I Bought A Truck: Bad Decisions ITT

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > I Bought A Truck: Bad Decisions ITT

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Garbage Dick posted:

You're right, I'll drive the Civic out there instead

Drive the camaro. I bet a rust free one of those is worth more there than in WA, even with a v6 and bad paint.
I'm semi serious.

# ¿ May 8, 2016 23:03

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 17:21

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Agent RE-RE posted:

'UFF DA' Its in Ballard. For sure.

That's a minnesota thing. I'd imagine lots of rust from before it made it to WA.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2016 07:13

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Geirskogul posted:

Grew up in Idaho, used uff da all day every day.

Also my parents called me Irving J Inglehopper the 3rd but that's not nearly my name.

Its still Minnesota/Wisconsin in origin (as a bastardization of Norwegian). "Hella" isn't any less norcal because people say it elsewhere (For the record being from Northern california is the only acceptable reason to say "hella" and even then . . .).

# ¿ Jun 30, 2016 07:47

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Geirskogul posted:

As long as you call it soda, we're good.

I do, but I'm also not from Minnesota. "Pop" makes me irrationally angry. "What kind of coke you want?" just makes me confused.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2016 07:55

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Fermented Tinal posted:

I've never seen a jug of premixed coolant at an autoparts store. Is that an American thing, or a "We don't get chilly weather" thing?

I mix to -40C and worry that it's not enough some winters, thusly, I always top up with the rest of the jug.

If your car is low on coolant just outside of the store, what do you do?
Pre-mix is for topping off, not filling.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 02:54

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Seminal Flu posted:

Even in super cold great white North, a 50/50 mix gets you enough coverage:

What is important to remember is that this is for new coolant. Old coolant apparently loses some freeze resistance, which is how a buddy of mine work up to a pink slushy in Minneapolis, where it doesn't get -30F. G12+, maybe 4 years old, which, of course, VW claimed was lifetime back then.

Early 2000s VWs really sucked in the winter. Some temp sensor in the car would gently caress up below -10F and flood the engine, which was cool. This was considered a common thing. Also, my hood strut wouldn't work at -10F -- well, it would work a little bit, so you'd be peering over an engine that isn't working and then without warning (a really loving heavy) hood would brain you.

nm fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Oct 14, 2016

# ¿ Oct 14, 2016 06:37

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

GOTTA STAY FAI posted:

I was linked here this morning from PYF and I'm admittedly still catching up but I thought I'd offer to help with what is the best guddamn goon endeavor I've ever seen. I don't know poo poo about parts or tools but there's a junkyard up the road so if there's something you need and can't find, I'll take a buddy of mine who knows what he's doing out to go look for it, and as long as it's nothing too heavy or expensive I can grab it and ship it to you from East Texas, free of charge.

Shame I didn't know this was going on until just now--I've got two empty rentals with water and power up in the Midwest I'd have offered use of.

What I can offer now is a care package, though, to help you along. Do I just write "Old Truck, A Field, Nebraska" on the shipping label?

Given the way small towns seem to work, you could probably address it to:
Dude From Washington
Old Truck In a Field
Valentine, NE

And it'd probably make it.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2016 23:51

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Fermented Tinal posted:

It's never too cold for shorts.

Did I go to school with you?
There was some dude at my college (in St. Paul, MN) who went all 4 years in shorts, he also ran everywhere, which I guess makes sense because it was cold as gently caress out there.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2016 07:01

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Pham Nuwen posted:

Also did you see any 280ZXes in what is apparently the junk car promised land?

Any 70s or 80s Japanese metal in that part of the country became one with the earth long ago.

# ¿ Nov 24, 2016 06:44

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Pham Nuwen posted:

14", you don't have PMs so I'm just going to drop this in here and maybe some other Washington folks will also chime in. ExplodingSims, hope you don't mind, I just wanted to make sure Dick sees it.

I'm going to be in Washington over Christmas, and since I'm coming up pretty empty here in NM it might be a good time to try and find a 280ZX transmission. Can you recommend any salvage yards? I'd be willing to pay a bit more at a place that pulls the parts themselves so I don't have to lay in the December rain as a rusty Datsun slowly pushes my jack into the mud. If I can get a couple candidates, I can contact them now and see what they've got.

I think my dad has a 5-speed T5 from a 280z or zx in our storage unit of datsun parts. No idea if it works, but there is a 280 transmission in there somewhere.
In sacramento, which may or may not be on the way. We also have a grave yard of s30 parts.

Edit: I'm 99% sure he'd be willing to part ways with it for a reasonable price.

nm fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Nov 28, 2016

# ¿ Nov 28, 2016 21:30

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:

What exactly is the legality of driving this thing anyway? Surely you cant just jump in and drive it, so whats required so you dont get pulled over and told to walk?

This is loving murica dammit! Seriously, you can drive a loving semi on public streets short distances with no license at all as long as it is "farm equipment."

That said, it might be worth checking the gwvr requirements and particularly making sure it doesn't have to go through weigh stations in the states you're going though.
Or, you know, register it as farm equipment.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2016 06:52

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

14 BAR RIFF posted:

Came inside to warm up. Its so cold it burns. Ice cream is officially warmer than outside.

Attaching plug wires. Half dozen crimps at most left to do

Its happening tonight. This time for real. Ignition switch and fuse box wired.

Keep your heads down, boys. Thunder's coming.

https://youtu.be/579TLIfQ6xo

For the record, whrn it was really cold in Minneapolis, I always ate ice cream as a gently caress you to nature.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2016 03:49

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Leperflesh posted:

It's almost as though people in different climates adapt physically to those climates! Like it's not actually just about being "tough" or whatever, it's your body actually changing how it manages blood flow and making metabolic changes to improve performance and comfort within different temperature ranges.

Yeah, a few years back in california have made me week. In Minnesota, 32F was light jacket weather. Now, I'm freezing my balls off at 40.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2016 02:09

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Leperflesh posted:

If you can't sell a red VW Beetle in the San Francisco Bay Area, you're not trying.

This is a new beetle, not an air cooled.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2016 22:21

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

So 14in and the social worker who worked with me when I was PD trying to get people into drug and mental health programs have the same birthdate. Huuuuum.

In all seriousness, I'm seriously impressed how everything has improved

# ¿ Dec 16, 2016 06:55

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

14 BAR RIFF posted:

I see it is finally getting a bit chilly.

edit: Ok, I see it is now actually getting cold.

nm fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Dec 18, 2016

# ¿ Dec 18, 2016 07:25

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Particularly borrowing one of those tire cage things. Jesus.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2016 22:04

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Cop Porn Popper posted:

Quite frankly, you need to add this to your resume. "I went to the frozen wastes of a nebraska farm field to swap a 350 tbi from a van into a '50s dump truck in sub freezing weather that regularly dropped into the negatives. Oh, and did a tire change on split rims in said field, no cage nor specialized tools to assist me. Then I drove that dump truck 1000+ miles to deliver it to its owner. ". Instant hire anywhere you want.

Unless he's looked at his worker's comp numbers lately.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2016 21:37

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

14 BAR RIFF posted:

THERES BULLSHIT SIDEWAYS WET HAIL AND A LIGHTNING STORM GOING OFF OVER DANS HOUSE THE WHOLE YARD FLASHED PURPLE

Now you're getting the true Midwest experence.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2016 20:18

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

14 BAR RIFF posted:

And vacuum wipers. And this dump I'm taking I wish I had a vacuum wiper, Jesus

GAS PEDAL FULLY OPERATIONAL FROM IDLE TO WOT

You better not use idle once.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2016 21:39

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Looks like Delta, American, and United fly there, so if anyone has miles, that should work.

edit: If you can go the other way, amtrak runs through mccook, ne and has tickets for like $200.
edit2: Greyhound won't let me book a ticket from Rapid City to SF or SJ.
edit3: They will do Rapid city to Oakland for like $250. It has 5 loving transfers though which sounds like a great way to get stuck in some shithole.

nm fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Dec 30, 2016

# ¿ Dec 30, 2016 04:05

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Rhyno posted:

I'm so excited to see what else is under that hat.

It's a dick.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2017 01:00

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

djdanno13 posted:

I feel like I might be able to accomplish more if it's just me and a couple of local buddies. Between work and work I won't have much extra time to host anyone.

You act like our goal is to get this truck moving.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2017 06:46

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Holy gently caress. Legend.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2017 05:26

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Seat Safety Switch posted:

Art.

You could do the lounge version.

The shatner version.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2017 15:34

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

cursedshitbox posted:

I enjoyed taking a sleeper train to Kiev to see Chernobyl then high speed rail back.

I've never been on Amtrak because it's faster to walk.

Amtrak gets a bad rap outside of a few long distance trains.
I had a meeting in San Jose that started at 10 and ended at 4:00, I live in Sacramento.
I look the train, my co-worker took a car with a carpool. I got home an hour before he did. Plus they had beer (stone) on the train.

Rhyno posted:

Dick bought a bicycle so if he leaves now he'll make it by November.

I biked from Seattleish (anacortes) through the Dakotas (which would put you only a couple days from Valentine) and it would only take a month or so if he was in shape and left before it snowed. Also, his particular bike is probably not well suited to sustained long distance riding.
Don't actually do this, Dave.

nm fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Jul 26, 2017

# ¿ Jul 26, 2017 07:07

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

spog posted:

You ride non-stop for 4 days, then you pawn the bike.

Basically this.
The tour de france used to be fueled by meth until they started testing for it after a bunch of dude's hearts exploded.

On my last tour I ran into a dude who was biking with two cat carriers (with cats) strapped to the back. (He had a trailer).

# ¿ Jul 26, 2017 16:04

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

GOTTA STAY FAI posted:

poo poo, you can have a doc prescribe you Phentermine today for weight loss and that poo poo is pretty drat close to being an amphetamine.

Speaking of amphetamines, I don't know how it is now, but when I was growing up, it wasn't uncommon for moms to yoink pills from their kids' Adderall bottles. It was one of those "nobody talks about this but we all do it" things.

Desoxyn, which is actually meth, can still be prescribed for weight loss.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2017 00:31

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Dick: as a touring cyclist. Dyno hubs are best saved for lighting. The trickle you will get from a usb adaptor won't be much. For phones and poo poo, get a solar panel and a cache battery.
Dyno lights, however, are the loving poo poo.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2017 16:57

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Buy a 100oz camelbak and as many giant water bottles as can fit on you bike.

60mi is totally doable in a day for virtually anyone given that you've broken in your rear end to sit on a bike for 4-6 hours with <4000ft of climbing, loaded.

Oh, make sure you bring some spare spokes and have someone show you how to replace a spoke abd true wheels. 50lbs of gear is harder on a bike wheel than 50lbs of human.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2017 19:29

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

DICK DICER posted:

I mean I found out why she went to prison today

Auto theft?

# ¿ Aug 8, 2017 06:08

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

cursedshitbox posted:

I have everything but panniers and a hammock. where can i flatrate you some poo poo?

I may have some worn out rear pannier somewhere I can loan.

Also, Dave, I saw your facebook post. Don't trade that bike for something with front suspension FFS. Suspension+touring=pain.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 03:23

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Hammocks require fairly closely spaced trees to work.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 05:02

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Leperflesh posted:

basically a hammock saves you money vs. a good backpacking tent, but once you add in the required pads/insulation/etc, they really don't save you that much in space or weight. Might be easier to pack into panniers vs. a tent though, and the money thing is a big deal.

A bigger issue is having places everywhere you want to sleep where you can set up a hammock... or a tent... or whatever. You can't just bike down the interstate, either, so you're gonna need to meticulously plan your trip, stopping points, legal and safe places to camp, etc.

Volume isn't really a major issue when bike touring, within reasoning.
This is what my touring bike looks like for a 2 week tour:

That big yellow thing hold my tent (a 2+ man UL tent) and by bag (a bulky long big agnes synth bag).
The rest of those bags are basically half empty. The backpack is for holding food like fruits and vegetables that would go bad in a waterproof pannier. The panniers had all the clothes that wouldn't fit in the front panniers plus my stuffable sleeping pad.
You can do this without my big yellow drybag (though it is really nice -- otherwise you need to line your stuff sacks with garbage bags which will tear when you least want then too), you just use some webstraps and cinch your tent and bag (and sleeping pad, if you have a traditional pad) down to the rack.

If you are going to run a rear rack only, then volume is an issue and you don't want to waste pannier space on sleeping gear.

As for places to stay: https://www.warmshowers.org/.

In rural areas if you look presentable (ahem, dave), you can get a surprising number of people who will let you sleep in their yards in rural areas. Many will even offer. That said, it is good to plan around knowing you have somewhere to sleep within a reasonable distance. I've not toured in Nebraska, but one of the people who hosted me this spring said it is her favorite place to tour.

nm fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Aug 25, 2017

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 06:33

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

By my reckoning this is what, a 3 day tour? (North Platte to Valentine IIRC?)
Honestly, you don't need to carry that much. I don't know that you *need* a different bike.
However, if you want to, you want to look for a touring bike. The surly long haul trucker is the tried and true, but they hold values. An old trek 520 would be very suitable. The fuji touring bike, if you can find one, retails for only like $700, so can be fairly easily had for $500 used, again if you can find one.
Something like a surly cross-check would be suitable too and doesn't have the markup of the LHT.

Locking is less of an issue that you think. People don't know how to steal bikes in BFE. Bring a big cable lock so you can lock around a tree or picnic bench as there won't be bike racks anywhere.
Light? Honestly, you shouldn't be touring at night. Even if you're doing 10mph, 60 miles is 6 hours. You can get that done in the daylight. Bring a light for backup purposes, but it doesn't need to be that good. I'd focus on getting a really sweet rear light (see my B&M rack mounted light) over a front light. I'd leave the rear light on when riding. Get one that takes AAs, bring a few AAs, and you're good.

nm fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Aug 25, 2017

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 06:42

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

DICK DICER posted:

Well plus the whole no house when i get there so its pretty much making GBS threads in the jeep and sleeping under the trukk until it runs

Get a good tent, a warm bag, and decent pad. It is going to start getting really cold at night there really soon.

Is your route north platte to valentine? Let me know and I can probably help you with a route. I'm pretty good at determining where is safe to ride via google streetview.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 07:13

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Leperflesh posted:

For some reason I had it in my head that Dave was biking all the way from Seattle, lol.

If he wanted to do that, he needed to leave roughly a month ago.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 07:15

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

If you're riding from seattle we need to have a long chat because I've basically done that route, and you're gonna die. Its like a month and a half over some of the biggest mountain ranges in the country.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 08:16

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

DICK DICER posted:

Also on the agenda: fixing my near 180 out of phase fist hosed sleep schedule if im not supposed to ride at night, been 100% sober nearing a week now and lol daylight

Yeah, good idea.
You wanna be getting up at 5 or 6 in the morning imho.
It is less hot and less windy in the morning, which is nice.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 15:49

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 17:21

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Elephanthead posted:

I'm just gonna post this here.

https://rapidcity.craigslist.org/rvs/d/1972-chevrolet-motorhome/6255658911.html

I don't think dick has a valid license.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 16:38

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