I'm coming to a pretty major issue. My arthritis in my left knee has gotten progressively worse in the last 2 months. If it doesn't start getting better soon I am going to go to the doctor next week. Normally driving a 5spd helps, but it just seems to be irritating it more now a days. So I am considering the possibility of swapping the truck over to an auto depending on what happens at the doctor. I really hope it wont be too serious because I like my ranger being a 5spd, but not much I can do if I dont have the strength to push the clutch all the way down. Worse case scenario if I dont have the option of swapping it off I may throw it up for trade for an auto. If I get no bites with that I may go ahead and sell it and move forward with my v8/auto swap on the 98 and just find a cheap beater 4x4. Hopefully the doctor might have something that will help, but gotta consider all my options.

Parts I know I need:
transmission
CPU
Automatic coloum
Auto cluster

Anything else?

 

Are all 27 of your vehicles 5spd? Drive a different one.

 

Fusion and f150 are auto, but arthritis doesn't just go away. It progressively gets worse. If I cant drive it whats the point in owning it? I would drive the f150, but its too expensive to be a DD. 80-90 bucks to fill up and only last 300 miles? Just as bad as having a car payment. With me driving about 1000-1500 miles a month I can justify it. Fusion is my mom's car so I can't plan on driving it forever however I have been driving the fusion a lot lately due to me knee, but I am not going to just let a vehicle sit and rot away. I bought it to drive.

 

Why does the F150 get such bad gas mileage? I can go at least 350 miles on 90 dollars and thats with 35s. I figured being lowered it would get better than mine.

Hope you can get this pain fixed soon Mike

 

I get 325 city, 350-400 mixed. Thats with $100 but because gas is $4.20 a gallon here.

 

pedal assm
floor plate
floor console
flex plate
torque converter

wiring for the trans

and i think you need to have pats reprogrammed?

 

^^^ Why does he need a pedal assembly when switching to auto?

And you don't need a new cluster, just the transmission selector thing with cable.

 

Not sure just had ford do a tune up on it recently because it was running rough. It runs great now, but this truck even when stock best it got on the hwy was 17 and about 14-16 is the overall avg. It may do a tad better now that we dont have winter gas, but its still cost way to much to drive this thing daily. However I just got some crappy news today and may just have to sell the 04. Due to some dental work I need and some stuff related to my mom I probably wont be back to work till july! I was expecting to be back working over a month ago, but with everything that is happening I wont be able to pay tags next month and I am having to dip into wedding money to try and stay afloat the next two months. So I will have to put the 04 up on the market. This day is just sucking. Seems like **** just keeps happening to prevent me going back to work. If I would of been able to go back a couple months ago like planned I wouldn't of had to sell the mustang and now it's looking like I may have to sell the 04. It just seems like nothing is working out like i planned it. We got my fiance on insurance beginning of the year and now they are screwing us over saying she has preexisting conditions so we are still having to pay full amount on her appointments. Including two test that cost over 2k each. One of them is to make sure she will be able to have kids. Which we both want, but she has some issues that may cause some problems down the line. Just another ****ty day to add to my list.

 

why not sell the 98 instead?

 

Need money to cover those test wont get enough to do that and stay afloat until I am working again. I thought about it, but I'd probably only get 3k for it. I'm going to sit down and figure it all out tonight and go from there.

 

Not trying to be a dick but you might want to sell your "toys" and keep only what you need until you actually have a job or a good job for that fact. I've had to sell things I don't want to but guess what. I still have money in the bank and can do things because I sold what I don't need.

 

I get what your saying and that is what is in the process, but I am trying to figure out what the best way to go about it. The f150 isn't really a toy, but can't afford it as a DD as of right now. It is pretty much the only thing I have left from my dad when he passed. So parting with it is not easy in the least. Honestly would feel much like losing him all over again, but I know he'd understand. It's just tough because it is the least used out of them all. Financially it makes the most sense to sell it. I really dont have any monthly bills so I dont have to get rid of everything at this point. Just need enough to get me back for a couple of months. Then I'll start working and be in school this fall and should start my career beginning of next year. I only need school for one semester.

 

Here's another question. What do you do that you drive so much? You said your not working or in school right now right. So you shouldn't be driving that many miles every week right? What about selling the 04 and the 98 and then just driving the F150. Granted it will put some miles on it but not that many. If your not working or in school then that shouldn't leave that many miles for daily driving. And if you drive 65 on the freeway/highway you save a lot of gas. I have started doing this. If you go on a long trip you have the Fusion if need be. At least until you get things settled and figured out.

Once you have a good paying job and are good to go with everything feel free to get all the toys you want. But if you don't have either I just don't see the need to have all of those things. I could/sometimes want to go out and buy a bunch of toys. Could I? Sure but I have school loans and some other debts to pay off first. I pay those off in the next 4 years then I am debt free with a great truck that will have around 90 - 100k miles. Then I can buy all the toys I want.

Just trying to explain it so that you get things figured out. Seems like I have seen threads like this before so it seems like a problem that needs to be addressed. Good luck with it but think about the amount of actual miles you drive in a week and the amount that you will save/have in the bank with only one vehicle.

 

Its sounds to me that DDing the F-150 until January wouldn't be such a bad idea. It would solve all your vehicle issues that's for sure. The difference in gas mileage with the Ranger is minuscule. You wouldn't put many miles on it in 6 months anyway.

 

Between driving my mom to doctors and my fiance which lives about 30 miles from me to doctors. I try and drive as little as possible, but it adds up fast. Main reason I bought the 98 besides later being something fun to toy with. Is if I cant find a job not driving I was going to go back to dominos part time. Delivering in the fusion would be nice, but when people see me driving a 30k car...you can imagine how tips are. Plus I wouldn't want to put that kind of wear on it. Driving the f150 for delivery would plain suck. It would effect my tips also, but would also effect how much money I make by the amount of gas it takes.

School wont really cost me anything. If I remember correctly it'll only cost me about 200-300. I got my GED through the school I am going to which gives me a few class for 1 semester so it'll cut down my cost in half basically. The part that might cost me will depend if I go to the location that is 2 miles from me or the main campus that is about 10-15 miles away from me. Which is more then likely the one I'll end up at.

Gas mileage is ironically exactly the same in the ranger(4x4) and the f150. Just cost more to fill up the f150 each time. It may not seem like many miles would be put on the f150, but the cost it takes me to get there is the issue. Looking at about a 300-400 gas bill every month if I drive just the f150. If gas wasn't pushing $4 a gallon it wouldn't be that bad.

 

Does your girlfriend have a car? Why do you have to drive your mom to the doctors? Is she unable to drive/fill up her own car? If thats the case then why even have that car?

Sell the 04 and the 98 and you will have 10k in your pocket. That should be plenty to get you buy and pay for the gas in the F150. Or sell just the 04 and get 7-8k and use that to get by and then deliver pizzas in the 98.

 

I bought my sisters old car for her to drive. Due to her taking care of her mom and everything going on the last year we haven't had time to take her driving. She only recently got her permit. However with her nerve damage in her wrist we are still working on getting her to the point she isn't in constant pain. We have gone to so many different doctors I have lost count. Before I am comfortable with her driving we have to get here to a point it isn't going to affect her ability to drive. As far as my mom goes we bought the fusion for her. She had to have back surgery last fall and is just now getting back into driving after not driving for almost 10 years. When my dad was still alive he always drove them around and my mom didn't have a need to drive. So since he passed I have been the only one to drive her around. So that is why we traded in the mazda for the fusion. Because come early next year I wont be living with my mom. So she will need to have her own car to drive.

A lot has happened in the last year for me. Fiance got bit by a stray cat which is why she has the nerve damage. She had to have her gallbladder removed and is having pretty severe complications with that. We got her on insurance at the beginning of the year thinking that was going to help take care of all her medical problems, but the insurance is almost useless at this point. She also has polycystic ovarian syndrome which is another thing that could affect us having kids. Plus my father passing away this year has just been one thing after another. This year hasn't started off any better either, but I am trying to make it all work.

I know buying all those vehicles this last year wasn't the best financial decision, but it has been one of the only escapes I have had from everything going on.

 

Hindsight is 20/20, but rather than buying vehicles you should have taken up a relatively inexpensive hobby. Something like target shooting, going to the gym, doing simple house maintenance such as painting, etc. At least then you’d have money to your name.

You can’t always plan for the future, but buying and trading new and used cars like water isn’t ever a good move.

 

I know, but cars are a big hobby for me and to be quite honest. With all the stress I have been under this last year. My thought process was fried. There has been plenty of times I kick myself for doing it, but you know you can't learn from your mistakes unless you make them. I've pretty much made my decision on what i am going to do, but I will just have to see how it pans out.

 

Hope everything works out for you and your family. I know how hard losing a loved one can be.

 

Good luck with everything. I wish you the best.

 

Thanks guys