In reply to wae :
I thought that was going to be about shopping for new ones. I've done that and I can tell you, RV salesman make used car dealers look like Boy Scouts.
In reply to wae :
I thought that was going to be about shopping for new ones. I've done that and I can tell you, RV salesman make used car dealers look like Boy Scouts.
In reply to Peabody :
We used to have TV ads all the time for an RV dealer in Indiana.
I always thought Tom Raper was just an unfortunate name but now I wonder.
Multiple stop lights are still out in Houston. Mostly people treat them like 4-way stop signs which is the safest thing to do but some people get frustrated.
If there is a shopping center parking lot that can be used to gain position the "shiny happy people" speed through it, ignoring direction arrows and caution at intersections. They just charge ahead obviously of reality.
I almost got hit twice while trying to park at one shopping center.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:In reply to Peabody :
We used to have TV ads all the time for an RV dealer in Indiana.
I always thought Tom Raper was just an unfortunate name but now I wonder.
We had the same until he got bought out by Camping World.
I never had any personal experience there, but I can only assume that the name was descriptive.
For Bob's sake, Bob. You're not 80 anymore, you have to slow down. I saw his van in the pits but didn't see him anywhere on the property. I was there to do a bit of cleanup in the trails after the heavy rain we got midweek, and brought the trials bike to get around the trails. Bob was there for the same reason but decided to walk the trails ... in 90 degree weather. I found him on his way back, walking, with his cane, very slowly. I can't do this anymore, he said. No E36 M3 Bob, you're in your 90's. I took his trimmer and went back to the pits. About 15 minutes later I went back with the bike and saw he was now walking with his cane and a stick in the other hand, at about half the already slow speed. You OK? Huffing and puffing, I'm OK, he said. I went back to the pits, borrowed a 4wd truck, drove out and got him. Probably just in time. When I took him back he sat in his chair by the trailer and didn't move for at least the hour I was still there. Geez Bob, slow down before you kill yourself
In reply to wae :
It took us a little over 2 years to find ours. There is some serious junk out there to weed through.
In reply to Peabody :
Or, is there a place anywhere he'd rather die? How long would it take to find him dead on the living room couch...
I hate having two rants in a day but here we go...
My wife was trying to build these model tent frames out of bamboo skewers and it wasn't going well. Since I had given her a laser engraver for Christmas, I proposed that we see if it was possible to get it to cut thin plywood and then I could build the model in Lightburn and we could just crank a few out. We went to Menards and picked up a couple 12"x24" sheets of 1/8 plywood, did some testing, and had a great amount of success. After the first attempt, however, we found that there were some areas that could be improved, so I updated the model a bit and got ready to cut some more. By this time, however, we had used up most of the plywood we bought the first time, so I went and got some more. Same brand from the same place with the same SKU with the same barcode at the same price from the same store, just about 3 days later. I popped the sheet into the machine and let it go. In order to fit on the 410mmx410mm working area, I had the cut designed so that I could make two of the three trusses that each of the models needed on a little more than half of the 12"x24" sheet. When the cut finished, I went to pop it out of the sheet and all of a sudden, the laser wasn't cutting all the way through like it was before. So I spend the day screwing around with the settings and while I could get a good cut on a tiny little rectangle test, it still wouldn't cut all the way through when I ran the whole job. I slowed it down, dialed back the laser a little, and did more passes taking the 1.5 hour job into about a 5 hour process. Still nothing. So I started looking at the wood. The first sheets are typical plywood: just multiple thin layers of wood glued together. The new sheets are a veneer, some sort of papery material, and then a big honkin MDF core followed by the papery material and another veneer. Absolute garbage and totally different than the first sheets I got. No wonder it's not cutting correctly.
In reply to Toyman! :
You're not wrong. When I bought our first motorhome I put about 4000 miles on the car driving to look at different coaches before I finally found the one I wound up buying and of the dozen or so that I went and looked at in person only two of them were worth buying and I only really liked one of those two. I'd really like to have this done before Christmas if I can since we've become accustomed to taking the RV to the in-laws for the holiday and I really like staying on-site at Daytona for the Rolex in January. As a stretch goal, if I have something by October I may go to Rallycross Nationals. I kind of expected a lot of garbage the last time since my budget was a class A for under $10k. We've decided our budget this time is around $55k and there is still so much trash even at that level! Granted, we're really specific on what we want: Class C, 2001 or newer, under 100k miles, under 750 hours on the gen, at least one slide, a bunkhouse, an over-cab bunk, and a one-piece fiberglass roof. In typical fashion, I want to be served caviar but be billed for fish sticks.
Berk you GM.
The GF told me that the windshield washer system wasn't working on my 2010 Chevy Tahoe. So I did some investigating tonight. The pump runs but the fluid hits the underside of the hood. Ok, so the pump works. The squirters are on the wiper arms and the tubing runs down the underside of each arm to a rubber grommet on the wiper cowl. The plastic fitting connecting the tubing to the cowl was broken off on both sides. Of course, I cannot get to the tubing under the cowl without removing both wiper arms and the cowling itself. The wiper arms did not want to pop off the motor shaft so I had to pry them off. The cowl had no less that 4x 7mm screws, 2x metal clips, 4x body clips and a large Christmas tree fastener dead center in the cowl which required me to lay on the engine to get to. GM saw fit to run hard plastic line under the cowl to the driver's side fender with NO rubber line to account for cowl removal. The second I moved the cowl, the plastic line turned to dust. There is literally a 6 foot run of molded plastic tubing running from the driver's side rubber grommet on the cowl, down the driver's side fender and all the way to the front where the washer fluid reservoir and pump sit. Luckily, the hard line broke right where it meets the cowl on the driver's side so it will be easy to slip some rubber hose over the remaining plastic line.
What a dumb, overcomplicated, fragile system. I'll be visiting my FLAPS tomorrow morning before work to see if I can rig something together. NOT something I wanted to do on a Monday morning.
EDIT: Pic for reference:
Streetwiseguy said:In reply to Peabody :
Or, is there a place anywhere he'd rather die? How long would it take to find him dead on the living room couch...
Not long, he lives with his son, who's had the discussion with him. He's still taking down trees, clearing brush, doing a lot of tractor work, and his son didn't like him going to the track on his own. But Bob said, if something happens, at least I died doing what I love to do. Nonetheless, we're all better off if that time comes later, rather than sooner. I do feel a little responsible for what happened that day. A week before I was doing the same thing, walking the trails with my hand saw (*that's a whole 'nother story), and as I walked out of the bush I saw him on the tractor, and we chatted. He said to me, you're just like me 20yrs ago, but I can't do that anymore. I bet it bugged him, and he thought, no, I can still do that.
*I had just trimmed a low hanging branch off a walnut tree, and when I threw it away from the trail, a twig on the branch caught my glasses, pulled them off and deposited them in the bush. Of course, I can't see anything without my glasses, so there was no chance I could find them, though I tried. Fortunately I had my phone and had, for convenience, put my home number as AA home, meaning it was the first contact, I was able to call home, and get PW to go out to the shop, get my safety glasses and bring them to me. It took about 15 minutes to find my glasses. That kind of E36 M3 can only, and routinely does, happen to me
Went to the dirt track this weekend, was pretty fun, but it seems like all the worst parents in the county flock there to ignore their children. All the kids were standing right on the fence at the edge track and they kept having to delay the races because their parents wouldn't come get them and take them to the grand stands
In reply to gixxeropa :
Were you at Weebert's Valley in Celina, Tennessee?
In reply to Scotty Con Queso :
is that a real track? I've only ever seen the satirical facebook page lol
It was at Dixie Speedway in woodstock ga
In reply to gixxeropa :
Lol. It's satire, but barely. Growing up going to dirt tracks managed by the most incompetent people on the planet, it's pretty much right in line. My favorite is they'll make a post to talk about how good the racin' is but they're going to quick 4-hour intermission after hot laps.
In reply to Scotty Con Queso :
I miss the old dirt track i attended before I moved...out in the country, family owned, gravel parking lot, it was awesome. It was a small outfit, and the grandstands were small enough that even the tallest seats were so close to the track that you would get dirt in your eyes on the turn. Tickets were cheap all the time, and there was a $15 flat fee to bring in a cooler full of whatever you wanted. They also ran for (what felt like) forever. Me and some friends would fill a cooler up with beer, go out on a Friday night, and watch the hot laps start at 6pm and they wouldn't get done until 11pm most nights. Once, we even took a grill and tailgated in the parking lot beforehand.
Sadly, about a year before I moved, a gentleman died in a wreck in a fire. They didn't announce a formal closing, but I don't think they ever had races again. I suspect there was a lawsuit and the family that owned it couldn't afford to keep it open. Man, i miss those days
gixxeropa said:In reply to Scotty Con Queso :
is that a real track? I've only ever seen the satirical facebook page lol
It was at Dixie Speedway in woodstock ga
Sponsored by Hennessey honda of Woodstock? Cause they eat dick.
First, you don't send me the email confirmation I asked for. Then, you let the parts sit for three days because you "didn't have a box" to ship them in. Now, I get the box and the rotors are stacked on top of the filters? And there are no pads in the box. They are on the invoice, but they didn't make the journey.
Finding a new Audi supplier asap. This is unreal.
In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :
Holy hell do I hate working on this truck. It's a former K9 sheriff's vehicle from Florida so lots of idling time with the A/C on. This has absolutely baked all the under hood plastic components. Wiring connectors, vacuum lines, even the under hood heat blanket (which turned to dust). And yes, that includes the mile of hard plastic washer fluid lines. I was able to repair the last bit of the washer system to the wipers using vacuum tees and Tygon fuel hose. But every time I would fix a section, another would crack or just fall apart. I had a 4" crack in the run on the fender which I found after it hit me in the face during an ops check. Washer fluid burns when it gets in your eyes. The Tygon fuel hose has an ID of 3/16", which fits perfectly over the factory hard line. Every rubber connector had a plastic splice which also turned to dust.
The front washer system works great now but I thought I'd try the rear washer system. Well, it's spraying out from somewhere under the engine compartment. Of course. I gave up lol. That's a problem for future me.
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH
"Byeeee! Have a great day at work!"
The thoughtful little gift she left me:
Roughly 12 days ago: My Kia Soul stalled. I want to tow it in.
OK.
Roughly 10 days ago: You have cam timing codes, likely caused by the steel shards I found in the cam phaser solenoid. Go tell the Kia store they have another extended warranty claim. TAKE THIS FILTER MEDIA AND SHOW THEM ALL THE GLITTER IN THE OIL.
Roughly a week ago: They said no. Order an engine, please. Keep photos of the old one so I can join the class action suit.
Did you show them the filter?
No.
6 days ago: They want to look at it. I will get it towed.
Show them the filter full of glitter.
Today, engine shows up. I phone customer. They want to do more testing, and a hot oil flush.
Did you show them the filter full of glitter?
No. Should I?
What in the name of sweet berkeleying Jeebus do you think they are looking for? Why did I give you a bag, with the filter cut apart in it? Did I expect you to brew a nice cup of Texas Tea with the berkeleying thing? They are looking for evidence of the failure. Show them the berkeleying evidence!!!
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
It can be pretty tedious, but this is why I love our policy of "photograph everything and attach it to the digital inspection". Digital inspections are e-mailed and also there is a URL.
Glitter in the oil? Photo. Dry dipstick? Photo. Pull the oil filter out of its housing and it's a solid blob of crap and shavings? PHOTO.
It also makes it nice when you get someone else's comeback. You go back to the other technician's inspection and see that yeah, not only did we tell you that you needed X, we took a bunch of pics. Or, we replaced your condensor because it had a hole in it where a rock hit it, this is unrelated to your current issue.
The reverse is also true. We didn't tell you that you needed brakes because three months ago, before you parked the car on grass for a couple months, you didn't need them.
I am big on photographing DOT stamps when recommending tires due to age or heavy cracking. If it comes to a lawsuit ("you didn't tell me my tires were old and now my insurance company is suing you after the collision") it's right there, yes we did.
In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :
I thought I'd be smart and try the front windshield washer system on my way to work. Just to make sure the spray pattern was good.
It sprayed for about 2 seconds and then stopped. I'm hoping I ran the reservoir dry and it's not something else.
In reply to wae :
I get your point about hack RV remodels. But I don't agree that the interior has to be wood grain. Especially since a lot of it is bad plastic grain papered over luan. Which is why the interior of our camper is white with decals on it. Which is the way we like it.
I'm not going to feel bad for the next owner- we are keeping it for a very long time, and it's more important for us to be happy than the next owner.
wae said:Cabinets are supposed to be stained wood.
Woodgrain makes small spaces appear smaller.
The refinish needs to be nicely done, agreed. But lots of texture makes spaces look smaller and smoother, more uniform colors make spaces look larger.
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