New Dogs, Old Tricks: Why modern pickups still deploy some ancient technology

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Before you start screaming into your keyboard about this author’s lack of awareness, this post is not to assert trucks are backwards pieces of equipment with the same level of tech as the average sea cave. In fact, the rate of development in the truck segment is roaring apace, with players like Ford on the cusp of introducing the all-electric F-150 Lightning. This is not to mention the infotainment arms race, with screens approaching IMAX proportions and featuring apps enough to rival a well-stocked Apple store.

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But holdouts remain. Truck buyers are, by and large, a traditional bunch. For a crew that seems to like their leather seats and suede headliners, it can be difficult to drive acceptance to some types of new technology. Your pickup-loving author is guilty of this preponderance from time to time, so this isn’t a finger-wagging at any Luddites in the room.

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Sometimes, old tech just works . And when it comes to pickup trucks, whose entire reason for being is to put in a solid day at the job site, it is important to have dependable tools. Here’s our picks for old-school tech that still finds a home in trucks.

Pushrod V8 Engines

When word dropped a few years ago that Ford was working on a new engine for its Super Duty pickup truck, few were surprised. After all, the 6.8L V10 Triton wasn’t the best of performers and its exhaust note had all the charm of a flatulent rhinoceros. What absolutely did raise eyebrows, however, was the revelation the Blue Oval’s fancy new engine wouldn’t be very fancy at all.

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Making the switch back to a pushrod design in the new 7.3L gasser – along with a 90-degree vee, a cast-iron block, and two valves per cylinder – might seem to some like a step backwards in terms of technology. And, when viewed from a time-is-linear standpoint, it could be interpreted as such. Those in the know will tell you that this type of engine is as reliable as the sunrise and will get likely get the job done with minimal fuss. While it may have proletarian roots, the 7.3L has a healthy set of lungs through which to breathe, permitting 430 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque. If your author’s experience behind the wheel is any indication, Ford made the right call to go old school.

Column Shifters

Like a foodie that can’t turn down a scoff from their favourite restaurant (socially distanced, of course) there remains a cadre of truck fans who just can’t kick the traditional column shifter. Sure, there are a few pickups from which this form of gear selection has vanished, but more than a few remain with a stick sprouting from behind the steering wheel like an overgrown larch.

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The reason is, of course, tradition. When the crew at Ram did away with the column shifter in some of their rigs in favour of a rotary dial, it created plenty of online and in-person bleating that the latter wasn’t “manly” enough for truck duty — as if knobs and dials are assigned a gender at birth or something. The only knobs are the people complaining about the thing, since it frees up space compared to a console shifter and makes the truck more approachable to first-time buyers. Holdouts remain across the segment, and to this day it’s no trouble to spec a pickup truck with a gearshift that needs to be handled like a baseball bat every time the driver calls for Drive or Reverse.

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Don’t believe us? Why do you think Ford decided to continue deploying a console shifter in this age of electronics? Since the selector isn’t physically connected to anything, a number of designs could have been deployed. Yet, likely because it didn’t want to face the same criticisms hurled at Ram, it stuck with a solution that looks older than it actually is.

Solid Rear Axles

Quick engineering lesson: at the risk of oversimplification, a so-called “solid axle” deploys a suspension setup in which the rear tires are connected by an axle housing that runs the width of the vehicle. This may be suspended from the vehicle by a number of different methods, possibly including the use of a track bar, coil springs, control arms, and airbags. What they all have in common are their propensity to handle with less precision than other modern suspension designs, since the forces on one side of the axle will generally have the opposite effect on the other side.

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They’re also old, seemingly dating back to the days of Roman chariots, or at least the horse and buggy, warranting their inclusion on this list. But, as you’d expect, they are also often the best choice for use on a pickup truck. That solid side-to-side feature, an inherent weakness for handling, is also its greatest strength. Literally.

Thanks to its ability to bear a relatively enormous amount of mass, the humble solid axle helps permit pickup truck makers to advertise ludicrously high payload ratings, a key metric in the never ending mine-is-bigger-than-yours competition in the modern truck segment. It was big news when the Tahoe SUV and its cousins came to market with an independent rear suspension; might the same be in the cards for GM pickup trucks?

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Leaf Springs

Closely related to the topic above are the continued presence of leaf springs on many consumer-grade pickup trucks. If you’re unfamiliar the term, please permit us to explain. (After all, not everyone makes like the team at Driving and spends the better part of a weekend lying supine on a concrete floor studying the underside of a vehicle.) In its simplest form, leaf springs are composed of one or more long and narrow (but not thin) steel plates stacked together and connected to the truck chassis at either end to comprise an important part of the vehicle’s suspension.

The leaf spring is, by its very design, an incredibly strong piece of kit. This, like the solid axle, helps permit a truck to bear plenty of weight. They are also incredibly agricultural and are arguably the root of the phrase “this thing rides like a truck” when used as an insult.

Designers at Ram have switched some of their offerings to contemporary coil or air springs, once again incurring the wrath of certain individuals. It’s an interesting dichotomy, since some coil-sprung Rams are rated at or near the payload capability of leaf-sprung trucks, but feature a bit better ride quality. Meanwhile, development continues apace on old-fashioned leaf springs, with some versions of the 2021 F-150 packing a few composite components in this area to save a significant amount of weight, creating an excellent setup that still keeps its roots in tradition.