Just picked up a beautiful 2017 Lariat with the 5.0L engine. I love it so far.

2 things irk me so far:

I noticed something curious about the console shifter. On the console, next to the shifter, there are the usual letters and numbers - P R N D M 2 1. At night they are lit with a background white light just like most of the rest of the cab controls. I noticed that when I move the shifter, the gear indicators on the console do not indicate which gear I am in. I have to look at the dash which of course clearly shows the gear. This seems counterintuitive to me. What gives? Every other car I have had that has a console shift has the indicator on the console.

Is this the same with all of the console shifters in Ford F-150's or does
mine have a missing/burned out light?

I went to install the boxlinks that came with the truck. I can not get them to go into the slots. I tried tapping with a dead blow hammer but they will not go. Any advice on this one? I will probably take it to the dealer to have them put them in because if I break or damage one, I'm sure they will make be purchase a new set.

Thanks.

Warrenoliver

 

The floor shifters are all the same. The indicator is in the dash because you can easily see it while you watch the road ahead of you. Makes perfect sense.


The box link cleats slide in easy....they do have to be unlocked though. No hammer or other tools necessary.

 

The box links definitely do not slide in easily. For mine to go in, they will either have to be trimmed or will need a lot of force. I can see that there is extra plastic material edges inside of the lugs that slide behind the bracket. These are being deformed as I try to force it into the slot. I did get two installed by tapping with a deadblow hammer.

 

The gear indicator not showing next to the shifter is not unusual to me. Most of the cars I had before the truck were Hondas. They all had the indicator in the instrument panel and nothing next to the shifter. Honda has been doing it like this for decades. And I find my box links are installed and removed the easiest if you insert them at an angle with the key inserted and turned to the unlock position. I'm guessing that the complicated tight fit is redundancy by design. If for some reason the cleat came loose it would still remain in place even if you had something tied to it.

 

Have you tried unlocking the boxlinks first? I dunno, just to put it out there.. I got them on easily without using anything. That's few minutes after I owned the truck, and never took it off..

 

.
My console shifter does indicate what gear I'm in, there is a color difference. If I'm not mistaken, it's the same color difference that shows on the dash.
2 of my box links required a rubber mallet to seat them. It was the link & not the slot, as I tried them in several slots.
.

 

That's interesting. Is this on your 2017 Lariat with 5.0L? Which option package do you have? You are the first to say that the indicator is on the console also. Thank you.

I'll have the dealer look at it.


Warren