Do you need a truck?

[D2Cat]

 

[yorkies77]

I haul things in the bed and tow many times every month. I guess i'm well above average in those 2 areas.
As for off roading I only do that about 6 times a year. Above average in that area also.

 

[bearbait]

What do you call a man without a truck, yep a bum, yeah some nice to own when you need it and how many times do you turn around and look at your car when you park it in a parking lot?

 

[mcmxi]

I absolutely need a truck, and absolutely need 4WD. I pull trailers around, a boat around, haul stuff in the bed etc. Do I need a 17,000lb M1078 AWD 6.2L Caterpillar diesel truck .... nope .... but I sure like it.

That survey shows the ignorance of those conducting it. I don't "offroad" my truck but I need 4WD pulling loaded trailers and on a boat ramp, as well as for the 5 months of winter driving up here. When I "offroad" I use my '98 Jeep TJ which is better suited to trails than a truck.

Unloaded my truck is plenty fast with a chip and programmer, but when some fancy car or SUV passes me, I think to myself "let's see you do that pulling 15,000lb behind your vehicle".

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I absolutely need a truck, and absolutely need 4WD. I pull trailers around, a boat around, haul stuff in the bed etc. Do I need a 17,000lb M1078 AWD 6.2L Caterpillar diesel truck .... nope .... but I sure like it.

That survey shows the ignorance of those conducting it. I don't "offroad" my truck but I need 4WD pulling loaded trailers and on a boat ramp, as well as for the 5 months of winter driving up here. When I "offroad" I use my '98 Jeep TJ which is better suited to trails than a truck.

Unloaded my truck is plenty fast with a chip and programmer, but when some fancy car or SUV passes me, I think to myself "let's see you do that pulling 15,000lb behind your vehicle".

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We are not in the "normal" demographic.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

'normal' to me though....
I use my '97 F150 2wd,reg cab,sht box to HAUL lots of 'stuff' and tow a 7K trailer full of pony poop several days of each month, offloading all of it 'offroad' (grassy path to back of 8 acres. As long as grass is dry no need for 4wd.
what'd be interesting is the 'data' for those 4wd,4 door,microbox 'pickups'

 

[Stmar]

Try not having a truck where I live, you would stay home a lot during the winter. If I didn't have a truck how would I pull cars and suvs out of the snow drifts?? In fact I have two trucks, F150 and F250, plus everything I own has 4WD. Different parts of the country and different lifestyles dictate the necessities of what you drive. If I lived in Florida I would have a turbo whatever to keep up with the crazy traffic and would not worry too much about ground clearance.

 

[RCW]

Not being a smart-alec, but what qualifies as a "truck?"

I don't consider it "off-roading," as I was on a road, as it may have been.

My commute to college was this for a mile or so. (This was actually a town road through our farm 40 years ago. Has since been abandoned.)

That CJ7 also got me over some major roads barely passable without 4WD and some ground clearance due to snow.

 

[mcmxi]

If I lived in Florida I would have a turbo whatever to keep up with the crazy traffic and would not worry too much about ground clearance.

But if you had a boat in Florida you would worry about ground clearance and 4WD. Many folks get into trouble on slippery boat ramps, even with 4WD, but some of that is down to crappy tire selection and incompetent drivers.

When I see a truck with wheels and tires sticking way out beyond the fenders I want to do bad things to those behind the wheel.

 

[mcmxi]

Not being a smart-alec, but what qualifies as a "truck?"

I don't consider it "off-roading," as I was on a road. My commute to college was this for a mile or so. (This was actually a town road through our farm.

Where's the photo?

Here's me driving my '98 TJ in Hawaii before I did any major upgrades. My wife (standing with our dog) and I would offroad on trails on the North Shore most weekends. Such great memories. I winched out a number of trucks over the years on that trail system.

 

[RCW]

Where's the photo?

Sorry - - - Re-check my post - - - I'm not too tech savvy...took me a minute...

 

[mcmxi]

Sorry - - - Re-check my post - - - I'm not too tech savvy...took me a minute...

Awesome photo!!

 

[mcmxi]

Here's my wife driving up and down an obstacle in a basically stock TJ (I had installed 4.56 gears).. not doing that in a truck.

 

[RCW]

Given my farmer background, I don't consider an SUV, CJ, TJ, or similar a "truck."

As much as I liked my CJ-7 and an S-10 Blazer I had later, they weren't a truck.

I consider a truck something for carrying or towing.

That is solely my opinion, and I may be off base.

The term "tractor" is derived from Latin and is an easy translation.

Truck not so much in my opinion.

It's probably due to my upbringing and the very rural area I live. A lot of guys have pickups because they need them...period.

We don't rely on someone to plow our driveway.

We don't rely on delivery for firewood, wood pellets, coal, sheetrock, 2x's, plywood, appliances, etc.

If I were to live on an 0.25 acre lot in a subdivision in suburbia near a city, I could get by without a pickup "truck."

Had a pickup for 36 years. Had 1 car, the Jeep and the Blazer totaling another 8.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

We are not in the "normal" demographic.

Did someone say any of us were normal?

 

[ken erickson]

Cool pictures!

Don't get me wrong, I love the CJ platform. Raced a CJ2A in class 4 off road racing, way back before the dawn of trophy trucks etc. Back then class 4 was four wheel drive modified. Pretty much anything went.

The pictures go back to the days (circa 1975 or 1976) when Fort McCoy , located in west central Wisconsin, would open up their tank trails one weekend a year for a 4 x 4 jamboree and trail rides.

The trail boss for my trail ride was NOT a happy camper that a few full sized pickup trucks where making the ride, myself included with my F250 and the fellow with the Chevy pickup. He said we were going to slow him and the rest of the participants , mostly CJ's and a few Toyota landcrusiser's , down due to us getting high centered and just plain not being able to get up the steep stair stepped tank trails.

Spoiler alert, LOL, I cant lay my fingers right now of the picture of me winching up a few CJ's up those steep stair stepped trails.

You can see from the pictures just how steep a few of the trails areas was, it was a blast and I did receive an apology after the ride was over from the trail boss. A large part of it of course, not only the machine, but the skill or lack of the drivers.

I also included a "work" session durning snow plowing season.

 

[johnjk]

Off-roading? You mean driving on my property, yup. I could do 20 bags of salt in the wife’s car but it would take 10 trips and around 7 hrs to complete not to mention a half tank or more of fuel.

 

[Botamon]

I must be a weirdo...completely atypical of that "study". 95% of the time my truck is either hauling or towing...98% of the time it is "off-road" because where I live there is very little pavement so most of my driving is on dirt roads.

 

[Poohbear]

Here in my area of abode a family that doesnt own a truck is abnormal.

I tow my 20000gvwr RV, tractor occaisionally, lumber, etc way more often than that survey

 

[NCL4701]

I’ve heard similar stats before. Assuming they’re correct, I really don’t understand. I used to drive a 2WD car for work. As a broad generalization, cars handle better, ride better (particularly if your truck is capable of any significant towing or hauling), get better fuel economy, can be bought for less, and are cheaper to maintain. I love my Tundra and the Tacoma and Frontier and D100 I had before the Tundra. But honestly, I wouldn’t have a truck if I didn’t need one. I’m not sure I’d have a 4WD if I didn’t need it. When I bought my Tundra my wife suggested I treat myself to a F350 King Ranch 4WD 4 door diesel; the one she was sitting in at the dealership did look pretty sweet. But I have a base model 4WD Tundra 4 door with the V8, roof rack, folding tonneau, 10 ply light truck tires, and Sumo springs because that’s what I need.

I do recall a jerk I used to have the displeasure to work with saying, when I first got the Tundra, something to the effect that all guys who have big 4WD trucks are “making up for deficiencies in other areas”. First off, a Tundra isn’t a big truck but maybe to him. Told him to be more specific so he says, “You know what they say, big truck; little D.” This made no sense to me so I responded that he was exactly right. I had tried pulling my 8500lb camper to Pigeon Forge with my d*** but I was so deficient in that area I couldn’t get it out of the driveway, so I had to buy a truck to make up for it. I didn’t know what crossover in functionality there was in his world, but if he’d tie the hitch on my camper to his d*** and pull it from one side of the parking lot to the other, I’d bring the camper to work tomorrow so he could do it in front of everyone and I’d give him $10,000 cash when he was done. He called me some rude names as our co-workers reacted with a mixture of nausea and laughter at that mental image.

Maybe he was sort of right. Maybe some have a pickup to prop up their masculinity. Nothing wrong with driving what you want whether you need it or not. After all, who the hell NEEDS a Bugatti or a McLaren to get from point to point on a public road? Doesn’t make sense to me, but it ain’t hurting me either so I don’t care much so long as nobody is bothering me about what I drive.