bikehauler

That's good to know. I'll have to check that out to see it in action. OTOH, I've noticed a potential problem (easily avoidable if I'm careful) with the particular configuration of my model. I have the 255° doors and rear windows. I don't think the two options are supposed be together on the same vehicle, because there is the potential (despite all the bumpers and so forth to protect the doors from striking one another) to bash the rear wipers with (or into) the sliding side door.

Hello, Regor. My XLT Wagon is also for personal use. Most of the ones I see around (which is becoming more frequent by the day), are obviously business/work vehicles. I don't think much of the general public has yet discovered how great these are for just about anything.

Thanks. I guess I'll have to get those tires swapped so that I can have the running rim back on the vehicle.

Has anyone removed any of these? I know that there is a tool available to facilitate their removal, but what I want to know is what's behind them? In other words, are the holes they are in threaded to accommodate mounting hardware?

And I can recommend Stuckey Ford. They're good people and I had a pleasant buying experience. I just wish they were closer so that I could use them for service and so forth. My bad experiences with dealerships usually come after I've bought the vehicle. You should see how many dealerships my wife flips off as we drive by--it's hilarious. Fair enough. I can respect that.

I just read the procedure that you're supposed to perform to reset the TPMS every time you rotate your tires. :eek5: Unbelievable. Right now I have the problem that I had objects embedded into two of my tires, one front, one rear. Didn't know if I would need to replace the tires completely, but my mechanic was able repair one and leave it in place, but the other he swapped out with the full-size spare, plugged the bad tire and made that the spare. After about a week, however, the TPMS indicator came on. I checked all the tires, even the spare. A couple were a little low, but I don't think they were low enough the set off the indicator (does anyone know what the thresholds are?). I topped them off, but the indicator is still on. Does the wheel for the spare not have a TPMS sensor in it? The manual is a bit ambiguous on this point. This is not a temporary spare, but a full-size spare. Or do they still consider the spare to be temporary even though it's full-size? Or do I need to do the reset procedure since the vehicle probably needs to know where the spare has been placed (the manual says that the TPMS is calibrated to recognize two different pressure thresholds to accommodate the different pressure recommendations for the front and rear tires)?

Ironic that you bought your TC in Pittsburgh. I live in Pittsburgh and had to get mine in Hollidaysburg, PA (Stuckey Ford), and they brought it over from Ohio (they swapped their lone cargo van for the passenger wagon that I wanted). Are you willing to name the dealership? Does it rhyme with "pay"?

Oncoming traffic? :o Well, there's your problem! Hey, just kidding.

Hi, Doug. So I'm not the first to think of using a TC to haul recumbents! We have two Trice T's and they both fit nicely inside the TC (we also have a Hase Kettweisel). Normally, for compact stowage, the Trices fold and break down smaller (seat and rear wheel pops off with quick-releases), which is what I used to have to do. However, with the TC, I can leave seats and rear wheels in place and simply allow the drop fork to fold in and they go right in. Folding the fork down pushes the center of the trike up in the air, and with a head-rest on the seat, a lot of head-room is needed. It's no problem to take the seat off if needed, but with all the headroom in the TC, I don't even have to do that. I can get them in with the rear seats folded up (a somewhat tight squeeze), but with the seats removed, they fit with a little more breathing room. I've even got spare bicycle tires bungeed up into the side panels. I'd eventually like to add some kind of storage modules to keep spare parts and tools. I'll try to get some photos with the bikes loaded.

I was also wondering what that thing was for. Nice work, JEGARH.

I've received so many survey mailings, I lost count. I started filling out the JD Power one until I realized that only the first page actually asked question about my opinion of the vehicle and the other 19 pages were all demographic info, so I tossed it. Plus, they seemed to be more interested in why I didn't purchase other vehicles, than why I did purchase the one I have. The TC fit my needs so well that nothing else was even under consideration.

That probably because we have the shortest on-ramps in the country. Many other places have ramps that are long enough to give you time to match the speed of the moving traffic before merging which makes merging, well . . . merging, rather than barging. We even have on-ramps with stop signs, which IMO is not an on-ramp.

Ah, but which unlock button? There are two--one for the passenger doors and one for the rear doors.

rnt80, I've taken my seats out a couple times already. Ford doesn't seem to advertise that as a feature, but it's fairly easy. You need a #50 Torx wrench or ratchet bit. The twin seat has four bolts and the single seat has two bolts. Don't bother with the small screws that you will see--they only hold the plastic coverings onto the metal base and don't go all the way through. The twin seat is quite heavy, however, so be warned. I'd say it weighs about twice that of a Jeep Wrangler jump seat. ETA: Willie touched on something I should have mentioned because it might not be all that obvious--simply fold the seats all the way up, and the bolts will be visible in the base plates.

Hello everyone, Just joined the forum; bought my TC in September, and it's also the first Ford I've ever owned. I have the 5-seat passenger wagon XLT in silver. I don't have photos, but it looks just like PRIORITY_driving's. My wife and I both love this thing. We both ride recumbent trikes (see avatar) and this is the perfect transport for hauling these bulky and expensive bicycles (can't use conventional bike racks). We were stuffing both of them into a Jeep Cherokee, until we heard about the Transit Connect last summer. I drooled over the brochure and website photos for weeks until we finally found one (which wasn't easy when we started calling around back in August--a few dealers had cargo vans and that was it). One thing I wasn't expecting but which really impressed me was how roomy and comfortable the cab area is. Even now it turns heads and I still get questions about it. In some ways I hope it remains one of those best-kept secrets, but it's nice to have found a place for those of us in on the secret.