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My Turn At The Polls, Truck Time!
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Posted by: No Rice Allowed

A 2004 Ford SVT Lightning or

a 2004 Ram SRT???

Posted by: The OLE MAN

Well.................... all I have to say is,

SCOREBOARD

147 vs 154

The OLE MAN

Posted by: TNT

Which one is available as extended cab? Not a four door, but just extended. I have yet to get into a standard cab pickup that was comfortable for me.

Posted by: LS1JAY

neither!

I'd probably take the Furd!

Posted by: John

I decline to participate on the grounds that I am unfairly biased.

Posted by: LS1JAY

Quote:

Originally Posted by John


	I decline to participate on the grounds that I am unfairly biased.

So I guess that means another vote for the Dodge?

Posted by: No Rice Allowed

Quote:

Originally Posted by John


	I decline to participate on the grounds that I am unfairly biased.

Let it rip..this is the PIT....

Posted by: GMR

Lightning!!!

Ive always loved those things, they looks 10X better than the SRT10 Ram IMO.
Sound 100X better too

Im not realy a truck person by a longshot, but I can realy see myself in one of those things. Plus mods are a hell of a lot cheaper too.

LS

Posted by: John

Well, I'll put it this way. Dodge recommends that you limit your payload to less than 500 pounds and they recommend that you do not tow anything with it in anyway. There is not even an issued part number for a towing hitch.

Ford 04 Lightning has a payload of ~1275 pounds and will drag something like 6,000 pounds down the road. On top of that, the Ram is BARELY faster through a 1/4 mile, barely corner's better on a skidpad and I don't think it can stop faster. In fact, the only thing the Ram actually has going for it is that it's still being made and the Lightning is not.

Still, if I had a choice of having a truck that I needed to do work with or buying a Camaro/Mustang/Firebird, I think the Lightning would be a great compromise.

Posted by: Giz

john if you order the srt10 with a auto instead of the 6 spd you can pull a trailer and have a better payload rating

Giz

Posted by: John

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giz


	...if you order the srt10 with a auto instead of the 6 spd...

What's the point in that?

Posted by: DeckSetter

Quote:

Originally Posted by John


	Dodge recommends that you limit your payload to less than 500 pounds and they recommend that you do not tow anything with it in anyway. There is not even an issued part number for a towing hitch. Ford 04 Lightning has a payload of ~1275 pounds and will drag something like 6,000 pounds down the road.

well put. I'll take the Lightning. If I was getting a truck, I'd want to be able to use it as a TRUCK.

Also, I bet it will go twice as far on a gallon of gas as an SRT10.

Posted by: VETTKLR

I like the Lightning over the Viper Truck as well.

Posted by: Mr. P

Quote:

Originally Posted by John


	I decline to participate on the grounds that I am unfairly biased.

That has Never stopped you before !

Mr. P

Posted by: Mr. P

Truck? What's a truck?

Posted by: John

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. P


	That has Never stopped you before ! Mr. P

AWWWW...sounds like the wittle guy's still angwy that his Porch is bested by a mere farm truck!

Posted by: Ground Rat

I'd take an L over the SRT-10 any day.

Posted by: An11SecRanger

Quote:

Originally Posted by John


	the Ram is BARELY faster through a 1/4 mile

Really? I admit, I don't get to the track enough, these days. But dayam! I missed this, completely! I've never seen an SRT10 run quicker than 14s. I've seen high 13s from Lightnings many times, though.
I've driven a few Dodge trucks (NO SRT10s) and they all seemed lazy. The handling is sloppy. They lean hard around turns. The rear dances at the slightest sign of a bump in the road. The brakes are far from impressive, yada, yada, yada. I KNOW the SRT10 is far superior to any other Dodge truck. However, based on the rest of them, I'd never give the SRT10 a chance.
I've driven many Ford trucks. Even though, I've never driven a new one, I like the Lightning, just based on the other Ford trucks.
Then again, I'll stick with my beater (for now

... Yes, there's something to this eveil grin)

Posted by: John

The SRT-10 is hard to drive because it has no weight over the rear wheels and with that big, honking ass V10 weighing down the front end (something like 480+ pounds I think I heard at one point), it can be hard to get to hook up. A guy at work has one and he said that he's had a hard time getting it to hook up. He's managed mid 13's, about a 13.6-13.5 he said. He also said he knows there is more in it but he's not a good enough driver to get at it.

Now I have seen modified ones running high 12's but I can also show you modified Lightnings running low 11's and high 10's. The older gen 1's I have seen running 9's. That is no longer a street truck of course but it is a Lightning. However, the fastest Gen 2 Lightning I saw that was mechanically stock with a set of slicks on it was down at Atco. It was an '04. He ran a 12.98, I don't remember the MPH but a truck that is rated at 380 horses at the crank should not be running high 12's on slicks. No way, no how, especially weighing in at 4650 pounds.

The bench/magazine racers will go on quoted specs and whatever the magazine monkey driver could run and rail on and on about that. Now I have seen the SRT-10 Ram run faster than a Lightning. However, I do know that the Lightnings are grossly under-rated at the crank. I have watched dyno runs putting the trucks in at 320 to as much as 380 horses down on the rollers. That means that they are actually putting out 425 to as much as 495 horses at the crank. I know mine laid down 376 at the wheels. Corrected numbers put it at 382 horses. The weather was perfect that day. I'm not bullshitting either. An estimated power rating at the crank is a conservative 450 horses but I have seen calculators showing 495 horses for my numbers. I take a happy medium and tell people 425. But it is not uncommon to see a stock Lightning pushing as much as 120 more horse than what it's rated at from the factory.

Given that and the fact that the Lightning weighs about 200-400 pounds less, they are honestly pretty even. It comes down to gearing and driving ability. The SRT-10 is a bit more aggressive in it's gearing so it has the edge mechanically with that 6 speed and those short 1st and 2nd gears. If you can get it to hook, it'll jump off the line and get the holeshot. However, get the SRT-10 RAM above about 90 MPH and it starts falling on it's face in the OD gears. It just loses steam. However, the Lightnings have torque curves as flat as a board and power peaks come about 600 RPM below redline so they will pull hard in every gear and they will walk away from the Rams at speeds over 90 MPH.

That's not speculation either. I've seen with my own two eyes. But, all else equal and compensating for the variable of the loose nut behind the wheel, I'd give the edge to the Ram but only by about a tenth or two. As far as the top speed goes, the Lightning defintly has more in it than 147 MPH. It all depends on where the manufacturer sets the rev limiter. Ford sets it at about 3000-3200 RPM in 4th gear and that's roughly 145-149 MPH given the gearing. All Dodge did was set thiers at an RPM that allows 155 MPH. Big fucking whoop.

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