A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
1. Be Civil
You may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.
2. No hate speech
Don't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.
3. Don't harass people
Don't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.
4. Stay on topic
This community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.
5. No reposts
Do not repost content that has already been posted in this community.
Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.
In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
This is not out in some rural town. This is in Portland, OR about 2 miles from downtown. Personal vehicles this large are simply incompatible with urban living and pressure their owners to continually break traffic law. Technically that Miata is parked as close to the stop sign as it can legally be, but as the Denali doesn't fit in many places around here it's owner is compelled to park across both the stop sign and the crosswalk.
We need a height limit. I have a 2010 1500. Even stock height on that was unnecessarily high. I lowered with a 2/4 kit. Perfect height and I can still do all the truck stuff, legit truck stuff, that I want. No issues in snow either.
The 1500 line has only gotten taller since. Again, completely unnecessary. There are tons of douche mobiles like the OP pic around here. Tons of idiots with those 2500s, or equivalent, around here. Those are usually because "muh diesel!"
Even businesses though. Why? The AF buys 1500s. Those haul auxilary power carts that weight the same as a VW bug. It takes 2 or 3 of us to push them.
Also, why would I buy a raised on as a business. I've just made it very difficult to get shit out of the bed for my employees now. I've just raised the chances that my employee is going to cause an accident because they can't see shit around them.
"but I wanna off road!" I've done it in an 05 Colorado, stock height, at a local ORV park. That includes those ruts, driving up difficult inclines and even through a puddle almost up to the windows. If I can do that in one of those, you don't need to raise your doucheness above for the world to see.
Interesting that drop kits are an easily-sourced thing nowadays, I've looked at modern trucks and genuinely wondered how one is supposed to access the bed without a stepladder as they come from the factory. I think it's subtly damning that GMC, among others, has been marketing their multi-position tailgate's ability to function as a bed step. They've made trucks so tall as a vanity thing that it negatively impacts the their ability to actually work as a utility vehicle.
I've been begging (sometimes literally, I know a guy who works at Ford) for a small Maverick or Ridgeline-sized PHEV pickup for years now, and the Big Three seem to be specifically avoiding making such a thing. I don't need to be able to tow a guided missile cruiser, I don't need to sit ten feet in the air to feel safe, I don't want dual 30-gallon fuel tanks in case I need to drive to Cape Horn without stopping for some reason. I just want to be able to commute in town on electric power, handle small home-improvement hauling tasks (mulch, appliances, lumber, etc), and still be able to road trip or pull a small trailer in a pinch. And there are dozens of us, at least! I see people asking "PHEV Maverick when!?" anytime I search the Net for news on the topic. But nope, no PHEV pickup for you, unless you want to buy a Ramcharger -- and deal with being associated with the kind of person who drives a Ram product. No thank you!
I love my 1500, I'm original owner and take meticulous care of her. That said, I'd absolutely love a PHEV Ram 50 or 2nd gen size S-10. Those are perfect for tooling around as a daily. I'll be keeping Hemrietta until I'm Looney Tunes style sitting on the ground holding a steering wheel over getting a Brodozer.
I used Belltech's 2/4. Their shocks sucked and produced a very rough ride. I replaced the rear shocks with QA1 single adjustables (drag racing and hobby track racing with her, so I need the adjustable range.)
IHC also makes kits. You may need their rear axle control arm relocation kit with Belltech's 2/4. I needed it for mine. The Belltech track/panhard bar relocation bracket flexes too much. I had to ditch that and drill new holes in order to eliminate that bracket. She's solid as a rock now.
I expected better handling, and it's there, but it didn't dawn on me that I'd see better acceleration. Those single adjustable shocks let the weight roll back and really dig those tires into the ground. When set to aggressive handling, they are amazing. Night and day corner and responsivness. Up to 60, solid handling. 60 to 75, responsive, smooth, fantastic. 75 to 90 (the fastest I've pushed so far until I can get a better track day), driving a race car made of clouds held up by angels.
Winter driving was a significant improvement. I didn't have much issue before, but I had the usual bit of sliding on acceleration. I didn't have to feather near as much. I try to use 4wd as little as possible. I didn't have to touch it this year at all.
I have some significant medical issues as well. Getting in and out easily is a must. Getting in and out of the cab is much easier. Especially in the winter. Getting stuff out of the bed doesn't require that awkward half tire step, or slight hop and resting painfully on your stomach over the side. I wish I'd have done this years ago.