Well I pick it up Sat. First diesel truck. I had a hemi ram the a hemi charger, I need a truck. With the EPP deals right now I stepped up and got the diesel.

Are there anything I need to now other than: wait for the break in time, and make sure the maintenance schedule is done?

Thanks in advance for any info. I will post pics when I pick up my truck this weekend.

 

welcome to DF...

wait about 500 miles before beating on it... you need to let the gears break in and what not... start towing with it or give it a heavy load in the bed after that to speed up the breakin process. It takes 20~30k from what i've heard. (bought mine with 14k and i'm up to almost 35k now... sweet!)

 

you'll be wondering why you havent gotten one earlier

 

My dad has an 01 F-250 diesel and the had no problem towing his boat or travel trailer. I Will use mine to haul some horses around in a few years when I get some land. Plus the power I think is better than the 03 HEMI I had. I will post some pics Sat. night after I pic up the truck.

What about additives, do I need any?

 

Congrats bro !!

Welcome aboard !!

 

you dont realy need the addatives, however the 16oz Power Service and 8oz MMO most on this board use has proven to increase fuel mileage and also make the engine idle and run better.

 

Break in period Ha, my dad bought an '03 and after the first 150 miles put a cargo trailer behind it for the next 1000 miles. That's a real break in. Truck is now over 30k and running good.

 

I got my truck. I am working on getting pics real soon.

I was looking at getting a cover for the bed. Do they really help with MPG or not. Not sure if its worth the $$. It would be neat but not sure. Looking for Ideas. Thanks

 

Congrats on the truck...

on the tonneau cover... it gained me approx .5~.7 mpg, will it pay for itself? someday, but the secure feeling of knowing that all my camping gear is hidden under the cover is priceless... makes it worth every penny.

if $ is an issue... you can also consider this one...
http://www.checkerpro.com/hardcovers.html

 

I've got a cover on mine and I've had it ever since I've had the truck so I can't really help you with the mileage thing, but i can give you some pro's and con's on them.

I've got I believe it's a Leer cover on my truck painted to match. It was installed by the company who sold the covers not by me. I don't know if it's installed wrong or if it's just the design but it can and does shift from time to time towards the front. What happens then is when you close the cover it sometimes closes closer to one side than the other and it has even scratched the paint on both sides. Not that big of a deal since it winds up being covered anyway, but just letting you know.

Another REAL pain in the keester is that it's VERY difficult to get to the things in the front of the bed near the cab. You can't just reach in from the side because the whole thing forms a triangle now when opened. My father ( previous owner ) scratched the side of the truck all up with his belt buckle by standing on the running board and trying to reach something that rolled to the front. The only real way to get anything up there is to have a stick with a hook on it t reach up there.

You also have to really watch what you want to put back there. If it's any taller than the bed of your truck you'll either have to take the cover off, or ride with the cover up which may not be good for it. Just remember that the sides of your truck are probably only what, 24 inches tall? Not too high to be honest with you.

Snow is another challenge. When it snows you'll have to remove all of the snow from the cover in order to lift it as the cover itself is pretty heavy. Without removing the snow the cover won't stay up on it's own. Keep in mind that you can't open the tailgate without lifting the cover so until you remove the snow the whole bed of your truck is useless. Don't keep your shovel and broom in there !! LOL !!!

I don't know if they're all made the same way, but mine has the lock mechanism on top of it. Kinda a pain. You have the option of leaving it unlocked all of the time, but you still had to turn the locking mechanism while opening the top. Kind of a pain. I wound up disabling the mechanism altogether. The cover no longer locks. I also installed a pot handle on the back of it to make lifting it easier. They may be easier to lift on a short bed, but on a longbed like mine they're kinda heavy.

The upsides .... well I've given you a lot of reasons NOT to get one, but I'll tell you that the truck DOES look cool with it on. It also does a nice job of keeping everything hidden which can be a challenge with a truck. Even though I never lock my cover, nobody knows that and as of yet nodody has tried to the best of my knowledge. ( knock on wood ) I've even slept back there on a whim camping trip that I took. Everything stayed dry and clean.

As far as those roll up types, I've heard some good things about those UNTIL wintertime. If you get water ( ice ) in those little grooves on the top you won't be able to open it up until it thaws. Other than that I've heard they work pretty good.

Any other questions feel free to ask. Congrats on the new truck, good luck with it !!