MIKE HALL: Adventure Motorcycle,Travel, Motorcycle, Overlanding, Backcountry, Avalanche, Snowmobile, Snowboard, Snowboard, Sledboarding, Winter Fat Tire Mountain Bike, Mountain Bike, Ski Patrol @ Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Jackman, Maine

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Ford F150 EcoBoost

I bought my Ford F150 EB in July. It is the Max Tow - Max Payload, with the 6.5 foot box, it has 3.73 gears. I had a set of 285/70/17 - E-Rated BFG All Terrains with aftermarket wheels installed the day I picked it up. I had a Bull Bar installed and I got creative with the license plate because you cannot block the air flow up front.

The dash MPG computer shows 14.4 since I bought the truck. My driving includes pulling my landscape trailer around town(1500 - 3500 pounds, about 10% of my driving), some fireroad driving locked into 4x4, stop and go city driving and several 300 - 400 mile trips. 2 of the 400 mile trips was pulling my landscape trailer with 3500 pound loads.

When I reset my trip MPG, I get about 14.5 - 16 MPG with everyday driving. On the trips with a mix of 60 - 80 MPH, I get 16 - 18.5 MPG.

I just turned 6000 miles on my new F150 EB. This motor rocks, it creates useable torque, and has plenty of giddy-up and go. It is also the best gas mileage I have got with a 4x4 pick-up.

A couple of my thoughts for what they are worth.





Upgrading the tires, a must if you are going to use the F150 like a truck. Get the Max Tow / Max Trailer. It is not an F350, but I wanted gas mileage and didn't want another diesel.

My previous personal trucks have included 3 different 1 Ton Super Duties, 1 - V10 and 2 - 6.0 diesels and an 06 3/4 ton Dodge with the gas Hemi. I also drive an 09 F350 4x4 gas 5.4 pulling a single car trailer for my job, about 8000 miles a month. That gets anywhere from 8 - 11.5 MPG depending on size of vehicle and wind.

This is the trailer I'm going to use the next 2 days. A 28 foot Featherlite. I will put on about 250 - 300 miles so I'll see how it does. I just drove it about 40 miles today and it was no effort for the truck. No sway and it just jumps up to 70 MPH. I'll be driving between 65 - 75 MPH.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Backcountry Ripper





New powder sled M8/162

Monday, August 08, 2011

The Art of FLIGHT - The Metal Trailer



Saw this teaser on Poor Mans Heli site.

Man, winter is just around the bend! Gotta start getting ramped up...

Sunday, July 24, 2011

US - Tour de France 2011 - Best of n°1


Congrats to Cadel Evans, I met him back in 1994 when he was a mountain bike racer.

My best memory of Cadel was when he and my son Jeff finished 8th and 9th at a USA National Mountain Bike Race in Traverse City, Michigan in 1996, 3 weeks before the 96 Olympics. They worked together and moved through the pack.

Later in the summer Jeff raced at the World Championships in Australia and Jeff raced against Cadel...he is a great competitor.

STAGE 21 - Image of the day / L'image du jour

Saturday, July 23, 2011

STAGE 20 - Image of the day / L'image du jour


Congrats to Cadel Evans!!

I first met Cadel Evans in 1994 at Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe. It was in a mountain bike race that was called "The North American Championships". My son Jeff Hall and Cadel were both Junior Mountain Bike Racers and 6 weeks later they would both be racing in the World Mountain Bike Championships at Vail, Colorado. We crossed paths with Cadel several times over the years.

Cadel is a class act.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Avalanche Pit Bridger Mountains.wmv


We dug a pit each day in the mountains and found the same basic snowpack. Fairly stable.