Freaky near death experience by a Ford F250

...or my own damn stupidity.

A neighbor got his truck stuck on a muddy downward sloping side yard.  Went over to pull him out with my old truck.  Everything going as planned after rounding up tow straps.  Hooked him up and lumbered him to driveway.

Except....backed up to lessen tension on tow strap.  Thought I threw my truck in Park and hopped out to disconnect strap.  But nooooooo.  Truck actually still in reverse.

My left foot hit the ground and as soon as I lifted my right foot off the brake the truck began to move backwards.  I landed flat on my back on concrete drive.  My left leg is under the truck.  Right leg still inside cab with my right foot stuck under brake pedal.  Door partially closed blocked only by my right leg.  Big turbo diesel just lumbering dragging me backwards heading directly towards his house.

Ultimately able to free my right foot and hit brake with just my big toe to stop truck 3 feet from edge of his house.  Neighbor comes around and put my truck in P.  Only injury is half my arse covered in gravel rash.  Sore this morning.

Let's be careful out there.

Tell your truck to stop hanging out with Mustangs.

In reply to Appleseed :

More like have it stop taking lessons from Jeep Grand Cherokees. 

Yikes Ovid, glad you’re unhurt!

Ovid, you are EXTREMELY lucky to get away unhurt.  People die in circumstances like that. 

Very glad you got away with only wounded pride.

Its a great lesson for all of us how how just getting in a little bit of a rush on a mundane thing you do every day can end up very badly. 

That definitely counts as a near death experience. I'm glad you are going to be okay.

Appleseed said:

Tell your truck to stop hanging out with Mustangs.

It is a damned Ford after all.

Scary stuff, glad you are alright. 

Geez, ya big duffus!  

After a long and distinguished career and a life of risky and dangerous hobbies your obit almost included something stupid/mundane.   

I will say, I suspect Ford Column shift.  I dislike the column automatic shifter in my '06 Super Duty.  I find the upward motion of putting it into park to be a less than natural motion.   On more than one occasion after first getting the truck, it would not start.  Turn the key and absolutely nothing.  The culprit was not a starting issue but rather that the shifter was not fully in park.  Without being fully into park, the neutral safety switch is not satisfied and the truck will not start.  A worn down key and ignition tumbler though allow for the key to get out even if the truck is not fully in park.  

My method now (and I recommend to you) is that once I have it moved to park (or what I think is park) I then give the stick an underhanded double tap/hit upward to assure its actually in Park.  I will now use your near tragic event as reminder to continue this technique.  

Take care of yourself.  Keep that rash clean.  No need for full leg infection!  

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

I always say I want to die with the most stories to tell about my life.  You dying isn't supposed to be one of them.

truckstang

Ford.  They have built bad column shifters for as long as there have been column shifters. They did improve them a bit in the 90's, but the trucks built prior to that used to run over their owners quite regularly.

Wasn't there a class action suit in the 70's?

Streetwiseguy said:

Ford.  They have built bad column shifters for as long as there have been column shifters. They did improve them a bit in the 90's, but the trucks built prior to that used to run over their owners quite regularly.

Wasn't there a class action suit in the 70's?

I have a 2000 7.3 TD F-350 I bought in '06.  First thing I noticed on the test drive when I was looking at it for purchase, the crappy cheap feeling column shifter. The rest of the truck has been good, shifter is getting worn with same issues John Welsh mentioned.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I recall that...no pun intended.  Looked it up.  Sure enough something like 100 deaths and 1700 injuries in auto transmission fords due to faulty shifters in 1961-1980 auto trucks.

Mine's a 1996 so i guess it's my own damn fault.

OUCH ........

Glad you got out from under it , 

And thanks for telling us , we are all a bit mule headed sometimes and forget that a couple tons of rolling metal  can  do a lot of damage.

Ovid_and_Flem said:

Mine's a 1996 so i guess it's my own damn fault.

Do you know anyone who could spin it as being Ford's fault again?  

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

A few years back,I was having some work done on my '13 Fiesta I was loaned an Explorer, no idea of the year.   The column shifter was so sloppy I had to stir it around until I found what I was looking for.  Good thing the parking brake still worked.

Nothing exiting happened

If you have an extra floppy feeling Ford shifter built in the last few decades, sometimes the screws holding the lever under the dash to the shift tube in the column loosen up.  Stick your head under the dash, wiggle the shifter, and there shouldn't be any slack down where the shift cable connects to the column.  My description is kinda bad, but its pretty obvious when you get your eyeballs on the unit.

Yikes!  Reminds me of when my Jetta wagon rolled off ramps into the closed door of my ex's garage.  My first reaction was to try to stop it - like little 170 lb me is going to stop a 3200 lb car from rolling down a fairly steep ramp.  I'm lucky I realized this fairly quickly and didn't get pinned between the car and the busted door.  I could have been there for some time before my ex- decided to come to see when her car could go back inside.