i HATE ford and their piss poor designs..
Reply #18 –
Weight distribution is the main thing. Ford had planned on the Lightning from the get-go with the '97+ up trucks, and it didn't make much sense to have 2 sets of frame/engine mounts, so the engine placement was common, and in the interest of better handling, well, that's how it ended up. Chevy did it years past with the Big Montes, I remember those having a fan shroud that would do a wind tunnel at McDonnell-Douglas proud..
As fast as the E4od goes in the '96 and older Ford, it's really no better than the AOD...get a lot of miles and too many heavy right feet, and it'll die as fast as anything else.
And the TTB doesn't need to be lifted to give problems, even running tires 2 or 3 inches taller than stock will make it go haywire. Add in a few hundred thousand miles with questionable maintenance, and you're probably going to need new ball joints right off the bat.
With that said, I'm kicking my own ass for ever getting rid of my '92. It as beat, dented, and looked like hell, but it still ran as hard as the day it was made. I just wish I'd done as much for the rest of the truck as I did in preventative measures for the 5.0. I literally wouldn't have hesitated to drive it to either coast.
And..when the GM guys ballyhoo the LS-whatever's greatness...just remember....ole Robert Yates and crew had the Windsor in mind when they helped the General. A dose of NASCAR expertise sure didn't hurt either.
Leave the egos at the door...if it's mechanical in nature, it WILL break down...sometime...