Head Case Motorsports

[n_maher]

6 hours ago, VPI said:

Difficult.  I trust Nate, but he has the same opinion as Brent which is very troubling. Nate, do you need a vacation?  Is Brent holding you hostage in the NAMBLA HQ basement?

Yes to vacation.  Hard pass on basements and that other stuff.

RE: the truck/car scenario, if the X3M rides like dogshit I'd look elsewhere.  And seriously, why not lease something so you don't have to deal with even considering that you "own" it.  See what someone would do for a one or two year option.  It's not like you need much mileage.  Punt the decision without much commitment, that's my real opinion.  

[VPI]

The issue is less the purchase and more the fact that nothing is in stock. The one high end Ram here was a dealer car and has 6k miles on it already. 

[naamanf]

15 minutes ago, VPI said:

Drove the orange truck and riding a Clydesdale as my daily driver would be more comfortable. 

No Hemi Grand Cherokees in stock here so cannot really try that one. 

Looking at a Limited 1500 now, the last one in the area that I can find. 

Beater truck for hauling and a comfortable AWD car for daily use?

[VPI]

Now you think I live on a estate with ample parking. 🙂

 

[naamanf]

2 minutes ago, VPI said:

Now you think I live on a estate with ample parking. 🙂

 

Seems you have built yourself a first world prison. 

[VPI]

You have no idea how shitty everything about my stupid house/property is. 

[Grahame]

Airstrike  /  Rebuild ?

[VPI]

Success. 

[HemiSam]

The RAMs are very nice!  Drive amazing. Did you get the eTorque or simply the 5.7?  Both are great. 
 

HS

PS the air suspensions and how nice the interior and uuuuge 12” touchscreen are....#WINNING 

[blessingx]

Congrats. Do you dodge or ram (old Chrysler joke)? 

[VPI]

5 hours ago, HemiSam said:

The RAMs are very nice!  Drive amazing. Did you get the eTorque or simply the 5.7?  Both are great. 
 

HS

PS the air suspensions and how nice the interior and uuuuge 12” touchscreen are....#WINNING 

Yes Ram Limited with every option but the bed buckets that make the bed too narrow.  Rides nice with the air suspension and came with some ghetto tonneau cover that will work until the second Diamondback cover makes it here.

I like the Delminico Red more than I thought I would and outside of the loss of massage seats and generator I am not losing much, outside of speed, from the Ford.

[morphsci]

You could always get this for a generator: https://www.goalzero.com/shop/kits/goal-zero-yeti-6000x-4-nomad-kit/

 

[HemiSam]

15 hours ago, VPI said:

Yes Ram Limited with every option but the bed buckets that make the bed too narrow.  Rides nice with the air suspension and came with some ghetto tonneau cover that will work until the second Diamondback cover makes it here.

I like the Delminico Red more than I thought I would and outside of the loss of massage seats and generator I am not losing much, outside of speed, from the Ford.

I drove the HEMI with the eTorque and it's a great combination in my opinion.  I wouldn't mind a bit more sidewall on the tires but that's more a generational thing I figure (I'm dating myself...).  

Interesting on the speed.  What are the specs on the Ford you were hoping to acquire?  I'm not very well informed on the Ford stuff.  Their Ecoboost is clearly a successful platform.

HS

P.S. you may hear a bit of noise from the lifters on the 5.7L HEMI.  Do not let that bother you one bit.  It's often referred to as the HEMI tick....no biggie.  It's a stout motor.

[VPI]

I was getting the PowerBoost which is quicker than the Raptor in most tests. 
The Ram is slow and drives much more like a truck than the new F-150 does. I think the Hemi needs to be replaced with something with some real horsepower and torque in such a heavy truck. I have never been impressed with any of the Hemis I have had in rentals and this feels about the same. 
Luckily speed is not a concern. Comfortable interior and okay tech are what I care about. 

Edited May 16, 2021 by VPI

[HemiSam]

4 hours ago, VPI said:

I was getting the PowerBoost which is quicker than the Raptor in most tests. 
The Ram is slow and drives much more like a truck than the new F-150 does. I think the Hemi needs to be replaced with something with some real horsepower and torque in such a heavy truck. I have never been impressed with any of the Hemis I have had in rentals and this feels about the same. 
Luckily speed is not a concern. Comfortable interior and okay tech are what I care about. 

I wasn't aware of this motor as I'm not a Ford guy.  Found the following to help get me educated (somewhat...):

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/f-150/2021/2021-ford-f-150-powerboost-first-test/

430hp which is nice but the 570ft lb's of torque is what jumped out at me....that and the 10 speed transmission is what's making it feel so peppy.  Very cool.

I get it.  I've been jaded by boosted vehicles for a long while.  I supercharged my 5.7L HEMI within a year of buying it (2009 Challenger manual trans at the time) which made it a whole lot more fun.  I pulled the blower on my 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk with the Hellcat motor within months of buying it to up the boost with a smaller pulley and running E85 to manage pre-detonation from add'l boost.  It's a pig (5718lbs w/ me in it) but it'll run a 10.3X quarter mile and a tick over 185mph in the standing mile despite the awful coefficient of drag.  I get liking the mojo...

The good thing is if you ever get bored upping the power won't be tough.  Hard on a warranty though...ask me how I know...LOL.

vroom vroom...

HS

 

[VPI]

Threw on the heavy thing, but it is obviously not heavy enough as I am going to need twice the drop to get down to the kayak trailer.  Also had the shitty Chrysler tonneau cover disconnect and try to come off the truck today.  Got to figure the PoS out in the rain and found it loose again by the time I got home.  Luckily, I found a former Diamondback dealer locally that actually had some in stock after Diamondback dropped all dealers last year so that will be installed Friday.

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by VPI

[HemiSam]

The covers that come with the trucks are crap.  Not sure who they source them from.

I'm a fan of Pace Edwards retractable units.  Take up some space with the box but a full sized oak can drop stuff onto it for years and zero reliability issues in my personal experience.

I'm laughing with you on that unit to get low enough for the kayak trailer...  Never had to use anything like that.  Any chance the air suspension allows for some drop?  I'm assuming not but thought I'd toss that out there.

HS

 

 

 

P.S.  I'm slow...the "heavy thing".  You're at three tons...rounding

[VPI]

The Kayak trailer has 13” wheels and at level I need a ball around 13”. Even with a five inch drop I am 6 inches too high at Aero mode with the air suspension. I think I will get the 90lb 10” drop so it will work. 
 

The difference in height for the two driveable modes is only .5”. If I could drive at the load height it might work. 
 

Highest (off-road 2) vs Lowest (entry-exit). 
 

Edited May 20, 2021 by VPI

[HemiSam]

This is from a RAM forum:

My '20 Limited with air and no off road group, the step 1 measurement is 20" at the middle height setting on the suspension.

Is the Kayak trailer two wheel or four wheel?  If it's two wheeled then a slight upward angle to the hitch, allowing for your load's length, might be immaterial.

My apologies if I'm asking questions that are not helpful...simply hoping you can get to a happy place with your new truck.  I think it's handsome as hell with some great tech but then again I've become a MOPAR guy over the last 12 years....likely biased.

HS

[VPI]

Yeah, it is a tiny trailer and the opportune hitch height is 12-13”, while standard height in the truck in normal mode is 20”, so tons of drop needed. 

[HemiSam]

5 hours ago, VPI said:

Yeah, it is a tiny trailer and the opportune hitch height is 12-13”, while standard height in the truck in normal mode is 20”, so tons of drop needed. 

Gotcha.  I bet a couple of inches would be de minimis but that's easy for me to type and you're the one that's going to have to live with it.

The great thing is you have an awesome tow vehicle...I miss my RAM 1500.  I would tow about 8,000lb's and all I did besides have a quality trailer was add Firestone air bags inside the springs in the rear and beefed up bump stops I never ended running into but just in case.  I actually liked the way the truck handled with the airbags filled (not to max) so ended up leaving them as is regardless of how I was towing.

That air suspension you have is super slick.  I literally almost bought the truck you bought but in silver w/ the black treatment early last year.  

HS

[VPI]

The lady with the Diamondback actually had the tool box sitting in back as well so got that installed as well to hold straps, hitches, etc.  

 

[HemiSam]

That's a rugged looking tonneua cover...nice!  

HS

[VPI]

I am having trouble calling it a Tonneau cover, when compared to the garbage one that comes from Ram. Probably should have a better name than those poorly engineered tissue paper models. I will call this a bed defender. 

 

[n_maher]

Jeff,

Given the hitch/drop issue, have you given any thought to having someone modify the tongue of the trailer?  I mean the kayaks can't weigh much and having a stepped tongue might be a long better in the long run than a single use fracking 100# hitch setup that you have to dick around with all the time since you won't want to leave it installed in the truck. 

Also, sweet looking truck. I'll happily adopt it in 3 years after you've put 15,000 miles on it.