[Boojo35]

THIS

Fine choice of travel trailers. We have the same one. Simple. Well built (compared to other brands). No sliders. (they are nothing but leaks and issues) Doesnt break the bank. Tows well.

 

[Boojo35]

Nothing wrong with a Harley.... As long as you do not mind an oil leak in your garage.

 

[Boojo35]

My Jeep does not leak oil in my garage....... I park it outside. :laugh2:

 

[Boojo35]

I had an admin troll me for bit here, not too long ago.

Me too.

 

[Boojo35]

So. I sheepishly ask. What is /f12 that you all have been referring too?

 

[Boojo35]

This is quite possibly the most useless device known to man around these parts. :laugh:

It was littering my property & now headed to its final resting place at the local dump, where it may have originated.

OMG! There are only two real options left in my area. DISH and Directv. At least Directv gives me more football!

No cable options available here.

 

[Boojo35]

The old truck looks more, gulp, aerodynamic!

It's not just GM, all the brands are getting ridiculous.
Are customers saying:

"I'm not buying this new ....... unless it's way bigger than the previous one"

????

Looking at replacing my Silverado..... Guess I better hurry up!

 

[Boojo35]

Nice slab Joe. Very nice.

 

[Boojo35]

1980 Toyota Corrola 1885 lbs
2020 Toyota Corrola 2900 lbs

1980 Honda Accord 2050 lbs
2020 Honda Accord 3428 lbs

1984 Ford F150 3851 lbs
2020 Ford F150 5800 lbs

1990 Ford Ranger 2820 lbs
2019 Ford Ranger 4441 lbs

$$$$$

1989 YJ 2855 to 3241 lbs
2019 Jeep 3970 to 4439 lbs

And people in Minnesota are wondering why their new vehicles are breaking through the ice.

Come on man! It is not the weight of the vehicles breaking through the ice..... Minnesota has been severely affected by global warming. Ice just ain't what it used to be..... Seriously.... Don't you watch CNN?

 

[Boojo35]

This engine will be in the Chebbie full sized truck.

First, Chevy gave Ford crap for using aluminum. (Of course they followed behind and started using it too)

Then Ford developed the V-6 Ecoboost.
GM, not to be outdone, says "Oh yeah, we're going to use a 4 banger!"

A four banger you say?
Yes. A VERY complicated four banger. as we already know it will annoy the owner by shutting down (engine dying on purpose) at stop lights and it will shut down two cylinders when not "needed"

I can't see anything that can go wrong. (sarcasm)

Hold on to your Chevy trucks, guys. GM has lost their minds.

Active fuel management or displacement on demand (same thing different name) has been a disaster for every manufacturer that I know of. Lots of oil consumption issues and misfires related to oil fouled spark plugs. Not all engines with this feature suffer from the issues. One LS motor 5.3L GM will burn oil like a B and foul out the AFM spark plugs only. Usually cylinder #7, sometimes cylinder #1, and rarely but possible #6 or 4. The next one never has an issue. Weird stuff and and the supporting TSB's and info from the factory are really BS if you really read them and think them through. My 09 Silverado does not have oil consumption issues but I have replaced a zillion valve covers and done the top engine cleaner soak per a TSB. Put an oil deflector in the oil pan per a TSB. Replace a lot of pistons and rings per a TSB on other engines. Some vehicles are definitely related to poor maintenance but yet the oil changes have been done in accordance to factory recommendations. (a whole nother rant. Oils do not last as long as current specs from both auto and oil manufacturers claim. When I tear down an engine, if there is a black coating on cylinder head drain surfaces, rocker arms, etc... the oil did not do its job or was not changed at correct intervals.)Some engines are spot less when you tear them down. No rhyme or reason to when they pump more oil than an offshore oil rig.

The AFM thing on a Turbo engine...... Get the F out of here!. Some of the electronic thermostat ideas are already in motion.... a big joke.... Now flowing coolant here and there and all around the place with plastic valves that are computer controllled. WOW. Looks like lots of fun.

Turbos as daily drivers suck donkey body part anyways. Way higher failure rate.. Too much heat generated. Too hard on lubrication.

ALL the auto manufacturers lost their minds a long time ago. Emissions type stuff was forced by the government and my hat is off to manufacturers for being able to bring performance back with all the mandates...

All of these false sense of security items such as blind spot detection, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, collision mitigated breaking etc. make people more secure that they can text more and still operate a motor vehicle. What a joke.. Add to that the blue tooth, wifi, apple connect, samsung connect, and other creature features in a vehicle. Am I playing my X box or playstation or am I driving? Too many distractions or false safety items built in now days.

Add to it the IMPOSSIBLE to diagnose software issues going on inside of cars. Your left rear blind spot detection module is packed with salt and ice and just made your vehicle die in traffic..... It took down a CAN line at a very unfortunate time.... WOW.

People want these damn gadgets though.

Forgot to mention how much more monitoring "big brother" is capable of with all this crap.... Your cell phone already shows your every move and thought.

Feeling better about my old Chebby everyday.:smile2:

 

[Boojo35]

@boojo53 I disagreed on a couple points.
Bluetooth lets me use my phone safely and legally with the same interaction as a CB radio.
That adds safety.
The incompetence of users and their poor choices is why stupid people text and drive and stop for yield signs at traffic circles with no traffic to yield to. Quote}

I also think a turbo DD can add longevity and reliability. 'We' have the experience and technology because truckers have been using turbos as DD for a long time. Granted they are diesels but I've dailied a gasoline turbo with good results. I personally think a turbo motor will (or can) last longer than its NA counterpart. Quote]

I did not convey the bluetooth idea all that great. Sure, hands free driving is an awesome thing for safety. I cannot and will not dispute that. You are 100% percent correct. They way it is integrated into vehicles is part of where automakers have lost their minds. In a dealership world we deal with soooo many compatibility issues, software issues, customer not reading their owners manual issues, and mega expensive radio units that often times are not even covered under the full bumper to bumper warranty. Sure, your bumper to bumper is 5/60k but your radio is 3/36. Oh, BTW your new radio head is as much as $6K to replace. BTW, your radio head in some instances crashes a lot of other features in your car because through CAN lines and no one thing doing one job and silly interface ideas, your other stuff doesnt work. Sorry, you cannot change the temp of your heater....... Your cluster is dead.... etc.

We are going to have to agree to disagree on turbos. Oil change requirements on them are beyond what most people will do to make them super reliable. Factory recommendations do not cut it in many instances. They are often very difficult to work on because of the way they are packaged and the factories simply don't pay us techs enough money to deal with them. It is a sore spot. Part of my opinion is that a plumber never fixes his own faucet. With that being said is as a mechanic, the worst thing I could possibly own is a vehicle I hate working on. Turbos fall under that catergory. Knuckle busting and excessively corroded and seized and rounded off bolt POS's.

On to oil change requirements which is a big factor in turbo reliability. I will go on this rant this time. My opinion is that Consumer reports and other publications began to produce a number that is cost of ownership of a vehicle. What is the easiest way to drop the cost? Drop the maintenance requirements. Lets change our required oil change interval from 3000 to 5000 to 7500 to 10000 miles. Sure oils are better now in suspending particles etc. but they are not what they are claimed to be. Lets call our coolant and trans fluid lifetime. Does less required maintenance by the schedules reduce the cost of ownership..... YES! It goes on and on.... Bottom line to the factory... will the vehicle make it out of the warranty period with our recommendations? Will our recommendations financially get us off the hook warranty wise? In a lot of cases, yes. Now the trick bag. Read your owners manual. It will likely have two maintenance schedules. Normal and severe. So this is the part where the recommendations are kind of honest. Cost of ownership is based on normal but if you read what makes a vehicle fall under severe conditions I think you will find that ALL vehicles, climates, and driving conditions put a vehicle under the severe maintenance schedule. There maybe a instance here or there that are not severe but I have never found one. Rant over.

Sorry, have a bad attitude about turbo engines.

You did state that diesel engines have used them successfully forever.... I do not dispute that. I worked exclusively with vehicles that had diesel turbo charged engines in my 3 1/2 years in Afghanistan so my familiarity with them is also high. Diesels run in lower and limited RPM bands. Produce lower exhaust temperatures than gasoline engines, etc. I did not mind our diesel turbo engines. Far fewer failures. Packaged in a way that they are more serviceable. Diesels though do not push a turbo at the same temps and RPMS as a gas engine.

You are one of the guys that I probably would not mind your turbo car..... because you probably take care of it.

 

[Boojo35]

A turbo doesn't increase the reliability or longevity of an engine.
How could it? All it's doing is raising intake pressure so more fuel can be added.

Turbos were a big fail in the late 70's and 80's
Now they're back and often with direct injection which brings on problems of it's own. Direct injection doesn't allow fuel and detergents to clean the valve and port.
Are turbos back to stay this time? We'll find out.

Turbos are really hard on oil and oil quality is important.

My truck is going in for a new turbo next month.

Diesel fuel does not wash oil off cylinder walls like gas does.

Thanks, Chris. Direct injection is its own nightmare for all the reasons you have stated. Add to that the modern day
moving doors in intake manifolds. Stuff gets broken all the time whether it be aluminum, alloy or plastic. There is no fuel in the manifold to keep it clean. Carbon and stuff binds it up and breaks it. It is more than cleaning the valve and port.

Remember when you ever cleaned the throttle bore of a carburetor? Oh, you didn't. Fuel kept it clean. Then came TBI... Oh, fuel flowed through it, still kept it clean. The came Port Fuel Injection, Multi port, etc. Call it whatever you want.... Throttle bodies now need to be cleaned. There was no fuel keeping it clean

Same principal...the further you move fuel flow downstream the more stuff that gets crudded up before the fuel flow. Direct injection engines are nasty crudded up POS's all the way through. Add heat such as a turbo, the faster the crap bakes on. Now they become hopeless.

Diesel and gas turbos are not playing on a level field.

Not disputing you, Chris.. Just adding to it.

 

[Boojo35]

Go back to your hole, Recon.

:laugh:

Wow! Tough crowd. :grin2:

 

[Boojo35]

Well it's premature for Luuca but THESE are the nicest things about grandkids to me. I had two girls and became a single parent and it was great, and now I have mini-me
I dont regret or dislike having girls but I got one of these somehow...

That is awesome. I have a 5 year old grandson and he is the one that gave us the title of "wood partners". I have 5 outbuildings and each has its own personality or purpose. He for sure will help me with anything to do with the Jeep but is super fascinated with the wood shop. Mini-me's are the best.

 

[Boojo35]

Chris.... You nailed our demise in simple terms. How many are contributing and paying taxes in the end and how many are sucking the life out of the system? Worse yet... They can vote.

One political party is accused of being wealthy while the other has the some of the wealthiest people in the world leading the way.

One party is supported mostly by gun toting Americans that support our constitution and the other by freeloading or bleeding hearts that are easily swayed by union supported or geographic and financial means due to geographic stereotypical ways of life and beliefs.

Throw a wild animal table scraps, they will try to come back to the easy meal and tasty scraps over and over and lose their way of survival in the wild..... Isn't that what has happened to 'Merica...... I think so....

I hate it when I watch election results and see that an entire state can be controlled by a couple of counties that are predominately welfare states. Makes me warm and fuzzy to see that my government and tax dollars are being controlled more and more everyday by those that dont even pay tax dollars... Or even worse.... The scholarly folks in the education system that buy into it and support it..... oh... wait.... many of them are bought and paid for by welfare recipients that are career students. Receive tuition money and grants from the government. Have no intention of ever learning anything and doing a REAL job. Go to class to a specified date in a semester. Cancel the class. Have the money refunded to them rather than the government or source it came from... a freaking joke.

So... one party seems to make its way off of dependency. The other off of supporting the constitution IMO. BUT... both have lost their way in their delivery and just getting lost in pure BS and big interest money.

What ever happened to patriotism and even more.... Politicians being statesmen rather than buyouts? I loved a quote I saw and do not remember where. Politicians should be required to wear NASCAR type uniforms so we can clearly know who their sponsors are.

 

[Boojo35]

Fires suck. Most are preventable. People see so many warning tags and labels they ignore them and disaster strikes usually

Not saying that happened with this tragedy just thinking about fires

On another note what is THIS stuff?
It was in a sealed box with a 26' four-wire trailer harness I ordered on amazon. Not 'packaged' for shipment, an actual box from china labeled as a trailer wiring harness in English. The squiggle-box scan merely linked to a App Store chat client. I mean app. Weird electrical tape?

NO. That is some of that new fangled sour patch type of candy.... in a roll.... taste it..... trust me.... :laugh2:

 

[Boojo35]

My current boss screamed his bloody head off at me about me needing an additional small collar for our ball joint press to put a ball joint in an off brand car for us. He said that I needed to respect his expertise, knowledge and experience.... Just put a damn control arm assembly in it.... Uh..... ok...... but the ball joint is in the knuckle, not the control arm......

Situations occur regularly with him that show why we SHOULD NOT respect his expertise, knowledge and experience. One of the great ones is a vehicle came in that the sunroof would not close on. They had to use the jump box to restart it on the service aisle. He told the involved tech to put a new battery in it to get the sunroof closed. The tech said, you mean the vehicle that started and is running right now.... The one that is providing charging system voltage as we speak?.... The one that everything else electrical is working right now? boss is like, "yep, battery will fix it". So Kyle puts a battery in it... Hey boss, starts on its own now..... The sunroof still wont close... should I park it outside or do you think I should proceed with further diagnosis? Boss is like huh? That really didn't fix the sunroof? You are joking with me, right?

 

[Boojo35]

Maybe this is just a Vermont thing but driving home from work every night...
I'm pretty annoyed at the overbright aftermarket headlights, fog lights, and such.

But the number of people that drive with their high beams on lately is rediculous. It costs nothing to dim them for oncoming traffic.

I think you are wrong.... I get into too many peoples cars daily and see an abundance of really dirty windshields (on the inside) and totally messed up wiper blades. Their bright lights are overcoming their other deficiencies. And yes, a couple of squirts of windex does cost a few cents..... new wiper blades.... HUGE setback.... They probably would have one or two less starbucks empties on their floor board if they bought those.... It really does cost them to dim their lights. :rofl:

Seriously though.... I agree with you 100%. What sense does it make to totally blind the guy driving towards you head on at speed? I do think that some of the newer vehicles OEM headlights are terrible also.

 

[Boojo35]

Laser... you need laser fog lights on your loader.

Or sharks with laser beams on their heads?

 

[Boojo35]

I don't have a rear window wiper but I have the plumbing for the squirter. I has occurred to me that it could be used as a straight 5-weight motor oil mister for the rigs that tailgate AND have stupid brights that leave me blinded by my own shadow.

In other news, and lacking a tires thread, anybody ever use kumho for tires?
1] I'm imminently purchasing tires and strongly considering just dealing with 11.50 cuz I can't find affordable 33-10.50-15s
2] any suggestions on 33-10.50 or 11.50s?
3] the first pic is a kumho AT5 for $159 that appears to have enough siping and blocks to work as a snow tire. But it's 12.50.
Opinions? Suggestions in $150 range?
4] second pic is 31-10.50-15 Duck Commander AT for $121
5] third is the Westlake 31-10.50-15 at $98 which is priced right and a different tread type than the other two

I have had a lot of experience with Kumho tires but only of the passenger car variety. Their passenger car tires are for the most part damn decent and a good value.

Check out tirerack.com for pricing. I believe that they have Firestone destination a/t tires for about $160 a tire. These are a pretty good tire. They seem to have a few options in your price range in 31's.