Auto News & Features, Car Information » Trucks

Gearing Up Your Truck for Summer

Jennifer — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:03:39 +0000

(ARA) – Right now is a great time to plan your summer road trips — and to get your truck and gear in tip-top shape before you hit the road. Whether going to the lake for a weekend of fishing and relaxation or camping in the great outdoors, you need to have the right gear.

While there are many experts who can help you determine what gear to buy, getting all those items to your destination safely and efficiently can be the real test. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when packing your truck for summer trips.

Get organized and save space by compartmentalizing your gear into containers. You’ll be able to find items within seconds of opening the tailgate and unpacking will be much quicker once you reach your destination. Mark Sedenquist, publisher of RoadTripAmerica.com, suggests a combination of clear plastic containers, duffel bags, soft backpacks and cardboard boxes for organizing your gear while traveling. It’s also a good idea to place items you’ll need right away toward the back of the truck bed. For example, pack a cooler with your packed lunch or your tent and sleeping bags last, since they will be some of the first items you’ll want to unpack and set up.

While your truck bed is a great place to store items during your road trip, you’ll also want to make sure those items are protected from the elements and prying eyes. One way to protect your gear is with a roll-up truck bed cover. These affordable roll-up covers are easy to install and will give you 100 percent bed usage for hauling your gear. You simply roll up the cover to gain access to items in your truck bed.

A truck bed cover can also provide you with immediate gas mileage improvement, which may come in quite handy as gas prices tend to increase during the summer. A truck bed cover will help you save at the pump by reducing drag and making your vehicle more aerodynamic at high speeds. Most truck owners can see as much as a 10 percent increase in their fuel economy.

Through a little research you can find many different truck bed covers available. A high-quality and budget-friendly option is the Access Roll-Up Cover, manufactured by ACI (Agri-Cover, Inc), a North Dakota truck accessory company.

This soft roll-up cover is made of heavy-duty, double-coated vinyl material that holds up to the elements and numerous years of use in all different weather conditions. The roll-up cover installs quickly and easily with a clamp-on installation and is designed specifically to fit your truck model. When not in use, the cover can be rolled up behind the cab and never has to be removed when hauling your gear, making it a great option for road trips.

“I put on many highway miles during the year and in talking to other owners with a similar truck without a box cover, I am amazed at the savings in gas mileage I’m getting with my cover. The Access Roll-Up Cover is such an attractive addition to my truck. It really finishes the look I want,” says a customer from Bismarck, N.D.

For more information on the Access Roll-Up Cover and to find out how it can protect your gear this summer and save you money at the gas pump, visit www.agricover.com or call (888) 685-2558.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Can Your Truck Take the Heat This Summer?

Jennifer — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:20:54 +0000

As the weather heats up, trucks and their owners take advantage of the sun and head outdoors to work and play. A little elbow grease, motivation and some innovation can make all the difference between making your truck look new again and driving an old beater.

Whether your truck has been plowing through muck and mud, hauling tools, helping a friend move or transporting hay, there’s no doubt it could use a serious visual overhaul. A few simple steps now can keep your truck sparkling and working hard for years to come.

Inside
Remove the floor mats and shake out the dirt, rocks and debris. Use a heavy duty vacuum cleaner to tidy up the mats and the inside of the truck. Wipe down the instrument panel and console with a gentle, all-purpose cleanser and get at stubborn dirt in nooks and crannies with a cotton swab. An occasional spray with a dashboard protectant product helps prevent fading, warping and cracking.

Outside
Use a hose with a sprayer attachment to wet the truck top to bottom. Make sure the water pressure is not too hard to damage the vehicle. Wash the truck with gentle soap and tepid water to get rid of muck. Make your final focus the fender and bumper. Don’t forget to hose off and clean the undercarriage and wheel wells as those areas take the brunt of the road’s abuse. Rinse the truck and dry with a chamois or natural fiber cloth. Never let the truck air dry as water spots will develop and can be difficult to buff out.

Clean the windows and mirrors, both inside and out, taking care to eliminate streaks that can impair vision while driving.

Check the tires. Your truck takes you through rough terrain so check for any slow leaks or punctures and inflate the tires to proper pressure levels.

Take it to the Next Level
Your truck bed takes a serious beating. After all, that’s where all your gear is stored and hauled. If your truck has a spray-on bedliner, it can become faded and ragged so now is the time to renew it.

You can renew the look of your liner with products like LINE-X ReNew, a bedliner enhancement system used to repair and enhance any old, faded or gouged spray-on bedliner. LINE-X ReNew adheres to your existing bedliner, making it look like new. It also acts like a sunscreen to help minimize future UV damage. The process takes less time and is less expensive than replacing a spray-on bedliner and gives your bedliner that “just sprayed” look for years to come.

For more information on how to enhance your truck’s bedliner with LINE-X ReNew or to find a dealer near you visit www.LineX.com or call (800) 831-3232.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

The World of Antique Ford Trucks

Jennifer — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 02:59:36 +0000

The name Ford is hardly a name people are unfamiliar with and there is good reason for such notoriety: Ford has produced some of the best and highest quality trucks and cars on the market for many, many years. Over time, some of these models of trucks have become quite rare and valuable. From this, the cars have developed a high collectible value and there are quite a number of people in the market for collecting antique Ford trucks. Of course, collecting is not the same as taking care of antique Ford trucks.

Taking Care of Antique Ford Trucks

Clearly, it is not wise to drive a car that is 80 years old out on the hi-way. This would be an incredible risk to a highly valuable and rare car. Of course, if the car is operational it can be driven on standard roads. Often, however, most people keep antique cars in storage or transport them for display at cars shows. Regardless, special attention must be made so as not to harm or damage the cars. Of course, if some damage does occur to the car, then the need to repair the car becomes a major priority. It would be criminal to allow these rare cars to slip into neglect.

Parts for Antique Ford Trucks

If you are a collector of antique Ford trucks and the particular model you own is quite old (perhaps you are an owner of a rare 1917 model), there will come a time when you need to replace a part. Even if you keep the car mostly on display, there will always be the possibility of exterior damage to the car occurring as well. As such, there will be a need to locate a distributor for the replace parts are items. Luckily, there are distributors who do supply such parts. However, what must be understood it the fact that the dealer may not have such a rare item in stock and there may be a lengthy amount of time required to find a replacement part. In fact, it could take months. After all, how many distributors will have a fender in stock for a 1917 car? Or, more accurately, a replica part as many of the original parts will have long since been destroyed or lost over the years. Then again, the difficulties associated with collecting antique Ford trucks does make owning the trucks a reward in and of itself and a source of great pride.