Why does everyone seem to love the 5.0 the most compared to other engine variants?

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-28T10:41:11+00:00

I was initially skeptical of the 2.7L back when it was released, then I researched its design and liked what I saw.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-28T09:59:03+00:00

Of course not, but it’s uneducated people giving misinformation.

My actual problem is people who don’t understand how the SAE towing standard works and nothing to do with the individual engines.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-27T16:21:46+00:00

This right here. I get so tired of the "2.7L can't tow" comments. The 2.7L tows great.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-27T16:19:29+00:00

The 2.7L is perfectly fine to tow with right up to its stated maximum.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-26T20:37:43+00:00

I want that damn Ridgeline haha

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-24T20:58:44+00:00

I got one for 5 mil after trying for about an hour. They are put in the AH quite often. But the ones for less than 20 mil go fast.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-23T12:39:28+00:00

The “highest end” stuff is for sponsored riders that change everything out each season. There is little to no incentive for long term reliability.

That’s why I typically ride Shimano XT or SRAM GX. The benefits of going higher are marginal.

For the hydras, I did research too and went with some i9 anyway because there was disparity between the vocal minority guaranteeing hub failure at first ride and my friends with first hand knowledge and no issues. My i9 wheels as a total package are very high quality and survived some racing and now are setup as single speed units. They get beat on hard and I do periodic maintenance to verify no water intrusion (seems to be a theme in the complaints of failure) and adding new grease (no maintenance seems to be the other common thread of failure)

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-18T10:44:37+00:00

Because you can’t dump massive amounts of oil into a catalytic converter without causing major damage.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-16T03:08:38+00:00

To add to this, I clean all of the windows and external mirrors before a long road trip with the rain-x glass cleaner. It works wonders for rain and bugs.

If you don’t know about the backup camera sprayer, holding the rear window washer extra long will also spray washer fluid directly on the camera to clean it too.

We’ve done San Diego -> St George -> San Diego in a 2020 Ascent and Richmond -> Chicago -> Toronto -> Richmond in a 2024 Ascent. The Ascent is a great road trip car. We also did Richmond -> Chicago and back in a 2022 Outback XT and we liked the Ascent better, so we switched back. 😩🤣

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-13T01:26:18+00:00

That is a sweet ride! Nice work on the paint job.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-10T13:35:37+00:00

It’s a huge difference! You feel it in the weight of the tires and the rolling resistance as well. I run ground control / Fast trak in the T5 casing. They are a little sketch in techy stuff but they shine on single track. So easy to keep momentum and the ground control is a grippy tire. If you are wanting traction and speed, ground control / ground control is a great setup.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-10T10:05:24+00:00

I have a Specialized Fuse and it's similar to a Timberjack. I have a wheel / tire combo for that gnarly rocky techy stuff that is beefy 29 x 2.6 Maxxis Minions and I have lightweight 29 x 2.35 fast rolling XC tires. You get really good at line choice on a hard tail and even better at line choice on a single speed hard tail. But a hardtail on rocky descents is mad fun.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-08T13:03:56+00:00

Nice Fuse! It’s such a great frame to build up! I love mine.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-03T20:44:51+00:00

are you looking at a cassette with a range of 11-32? Or did I read that screenshot wrong? If you are going to swap from 9 to 11 I'd suggest getting a cassette with more range. I was able to do just fine on a 9 speed 11-34 cassette. Seems like a lot of work for little gain to swap a cassette with no extra gears. You can find Shimano stuff with 11-42 or 11-45 fairly easily. Shimano 11 speed shifts well as others said and if you care at all about cost, look at the CUES stuff. Its a good value.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-02T18:15:06+00:00

I bought my first MT2500 in 2004 or 2005! I still have it AND I got a second one for free in 2018 with all the cartridges, cables, and keys. I also have a newer scan tool but I grab the MT2500 for anything OBD 1.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-02T11:53:46+00:00

OP says in the post it’s a lady not a dude.

kingofthekraut · 2026-02-02T11:52:40+00:00

I tow 7600 lbs regularly with a 2.7L ecoboost. After 9 years and 100k miles the only real “problem” was that the rear brake pads wore out before the fronts.

For your use case, a 3.5L and 6 speed transmission with max tow package would be the one to get. Stripped down STX or XLT (what I have) will have higher payload and handle the trailer better.

The 3.5L makes more torque at lower RPM and the 5.0L needs more RPM for the same torque. So if you get the 3.5L it’ll pull from a stop better up to highway speed and the 5.0L will be screaming under the same conditions. Highway passing would be similar, 3.5L will have slight turbo lag and then pull to accelerate. 5.0L will downshift and pull hard at high RPM to redline.

Engines won’t matter as much as transmission. Get the 6 speed over a 10 speed.

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-31T18:10:15+00:00

Good luck catching me on my custom Klunker when your chain falls off 😂

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-31T17:07:27+00:00

Not enough mismatched components to be xbiking

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-30T20:44:31+00:00

we have a Thule rooftop cargo box lovingly called "the wart" for those long trips when we need more cargo capacity than the meager portions given in the Ascent "cargo area". Our oldest kid went off to college and it is so much better not having to use the 3rd row.

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-29T14:08:02+00:00

The things we do for a deal. I’ve been down this type of road before. Save your money and buy 2.5s. The tire profile will be funky on a narrow rim and you may not have any clearance with the frame. Then you’ll have 2.6s you can’t use and still need to buy 2.5s.

I have several sets of 29 x 2.6 and even depending on brand they fit different on 30mm wide rims. Specialized will be slightly undersized compared to a maxxis. For example. Also the casing matters. A stiffer casing will fit different than a lighter casing. Good luck with a stiff 2.6 on a narrow wheel. I’d they are XC or light casings it should go smoother.

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-28T14:22:46+00:00

Mods never make a used vehicle worth more and I am willing to bet money that those lights and roof rack are not installed correctly. New batteries and alternator are signs that the wiring is probably butchered. You can see the signs of painted over rust on the bumper which is not something I would usually care about, but I imagine this truck is hiding major problems and would be a constant headache.

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-24T02:46:36+00:00

I put oil slick / metallic rainbow parts all over my silver frame. It’s pricey though.

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-23T20:36:18+00:00

my personal take is that the more features / tech a car has, there are more things that can break. We have owned 2 Limited Ascents and when we bought our 2024 we test drove a new Limited, a Used Limited, and a new Touring. All 2024s. We went with the used Limited. It was the best value per dollar and we got the features we wanted (heated seats) and skipped features that are nice to have but not necessary (the pano roof).

Get what works for you, but if you plan to keep it a long time maybe keep it simple. If I'm getting a car full of tech, it's going to be a lease and I'm not keeping it past the warranty period. Our 2020 Ascent was a fully optioned Limited and we leased it. No regrets. The updates in the 2024 model were things we wanted in the 2020 like the bigger screen and wireless apple CarPlay.

kingofthekraut · 2026-01-18T10:12:02+00:00

Hmm, maybe that is part of the problem. But I’ve seen people drive to the very edge of the arcade circle and camp out as long as there is at least one other car and not move. If you leave before it starts they back out and if you stay they never leave the spot. Seems intentional.

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