALSO. He likes manual transmissions, a lot. (where do you think I got it?)
He probably won’t spend the $20k to get a decent Taco with a plow for the 10-15 times a year when we really need a plow, but he’d sure as hell drive it more the other 350 days a year if it didn’t get 8mpg and rattle your damn spine on bumps. And my mother would drive it. She grew up on a farm and likes trucks. But she’s never liked The Plow Truck, in any of its forms.
Tell me I’m wrong. And then please call my father and tell him to buy a manual Tacoma, put a new Fisher plow on it, and like it.