Right Now!

[TEWKS]

37 minutes ago, 9Mary7 said:

('99 w/only 50k miles on it).

Wow, somebody that puts less mileage on a vehicle than me.  My deal is it’s (time, a short commute and rust) that equals new vehicles. I’d still have my 89 short bed if the damn rust didn’t start eating away at it. That’s probably a lie but you get my point. 

[Dennis Andress]

18 hours ago, roadscholar said:

 

Typical bureaucratic BS, albeit the majority of AWD vehicles do suck off road, there are some very capable ones. Most of the SUV's from Germany, ML's, Cayenne's, some Audi's, and some Subaru's do just fine.

The latest Cayenne generation has traded its transfer case for a computer controlled clutch. It works marvelously, by way of controlling the throttle and individual brakes, but backing a trailer up a steep dirt driveway set off a warning about transmission temperature. 

[Hosstage]

Trail running like that has as much to do with tires and ground clearance as it does drive system. Mostly tires.

[roadscholar]

2 hours ago, 9Mary7 said:

I was thinking the same as I was watching the vid. Then I realized that whomever made the rules was/is a govm'nt idiot who doesn't know any better.

I'd take my recently acquired first gen ML320 just about anywhere......one of the reasons we bought it! ('99 w/only 50k miles on it).

I"m with Bill on the early 4Matics...... a good driver could take one just about anywhere.

Gratuitous pic so all y'all know it happened.......

I’ve had all kinds of 4wd vehicles and tested their limits, you have to drive one of these off road to realize how good they are. This is the one (‘99) I took over Ophir Pass in about ‘07 but have a story I’ll relate later about another one that totally made me a believer. 
 

 

No, not this one.

 

[TEWKS]

Bathtime for Mrs. Davidson. She still looks good after 32 years. 

[Rougarou]

10 hours ago, 9Mary7 said:

I was thinking the same as I was watching the vid. Then I realized that whomever made the rules was/is a govm'nt idiot who doesn't know any better.

I'd take my recently acquired first gen ML320 just about anywhere......one of the reasons we bought it! ('99 w/only 50k miles on it).

I"m with Bill on the early 4Matics...... a good driver could take one just about anywhere.

Gratuitous pic so all y'all know it happened.......

 

Driver ability is 90% of the solution.  I've seen fully modded Jeeps, Toyota's and others with lockers, low gearing, 4:1 T-cases, yet they couldn't do simple obstacles, then I've seen minimally built FJ40's and Jeeps with baby 33's hanging with guys that run 42's........it's all about the driver,......and the spotter.

 

 

[roadscholar]

I do a lot of solo off the beaten path exploring because I enjoy doing dirt routes for our dualsport club's four annual events plus a few long distance routes like a 1500 mile dirt loop in Colorado's Rockies and one from Everglades City at the tip of Fla's peninsula to Tellico Plains, Tenn. and/or Asheville, NC.  Have used lots of different bikes and vehicles over the years but found the older ML's are best suited for the task. They're dirt cheap so you don't have to worry about them, cover big distances comfortably, are dead reliable, and most importantly will go almost anywhere. 

 

Days are long and nights sometimes longer with plenty of backtracking to find the best possible roads that aren't too challenging for an average rider, exploring dirt isn't like making paved routes because there's no telling what it's like until you see it in person, the scenery, surface conditions, and whether it's a private or legal road/trail. Years ago I was making a dirt route down the peninsula to Everglades City (finding what's left of Old Florida skirting around and between the metroplexes and still don't believe anyone else has one), found some good stuff from Haines City to south of Sebring,  was somewhere west of Lake Placid about 10:30pm and still needed to get home to Jax 4-5 hours back north. Saw a long dirt road bypassing town that looked like it went thru so started down it headed south. I was in an 03 ML 350 with over 200k mi I bought cheap from an old GF that had been her SO's until he passed. I hadn't put tires on it and they were nearly bald. 

 

Because it was dark I couldn't see very far down it (the plastic covered headlights get cloudy on these after a decade of Fla sun) and being an optimist kinda got sucked in, what could go wrong? It started off mellow enough but soon turned to whooped out sugar sand, the fine, white bottomless kind only south Fla has, it's tough to walk in. The whoops were somewhere between really bad washboard and what you'd see on a motocross track, not as big but closer together. If possible 25-30 mph was about max because you'd tear stuff up going any faster. By the time I realized how bad it was I was committed and afraid to try turning around for losing momentum. To keep moving forward I kept it floored (wide open) and the computers took over letting it crawl along at a steady 20mph or so, an odd sensation. Needless to say I was worried but one thing gave me hope, I could see red tail lights way off in the distance. So I kept it floored and after about 20 minutes caught up to the truck hoping it had a tow rope if I needed it. Couple locals in a newish Chevy 4x4 jacked up with fatty mud/sand tires, I asked them two things, did they have a tow strap and does this road get any better? "No and hell no, it just gets worse" : ) So I asked them to at least wait a minute while I tried a 5-point u-turn which worked surprisingly well as I waved them goodbye and kept it floored again the several whooped miles back out. I've def been lucky but also over time gained some wisdom to know roughly when to turn around, that one was an exception and a pretty good lesson. I actually found a more interesting combination of clay roads thru some orange groves on the other side of town but still may need to go back and check that one out again with better tires, in the daylight : )

[roadscholar]

1 hour ago, Rougarou said:

 

Driver ability is 90% of the solution.  I've seen fully modded Jeeps, Toyota's and others with lockers, low gearing, 4:1 T-cases, yet they couldn't do simple obstacles, then I've seen minimally built FJ40's and Jeeps with baby 33's hanging with guys that run 42's........it's all about the driver,......and the spotter.

 

 

 

Some truth in that, told it before but one time in the San Juans we took my completely stock '99 Tahoe (w/AT tires) over Imogene Pass, there were a couple spots my passengers wanted to stop and "take a photo", they really just wanted out cause they thought it might tumble down the mountain. At the top a couple guys in a lifted Jeep came over and said, man you've got some balls bringing that thing up here : )

 

 

 

 

[Hosstage]

When I owned my Jeep a million years ago (long before whatever the rubber ducky thing is), I learned that 4WD will get you stuck a lot further from help.

[John Ranalletta]

This would be fun.

 

 

 

[TEWKS]

1 minute ago, John Ranalletta said:

This would be fun.

 

 

 

Gotta be careful nowadays, they’ll sue you for hurting their feelings!  

[Skywagon]

Like this Pat?

 

 

[roadscholar]

Couple hours ago, Hamburg SP

 

[Hosstage]

3 hours ago, John Ranalletta said:

This would be fun.

 

 

 

I want half a dozen of those! Coolest thing ever.

[roadscholar]

[BamaJohn]

12 minutes ago, roadscholar said:

 

....and the story please.

 

[TEWKS]

In a White Boxster cruising around the Georgia mountains would be my WAG. Ok, maybe Red, or… 

[roadscholar]

 

 

[roadscholar]

1 hour ago, BamaJohn said:

 

....and the story please.

 

John, the old house is on the east end of Wayah Rd near the conservation corps.

 

Pat, BMW 323 vert this time.

[BamaJohn]

Thanks Bill…love the house!

[Rougarou]

When you add a 20v Dewalt to a 12v ride on

 

 

 

[TEWKS]

^ Set up some cones and get him drifting that thing! 
 

12 y/o hot tub that rarely gets used anymore (happens with all of them I think) but the pump shaft started whining last winter. So, it’s replace the pump or shut it down for good.  

[roadscholar]

Foothills Parkway Tenn. looking west, couldn’t get them in but 4 or 5 Peregrine Falcons were checking out the valley below.

 

 

Same road looking NE, no pic but a 150lb bear cub had just run across the road in front of us.

 

 

When we turned on Happy Valley Rd this guy just pulled out, followed him 20 miles, he was moving and drove the heck out of it not holding us up, I pulled over and complimented him at the stop sign, he smiled and said I do this everyday.

 

McLaren back at the store.

 

[roadscholar]

Best gas station food ever.

 

 

[BamaJohn]

13 hours ago, Rougarou said:

When you add a 20v Dewalt to a 12v ride on

 

 

 

 

Crutches might come in handy.......

[TEWKS]

51 minutes ago, BamaJohn said:

 

Crutches might come in handy.......

For him or the kid? 

[BamaJohn]

7 hours ago, TEWKS said:

For him or the kid? 

The kid.....seemed to me he liked it with no fear of driftin'....gonna hurt some day!

[TEWKS]

Max BMW has 11 1250 adventures left. $1250 off list, (not enough to temp me today) but…

 

[TEWKS]

This is a limited showing, when Kiley finds out I YouTubed her I’ll have to pull it. She’ll love them when she’s 30 but not now. 
 

 

[roadscholar]

Seems BamaJohn and I have a penchant for old houses/structures out in the country so here’s a few more. Walnut Gap.

 

 

[roadscholar]

Our sled for the weekend, 323i auto with just 170hp but was lowered almost 2 inches with H and R springs/Bilsteins and handles like a slot car, the power it does make is up high so you have (get) to wring its neck in manual mode, needless to say lots of fun and the top is nearly always down.

 

Lake Jocassee, formerly the town of Jocassee before Duke Power flooded the valley in the early 70’s, as the story goes, the church’s steeple stuck out the top of the lake for years afterwards. It’s the setting for a good murder mystery, ‘One Foot in Eden’. 
 

 

 

The Saluda grade was once the steepest railroad grade in America and has an interesting history, supposedly steam trains would make a run part way up then reverse back up another hill to get a running start over the top. Evidently there were more than a few accidents.

 

Holbert Cove Rd is the back side loop of Green River Cove Rd which has some very tight switchbacks at the beginning best done in Fall or Winter when there’s no rafting traffic.

 

 

[roadscholar]

Another old homestead.

 

 

Lousy photo but a distant view of the Carl Sandburg home.

 

 

this dude had the audacity to take my parking spot when we returned : ) First one I’ve seen, as cruisers go, not bad looking. 

 

[roadscholar]

Philomath, Ga.

 

 

 

 

[Indy Dave]

This trailer was tossed into the deal when I bought my 06 RT. It just had the rails, no decking (!) and it didn't have the wheel chock on the center rail. A pretty dangerous set up.

 

Anyway, when I got home I added the decking and cut off the angled part of the center rail and added a wheel chock. It was fine, but soon Bud had his Kendon for sale, so this one went into retirement 7 years of so ago. 

 

Time for it to find a new owner after a five hour time investment project.

 

 

 

 

 

[TEWKS]

Demo in a few. Just rode a 1250 GSA, the thirteen is gonna have to really impress IYKWIM. 

[TEWKS]

To follow up. Here’s my six bucks worth which not so long ago was two cents. 

The F 900 GS was in the running because the one big ride every year (at least the last few) involved a truck and a trailer. It was OK, the parallel twin isn’t a boxer motor. And before you dis the motor to other demo participants make sure you ask what they ride first. (F900XR)   

 

The new R 1300 GS was nice, really nice but I thought the transmission was notchy compared to the 1250 GSA. The power windscreen was a neat thing to fiddle with.

[Rougarou]

11 minutes ago, TEWKS said:

The power windscreen was a neat thing to fiddle with.

 

I dunno the last time I adjusted the screen on the RT snd the GSA screen hasn’t moved since I put on the Puig. 
 

One of those gadgets thats nice to have, but for me, never used. 

[TEWKS]

39 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

One of those gadgets thats nice to have, but for me, never used. 

Probably once the novelty of it wore off, ya I agree. 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

A little side project at work that I just finished, a rack for storing the driveshafts we use for engine testing:

 

 

 

Those uprights are 1/2" steel.  Our shop has a waterjet cutter, so it's trivially easy to cut absolutely any shape you can draw up in CAD.  

 

For a long time we stored shafts in random storage cabinets, under workbenches, and in the corners of test cells.  The racks were all about decluttering.  Nice to finally get them all stashed in one known place:

 

 

 

The smaller ones are for mid-range engine testing, up to 200 horsepower and a few hundred lb-ft of torque.  We have a bunch because they all have different elasticity ratings: for a given combination of engine and dyno inertias, you choose a driveshaft with the right elasticity so that destructive torsional resonance happens at about 1/2 of idle speed,  which is a speed you pass through very quickly during startup and shutdown.

 

The biggest ones:

 

 

These are good for 2000-2500 lb-ft of torque, suitable for 15L HD diesel engines making 650+ horsepower.  Only a couple in the rack; the other three are in service right now.  

 

 

[duckhawk64]

Cool.

[TEWKS]

Speaking of “cool” if your countertop ice maker doesn’t do this.. 

 

Open up the back and check to see if these micro switches are clicking when pressed in. The green one is new and it fixed the issue. It holds the water tray in the fill position. (this was yesterday, not right now)

[John Ranalletta]

Firstly, I believe all information presented to us by anyone, statistics, et al is fake; however, lets assume the chart below is true.  Clearly, at least in Indianapolis, drivers are increasingly disregarding traffic laws and LEOs must have been given "stand down" orders.  Blowing by stop signs/lights and speeding on residential streets are common. Police ignore it all. Anyone proceeding on a green w/o insuring cross traffic stopped is stupid.

 

The common agreement to heed traffic laws is a sign of civility which is obviously eroding.

 

[roadscholar]

I’d agree with that, purely on observation there’s very little enforcement around here, the scofflaw to LEO ratio has increased greatly since Covid. Plus part of it is perps have been led to believe they can get away with almost anything and why there’s so many videos of numnuts running from the cops.

 

Another is the Po-Po are prioritizing more serious offenses, traffic accidents are almost self-policing, modern vehicles have 17 airbags, the cops show up and have the carnage towed off, nobody gets seriously hurt, doctors and lawyers get more business.

[wbw6cos]

And don't get me started about the street takeovers with all that crap they do to post on social media.

[John Ranalletta]

Last of this year’s crop. Soon we’ll be eating red styrofoam balls markets call tomatoes that are bred for shipping, not for taste. 
 

 

 

[Rougarou]

8 hours ago, John Ranalletta said:

Last of this year’s crop. Soon we’ll be eating red styrofoam balls markets call tomatoes that are bred for shipping, not for taste. 
 

 

 

 

we freeze ours. May not taste fresh but we know whats in them

[Rougarou]

Figs anyone

 

 

Egg for size comparison 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

On 8/30/2024 at 6:57 AM, John Ranalletta said:

Firstly, I believe all information presented to us by anyone, statistics, et al is fake; however, lets assume the chart below is true.  Clearly, at least in Indianapolis, drivers are increasingly disregarding traffic laws and LEOs must have been given "stand down" orders.  Blowing by stop signs/lights and speeding on residential streets are common. Police ignore it all. Anyone proceeding on a green w/o insuring cross traffic stopped is stupid.

 

The common agreement to heed traffic laws is a sign of civility which is obviously eroding.

 

 

It's been pretty widely acknowledged that drivers in the US got a little nutty during the pandemic, and that chart is consistent with those reports.  The US uptick, while alarming, is at least believable in magnitude.  Meanwhile, I'm wondering how Russia managed to cut their traffic death rate damn near in half in just a few short years before the pandemic.  One thing to point out is that the chart shows annual deaths divided by national population, whereas the usual metric for driving safety is deaths per 100 million passenger miles. Russia's death rate in that chart could be plummeting because people just aren't driving as much as they used to, and not because of any dramatic safety improvements over the past decade.  I couldn't find a source that explains why traffic deaths in Russia have declined so precipitiously, so I asked ChatGPT:

 

Me: 

Quote

why have traffic deaths in Russia dropped so much in the last decade?

 

Chat GPT:

Quote

Traffic deaths in Russia have decreased significantly over the last decade due to a combination of factors:

1. Improved Road Infrastructure: Russia has invested heavily in upgrading its road infrastructure, including the construction of new highways, improved road surfaces, and better signage. These changes have made roads safer for drivers and pedestrians alike.

2. Stricter Traffic Enforcement: There has been a significant increase in traffic law enforcement, including the use of speed cameras, harsher penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol, and stricter adherence to seatbelt laws. These measures have helped to deter dangerous driving behaviors.

3. Public Awareness Campaigns: The Russian government has run extensive public awareness campaigns focused on road safety, targeting issues such as speeding, drunk driving, and the importance of seatbelt use. These campaigns have contributed to a cultural shift towards safer driving practices.

4. Vehicle Safety Improvements: The vehicles on Russian roads have become safer due to advancements in automotive technology. Newer cars are equipped with better safety features, such as airbags, anti-lock braking systems (ABS), and electronic stability control (ESC), which reduce the likelihood and severity of accidents.

5. Emergency Response Improvements: The emergency response system has been enhanced, with faster response times and better-equipped emergency services. This has helped reduce the number of fatalities by ensuring that accident victims receive prompt medical attention.

6. Economic Factors: Economic changes, including a decline in the rate of car ownership and changes in driving behavior due to economic pressures, have also contributed to a reduction in traffic volume and, consequently, fewer accidents.

These efforts, collectively, have led to a substantial decrease in traffic-related fatalities in Russia over the last decade.

 

OK, so less driving is part of it, but there are a lot of other things going on (if ChatGPT is to be believed).

 

Meanwhile, somebody over there should look into why windows have gotten so dangerous these past few years...

 

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

12 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

Figs anyone

 

 

Egg for size comparison

 

You should just call 'em bigs.

[TEWKS]

58 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

Figs anyone

 

 

Egg for size comparison 

Excuse my ignorance (and ya I could look them up) but what are they and what do you do with them?  Fig Newtons is all I got…  Same fruit? 
 

edit..

next I’ll be asking where hamburgers come from.