Yes, it senses slippage and computer locks the transfer case up and sends power to front axle. It’s mostly to give you 4WD capability if your rear wheels start slipping while cutting down on front tire wear.
I can assure you Ram has come a long way since 1997.
2012/13 Ford F150s were a pretty nice truck. I had a 2012 Harley Davidson150 with the 6.2 V8 in it. .. I really liked that truck. Super comfortable and had more than enough power. ..I think it was 400 HP or so.
Can't remember GM's tradename on that (Mag something ?).... IIRC, it was something like a ferromagnetic fluid in the shock, that changed viscosity with applied voltage. May have been on Vettes, similar time frame Caddy got it.Wow... talk about a misleading marketing name! I had to go look that up, thinking Chevy was putting both traction control and stability control into their trucks, which would indeed be a high-end feature.
But no... "StabiliTrak" has nothing to do with stability control, it's just GM's lame name for plain old boring traction control.I'm sure that if argued in court, they'd be able to point to some small proprietary feature that justifies not just calling it Traction Control, but it doesn't appear to be anything significant.
Some cars, Cadillac actually pioneered it decades ago, have dynamic viscosity fluid in their shock absorbers to provide stability control by instantly changing the stiffness of the shock absorber on each wheel. Mercedes worked with Billstein to develop another similar technology, now sold as the DampTronic, and used in AMG cars from Mercedes and SRT cars from Dodge. It would actually be useful in a pickup truck to limit body roll in corners or to stiffen rear shocks when load is increased through towing or hauling, but not a cheap upgrade on already expensive heavy duty suspension.
I will admit I didn't like the F150s from the 90s when they made them more "car like" with the aerodynamic sloped front end. A friend had one, and every time I got in the passenger side I would hit my head on the handle that stuck out from the a pillar. Fortunately the handle doesn't stick out like that on my 2013. I'm sure all trucks have come a long way since 97. Every manufacturer has had and will have issues from time to time. They will change and adapt. Other than too much tech and government regulations the overall reliability of even the worst trucks is better than in the 70s and 80s. I honestly have not driven a Ram in years and was curious about the newer ones. My 97 had the 5.9 gasser, and it still ran perfectly smooth when the transmission died. I parked it at 225k with the rest of the truck falling apart. I had gotten tired of working on it all the time.
In those 80s trucks ABS stood for anti braking system.
Back in the 90s I did a lot of work for a Dodge dealer and would trade out Ram 1500s every year or so for a new one. Never kept them past 20k miles. They were all the rage back then with the new body style. We also had a number of 7.3 F350s. ..That E4OD trans was not up to the challenge behind that motor. They would grenade at 70k miles like clockwork.
Have you priced used trucks lately?
That is handy. Another feature mine has that I really appreciate is a fulltime 4WD setting. I still go with full 4WD off road, but this is great for winter driving...I just leave it in that mode all winter. I think all GM trucks have had this since the late 00s, a colleague had a '12 Silverado and it had it too. Dunno about other mfgrs.
Maybe do, but the diesel truck will bring 50% more for resale.Have you priced used trucks lately?
When I bought my Colorado I sold my old Dakota to a neighbor who used to own a body shop. Mechanically, the truck was solid but it had quite a bit of rust (cab corners, rockers, front fenders...frame was OK). He fixed the rust and re-sold it for a little over $8k. Not bad for a 25 year old truck with a quarter million miles on it.
My 018 Colorado doesn't.
I have a 1999 F150 that I bought from a friend who was the original owner.. it’s a 5.4 Lariat extra cab 4x4… coming up on 195k miles. .. about 7 or 8 years ago I bought it for 2k with 135k miles on it.. and today I’m into it foe entirely too much money with all I have done to it.. probably close to 17-18k… if I get 250k out of it.. I’ll consider myself whole and move on .You're not comparing today's pickups to those from a few decades ago are you?
The OP photo was pretty old.
A Ford TT truck had a 20 HP motor. While it may have been able to pull a lot, I believe it had a worm drive and wouldn't be able to go very fast. Just forget trying to get it up to freeway speeds.
We never had AC in any vehicle up until the 1990's or so. Certainly not the old pickups. That was what the vent windows were for.
I don't remember the MPG of our old half ton Chevy, but I heard stories of slightly larger pickups getting well below 10 MPG. My current RAM 1500 gets over 20 MPG empty, and likely can beat my old AMC Hornet wagon, as well as my old Ford Ranger 4 banger.
There is a reason why Service Stations have all but vanished, mostly replaced by mini-marts.
100,000 mile tune-up? When was the last time you had to hunt down some sand paper or a nail file to clean up your points? Even Spark Plugs are getting better.
I have had a few trailer flats, but I am having troubles remembering my last flat. I think I had a tread delam on my 1999 F150 a few years ago. Oh, I did plug my Transit Connect tire too. Anyway, reliability everywhere is going up.
New gas stations have been banned here for years and should one close zoning will not permit replacement.You're not comparing today's pickups to those from a few decades ago are you?
The OP photo was pretty old.
A Ford TT truck had a 20 HP motor. While it may have been able to pull a lot, I believe it had a worm drive and wouldn't be able to go very fast. Just forget trying to get it up to freeway speeds.
We never had AC in any vehicle up until the 1990's or so. Certainly not the old pickups. That was what the vent windows were for.
I don't remember the MPG of our old half ton Chevy, but I heard stories of slightly larger pickups getting well below 10 MPG. My current RAM 1500 gets over 20 MPG empty, and likely can beat my old AMC Hornet wagon, as well as my old Ford Ranger 4 banger.
There is a reason why Service Stations have all but vanished, mostly replaced by mini-marts.
100,000 mile tune-up? When was the last time you had to hunt down some sand paper or a nail file to clean up your points? Even Spark Plugs are getting better.
I have had a few trailer flats, but I am having troubles remembering my last flat. I think I had a tread delam on my 1999 F150 a few years ago. Oh, I did plug my Transit Connect tire too. Anyway, reliability everywhere is going up.
I wouldn't be surprised either. I remember one time I hit the brakes in my 85 S10 like I used to in my old truck, and all I felt was the brakes pulsing. I had no way to stop, and did not lock up the wheels. I don't think I would have hit the car in front of me in my other truck. No one explained ABS or told me anything about it when I bough the S10. If I had seen it in action and not stopping I would have shopped elsewhere.
Westbound in my 1st Dakota with an inch of snow on the ground, I topped a hill 9to find an eastbound lowbed with an excavator in my lane swinging wide to make a right (southerly) turn. I hit the brakes and nothing happened. My passenger was screaming at me to stop but I couldn't. If I'd been alone I would have taken the guardrail on the right. We shoehorned between the two so close that I don't know how we didn't scrape.
