Buying a Ranger? Check for the middle tie downs

[MountainGoat]

Copy. You could buy something and sell it here. I'll give you $30 for 2 tie downs and bolts

If I find a dealer that will order them. Mine is "trying to get on the fordpass system". 10k service was either pay cash or drive 70 miles away to one that takes points. Cost of living in the sticks I guess.

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[Radioman]

I wonder how many people who cry over a couple of tie downs ever use them. Probably the same for dampers.

My truck did not come with the middle tie downs so I ordered them using FordPass Reward points. I find that I use the middle tie downs along with one of the end tie downs most often; I'm glad I installed them. I also love the damper; the Tundra I replaced with the Ranger had the tailgate dampened and I found that useful.

 

[ScrappyLaptop]

I'm wondering if it is a supply issue due to Covid-19 at this point. If you look at my first post in this thread they used to be available for under $30 for the two tie downs and the bolts. Here is the link again. At the time I originally posted and did a search for the OEM part numbers it showed similar prices. Now when I do the search again for the same part numbers one hook on the same website is showing $28.54 and that doesn't include the bolts. Similar sites are also around the same price.

I mean, I guess it is a matter of debate for some here after reading over this thread. But as I posted originally, the sales rep told me the same thing, they cost around $150. But given I had just bought my Ranger and felt I had dealt with them fairly, after a bit of a push they agreed to include them.

Sure there was some cost cutting along the line from what I have seen posted here. I'm just guessing, but I bet the actual parts for both tie downs/bolts included originally didn't cost more than $10 landed, if that depending on where they are made. I'm just basing that on what they were selling for a few months ago, less than $30. So that along with the recent increase on price for the OEM parts I could find online makes me think there is a major supply issue as well as more demand.

Given the debate of if they should have been included or not, I suppose it depends on how bad you want the tie downs and what you are willing to pay. Personally as a customer I had no problem being more assertive over the issue with my dealer. They want me to come back as a customer and made a fair amount of money from my purchase. They are not my friends and I am not theirs. It is 100% business. So I didn't feel one bit of remorse pursuing it until I got the result I wanted.

If it was due to COVID or the resulting shipping mess that is still going to take a year or so more to work through, and Ford had said,

"Hey, we were making respiratory ventilators using F-150 dash blowers* when your truck was built, and the tie downs are in really short supply so we had to ration them. We're doing the best we can. Here's a coupon for them when they become available someday. Thanks for your patience."

I'd have been not only happy to wait, but impressed with their communication & dedication to their customers. Instead what I got from my dealer was a blank expression and a shrug, as if to say, "Should've caught that before you drove it off the lot".

*true story

 

[HenryMac]

If it was due to COVID or the resulting shipping mess that is still going to take a year or so more to work through, and Ford had said,

"Hey, we were making respiratory ventilators using F-150 dash blowers* when your truck was built, and the tie downs are in really short supply so we had to ration them. We're doing the best we can. Here's a coupon for them when they become available someday. Thanks for your patience."

I'd have been not only happy to wait, but impressed with their communication & dedication to their customers. Instead what I got from my dealer was a blank expression and a shrug, as if to say, "Should've caught that before you drove it off the lot".

*true story

Well... I ordered my tie downs 11-01-2019... and it took a long time to get them... and that was pre-Covid.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

If it was due to COVID or the resulting shipping mess that is still going to take a year or so more to work through, and Ford had said,

"Hey, we were making respiratory ventilators using F-150 dash blowers* when your truck was built, and the tie downs are in really short supply so we had to ration them. We're doing the best we can. Here's a coupon for them when they become available someday. Thanks for your patience."

I'd have been not only happy to wait, but impressed with their communication & dedication to their customers. Instead what I got from my dealer was a blank expression and a shrug, as if to say, "Should've caught that before you drove it off the lot".

*true story

Hi SL,

True Story... The Plant Vehicle Team from Light Truck Engineering stationed at MAP under the leadership of Roger B, who I know personally, deleted the center tie down as a Material Cost Reduction. Roger met his objective and received his bonus and promptly retired to Florida.

So your choices include the following

1. Deal with not having center tiedowns
2. Move the tiedowns you do not use to the center position
3. Beat the dealer too death to give you the "missing" tiedowns as part of the sale.
4. Order a pair of Tiedowns from LevitTown Ford via Benny.
5. Sit here and beat the dead horse and whine and complain

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

Ford wanting $136.30 CAD for 2 brackets and 4 bolts is absolutely absurd! ($47.85 for the bracket, $6.23 each bolt + tax).

 

[HenryMac]

Ford wanting $136.30 CAD for 2 brackets and 4 bolts is absolutely absurd! ($47.85 for the bracket, $6.23 each bolt + tax).

Still a better value than a tailgate damper..

 

[THLONE]

Good story Phil, did another engineer retire after not adding the damper.

 

[Augie81]

5. Sit here and beat the dead horse and whine and complain

To be fair this thread was dead and didn't have a response for almost a year until someone decided bring it back the other day to make a snarky remark. I'm not judginig them for it. Maybe they were bored.

Oh and to answer I have used my middle tie downs many times. Glad I got them.

 

[jthompson48]

Thanks to this forum I knew to grab the tie downs and swap the headrests off the 2019 I traded in for a 21.

 

[HenryMac]

Thanks to this forum I knew to grab the tie downs and swap the headrests off the 2019 I traded in for a 21.

The guy that buys your old 2019 probably is going to hate you.... or more likely, he'll never know the difference.

How did you swap the headrests? Right there in front of the salesman?

 

[jthompson48]

The guy that buys your old 2019 probably is going to hate you.... or more likely, he'll never know the difference.

How did you swap the headrests? Right there in front of the salesman?

He helped me do it!

 

[HenryMac]

He helped me do it!

Car Salesman... they're worse than Ford owners.. ?

 

[THLONE]

To be fair this thread was dead and didn't have a response for almost a year until someone decided bring it back the other day to make a snarky remark. I'm not judginig them for it. Maybe they were bored.

Actually I was baited by the web site that brings up old posts at the end of the threads and sends me emails. I am guilty of not looking at the date. My bad. Snarky is a cheep shot. In my humble opinion of course.

PS The web site makes more money depending post count.
Support your favorite web site.

 

[Tracy Bowman]

Im thinking of starting a small hobby farm.
chickens, goats and some tigers maybe.
Theres a neighborhood yard cat that wanders around acting starved all the time. I'm only slightly worried he will look at my chickens as dinner.
What I am curious about is should I lash down my chicken coop in case there is ever a hurricane that rips through the property.
Should i go with extra tie downs? a set in the middle spiked into mother earth with some big dirt screws? and should i put dampers on all the windows and hatches? I'm really afraid that the rooster might be standing in the door when the hatch swings shut and punts him across the coop in front of the ladies.
I never got any Ford Points. Canada sucked the big one in the beginning and only recently offered them. I have a big fat 0.

Tigers...? ? That’s gonna be quite the hobby farm, RP. Take care!

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