This could also be titled “A Sincere Thank You to Mike Mikelle and GMoose”….
Readers who make it through my long-winded posts know occasionally I take Tucker to task for what I consider to be failings in design, "engineering” or manufacturing. My ire is not confined to Tucker, Inc, and the following is an example of that:
Sunday morning at The Serenade Mike Mikelle and I had our trucks parked "beak-to-beak”. We were chatting and he asked if I had hit a deer with my truck. I have a winch bumper and 15,000 lb winch mounted to the front, and I knew it was slightly askew. So without looking at the truck, I told him Scott and I had bent the frame on the truck where the bumper attaches a few years previously while winching aspen trees out of my yard. After our conversation ended I walked back to my truck and the bumper wasn’t slightly askew, it was seriously tilted! Looking at where the bumper bolts to the frame on the right side, I could see the welded factory frame bracket had broken and the bumper was now hanging from the left side bracket only.
While snowcatting during the day I thought about the bumper and how to get it safely secured for the drive home. Scott and I discussed using a spare ratchet strap to hold the broken end up. But that seemed kind of hokey. After returning to the parking lot I looked at the left side mounting and saw more cracks. After some discussion I convinced Scott of the wisdom of removing the bumper entirely. We asked GMoose for some muscle assistance, and the three of us made it happen.
Pics are necessary.
Here’s the right side. The winch bumper, winch and cable are about 320 pounds.
Here’s the left side. Check out those cracks. Not much left holding the bumper on…
.
On the drive home I started thinking about the bumper, and what might have happened if Mike hadn’t pointed out the bumper’s odd angle. What would have, or could have, happened if that fell off at 75 MPH? No matter what - I think it would have been “ugly”, and it could quite easily have been "catastrophic".
Many people add winches to their trucks, as well as snowplows, etc. Certainly Ford knows this, and if you have a winch, you’re either pulling yourself to something, or pulling something to you. Either way the loads and stresses involved can be huge. Note to Ford: If your frame brackets are this lame you should add a warning to let people know they’re essentially "ornamental only” and not meant for actual use.
So much for “Built Ford Tough”...
Readers who make it through my long-winded posts know occasionally I take Tucker to task for what I consider to be failings in design, "engineering” or manufacturing. My ire is not confined to Tucker, Inc, and the following is an example of that:
Sunday morning at The Serenade Mike Mikelle and I had our trucks parked "beak-to-beak”. We were chatting and he asked if I had hit a deer with my truck. I have a winch bumper and 15,000 lb winch mounted to the front, and I knew it was slightly askew. So without looking at the truck, I told him Scott and I had bent the frame on the truck where the bumper attaches a few years previously while winching aspen trees out of my yard. After our conversation ended I walked back to my truck and the bumper wasn’t slightly askew, it was seriously tilted! Looking at where the bumper bolts to the frame on the right side, I could see the welded factory frame bracket had broken and the bumper was now hanging from the left side bracket only.
While snowcatting during the day I thought about the bumper and how to get it safely secured for the drive home. Scott and I discussed using a spare ratchet strap to hold the broken end up. But that seemed kind of hokey. After returning to the parking lot I looked at the left side mounting and saw more cracks. After some discussion I convinced Scott of the wisdom of removing the bumper entirely. We asked GMoose for some muscle assistance, and the three of us made it happen.
Pics are necessary.
Here’s the right side. The winch bumper, winch and cable are about 320 pounds.
Here’s the left side. Check out those cracks. Not much left holding the bumper on…
.
On the drive home I started thinking about the bumper, and what might have happened if Mike hadn’t pointed out the bumper’s odd angle. What would have, or could have, happened if that fell off at 75 MPH? No matter what - I think it would have been “ugly”, and it could quite easily have been "catastrophic".
Many people add winches to their trucks, as well as snowplows, etc. Certainly Ford knows this, and if you have a winch, you’re either pulling yourself to something, or pulling something to you. Either way the loads and stresses involved can be huge. Note to Ford: If your frame brackets are this lame you should add a warning to let people know they’re essentially "ornamental only” and not meant for actual use.
So much for “Built Ford Tough”...