Having worked on trucks for over 35 years and owning several Fords.  I can freely say that Ford trucks are good for only one thing.  Keeping techs employed.  They are always breaking down and around our shop. It is the only 4 letter word we use!  Ford over the years has made some of the stupidest design mistakes I have ever seen on any auto.  Who but Ford would put a fuel filter between a gas tank and a frame rail so you have to change the filter by feel, if you can even get it off.  Then you have to hope you can get the thin o-ring in place.  Or how about trying to get their fuel line apart?  Only Ford is stupid enough to use a garder spring idea to keep their fuel lines together.  When they get dirt in them good luck getting them apart.  Then there are the NEW trident engines that you loose a pound of flesh to change the spark plugs and wires.  Let alone when the treads come out with the plugs.  Ford's problem is one group on engineers can't seem to talk to the other so when they put their cars and trucks together they just shoe horn them together.  So for those of you who think your Ford is so great!  I am glad!  You keep all us techs busy working on your junk!!!  

Ford is not my favorate brand of truck, I prefer late 60's to early 70's Chevy trucks and cars.

The Ford Ranger is my first Ford and it has been pretty good to me. The only part that has failed in 9 years was the alternater. It never to this day has left me stranded.

I change my fuel filter every 30,000 miles and is easily seen on the frame rail. I've never had much of a problem getting it off.

You must not be much of a mechanic if you can't get a fuel filter off. You sound like some of the Ford mechanics at a dealership not too far from where I live. When my tires were recalled and had them replaced at the dealership, I figured while I was there I would have them check my engine out to see why it was pinging. They had no clue. I would think that because they work on Fords all day, they could figure a simple problem out, but they couldn't. Ford had TSB's out saying that the coil pack produced a weak spark and needed to be replaced with an updated version. I found this out (NOT BY FORD), but THE Ranger Station's website which is a excellent site to get some great info. on. I replaced the old coil pack with an aftermarket one and everything is working like it should be.

I used to work on vehicles back in the 80's and 90's for a living, but I was never ASE Certified, and I still work on cars and trucks that they make today and can fix them much better than the so-called mechanics that they have in todays world. This is why I never take my truck to anyone so they can rape my wallet and never give anything in return. The only thing that I have no choice in is alignments, which I hardly ever have done because they can't even do this right!!!!

I can agree with you on some or many of their stupid designs, but the other big (TWO) aren't doing much better!!!!

I'll never buy a (new) car or truck that they build in todays world. There all junk to me!!

Well my Dad has been driveing fords all his life.  He bought a 1981 f-150 when it came out and has been driveing it ever since it has taken him to work and back.  He worked at a coal mines that was 18 miles away.  He drove it through floods that happen alot along his way he drove it in snow rain everything.  The only thing he has had to do to it is take care of some rust on it.  It has never broke down or anything.  I come from a long line of ford drivers.  I have a chevy pickup and a ford in my opinnion the two best vehicles out there.  You can say what you want even if you are WRONG CAUSE FORD IS ONE DARN FINE VEHICLE.  Chevy hasn't made some of the brightest ideas either.  All vehicles have there problems.  I don't get on this site much anymore cause of all the stupid childish people on here can't agree to disagree.  I have been called retarded by some idiot.  I have been told no one wants to hear me complain.  Well I don't want to hear you people fighting or complaining either.  Can't we just stop fighting.  Man what a bunch of kids.  I hang out at 4x4boyz alot cause they don't sit around and come up with stupid stuff like ford for retarded drivers or what ever that guy said.  Probaly came up with that when he was broke down.  OH AND MAYBE IF YOU WERE A BETTER MECHANIC YOU COULD WORK ON A FORD CAUSE AFTER ALL YOU HAVE TO BE SMARTER THAN WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

you complain about fords, i complain about eveything, how come on the camaros the engine comes out underneath the car, or to take off the exhaust you have to drop the gas tank and loosen up the rear axle, on my dakota, the fuel filter is built into the fuel pump, i have to replace the hole thing, its 208 dollars,the old cadillacs had over 30 bolts to hold up one fender, every chevy i see needs shims to line every thing up, fords rust and break, all of them do, but it will get the job done, every single chevy i have worked on gave me problems, 2002 grand am 50,000 miles, timing chain broke and bent 6 valves, what the ####, that is #### design, my buddy has nothing but chevys and one ford, all of his chevys have problems but his ford is an escort and it has over 600,000 miles on it, almost at 700,000, dont tell me ford sucks  

Owning a ferd is like turning down a million dollars, it doesn't make sense.

The company I work for has one ferd and the rest Chevy's. All the Chevy's need some sort of repair, but still run and get the job done. The ferd is the last choice of all the guy's and half of them own one.

Another reason we all choose the Chevy's is they're more comfortable to drive, and let's face it, who wants to be seen at work in a ferd.

who cares how comfortable it is, its a work truck, if you cant handle all the bumps then go drive your chevy, general motors seems to try to make the cars more comfortable than reliable anyways, all i know is every chevy i have had or in my family has died, my ford is the only reliable vehicle we have, chevys just suck,  

If you spent 2 hours driving to the jobsite, you definetly would care about comfort while driving. GM has a good theory that not only should the truck get the job done, but the driver should be in comfort. ferds just suck more.  

Oh cry about it. Oh no I am not comfortable.  

man i have spent hours out wheeling and bouncing around everywere, i love it, you just cant handle fords, they were not maid for comfort, they were maid for work and they will do the best doing it,  

Trucks were never intended for daily driving anyways, they were originally built for work and thats why i will never buy a new truck!  My dad just bought a 2006 f350 and he has a wood business on the side. Well the work truck is out of commision of the time being and so he used his new truck just to bring a small load out of the woods.  If you look at the bed in the truck, you can see the frame rail outlining because aparently the load was too much for the truck. Thats #### and im sorry but i will never own a brand new truck.

i agree with you, new trucks were maid to look pretty, not do work, my dakota has seen more work and hauled more than all of these super duty pickups, they are pathetic

Strictly brand preference, I'm a Dodge man, but as a business owner I buy Ford vans.  They're reliable, spartan (no plastic crap to break), and inexpensive.  I'd never try to work an F-Series on the other hand and don't even get me started on Bowtie work rigs...