The Automotive Thread

[MA_PE]

RG:

This one is for you (note it's in Denver).  Keep an eye on your doors in winter time.  More proof that people suck.

http://www.jk-forum.com/articles/jeep-wrangler-doors-snatched-broad-daylight/?newsletter?utm_source=jan16&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=content

 

[Road Guy]

yeah you got to be careful with the top off or if you don't lock your doors.. the newer jeep doors are so much heavier than the old ones its a little harder now...I only took my doors off once this summer it was a PITA.  They sell some locking nuts for the doors I need to order some.. thanks for the reminder!

On my older jeep when I was getting my MBA at night all the jeeps would park together at the college, one night someone went through and snatched around 5 sets of doors while we were in class, luckily for me I had the "half" doors that no one wanted so mine didn't get taken..

 

[envirotex]

Some new clothes...

 

[jeb6294]

The rule for owning a Jeep is to never have anything in it that you wouldn't care about getting stolen. One thing a lot of people don't think about is that you can very easily unzip the back window on a soft top and be in a locked Jeep in about 45 seconds. I used to keep a little luggage padlock on my zippers, but it takes even less time to take a razor blade to the plastic window, so that was more for your casual hoodlum.

 

[Road Guy]

nice wheels Tex, (even if it is a Toyota)

In my 4 jeeps  I have had relative good luck with theft and other issues from being "topless"  Even with the newer hardtops the rear window is fairly worthless and I imagine you could break it with a small hammer.. But I do abide by that rule of keeping nothing in the vehicle..

The newer ones have made it where you cant unlock the tailgate once its locked, which helps. After driving around most of the summer with the top off I plan to buy one of the compartment lockers so you can basically have a secure tailgate with some room to put some low level valuables.. I may build something also. but many times this summer If I had to run an errand on the way home I had to drag my laptop bag around with me,, which was a "drag"

http://www.quadratec.com/products/14036_0005_07.htm  <- this is pricey but I was thinking I could make something similar to keep the "honest" people out...but would be nice to have..

 

[snickerd3]

i like my pilot and the new design isn't horrible, but I have been eyeing full crew cab pickup trucks too.  Soooo torn!  logistically the truck makes no sense with carseat/booster seats, and I will need the extra row of seats in the pilot as the kiddos get older to lug their friends around too.   Maybe the next next car will be a truck     

 

[Road Guy]

when we thought the wifes car was dead we looked at Pilots, I really like them but man they are proud of them..$$

wife is actually wanting now to get a Tacoma 4 door so she can move around in the snow easier.. of course those are not cheap either..

So I am not sure if I updated the wifes prius drama..

• last month her (fat ass) parents came to visit, they drove the prius to Aspen to "look at the one color fall leaf in CO"
  
• Prius battery (hybrid ) appears to die in Aspen
  
• Tow car back to Denver - paid for that AAA membership for sure
  
• Sweat having to get rid of a useless car for a while
  
• Learn that the hybdrid battery is OK but 2 years ago the first hybrid battery died, it was still under warranty so Toyota replaced, but they did not replace the fans that cool the battery, so the battery was "fine" but shut down driving up the mountains.  Toyota actually owned up to it and gave us a new hybrid battery and replaced the fans, have to admit I was a little shocked they went that far.
  
• So now we are making a plan to sell the prius since it has new hybrid battery that "should" be good for 4 more years, but were just trying to be extremely picky selling it since there are ALOT of them in this area..
  

 

[MetsFan]

The Prius battery only lasts 4 years?  How much is the replacement?  My BIL just bought a 2007 Prius with 60K miles for $6K, which seemed like a great deal.  

 

[Road Guy]

The first one lasted 6 years but it seems the "standard" life of the replacement ones are around 4 years give or take..

If his hasn't had the hybrid battery go out he is probably most likely due for it soon, our first one was under warranty, I think up till around 60K miles (don't recall) but they are around $4 grand..

We just want to get rid of ours in the next year while it still has a defin good battery.. total sham..

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I hope my Tesla battery lasts 7 years and 11 months.  It has an 8 year, unlimited mile warranty on it, so I'd like to get a new one before the warranty runs out.

 

[MetsFan]

The first one lasted 6 years but it seems the "standard" life of the replacement ones are around 4 years give or take..If his hasn't had the hybrid battery go out he is probably most likely due for it soon, our first one was under warranty, I think up till around 60K miles (don't recall) but they are around $4 grand..

We just want to get rid of ours in the next year while it still has a defin good battery.. total sham..

Holy crap. Hopefully his lasts a while, otherwise, there go his savings.

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

 

[jeb6294]

The newer ones have made it where you cant unlock the tailgate once its locked, which helps. After driving around most of the summer with the top off I plan to buy one of the compartment lockers so you can basically have a secure tailgate with some room to put some low level valuables.. I may build something also. but many times this summer If I had to run an errand on the way home I had to drag my laptop bag around with me,, which was a "drag"

Before I got rid of mine, I looked into making my own "trunk lid". Really just needed to cut a piece of (treated) plywood to fit the area between the back seat and the tailgate, cover it with something that kinda sorta went with the interior, and secure it to the little tie-downs in the back. As long as the tailgate was locked it would be fairly secure since you get to the rear seat release from the rear.

 

[jeb6294]

i like my pilot and the new design isn't horrible, but I have been eyeing full crew cab pickup trucks too.  Soooo torn!  logistically the truck makes no sense with carseat/booster seats, and I will need the extra row of seats in the pilot as the kiddos get older to lug their friends around too.   Maybe the next next car will be a truck     

My crew cab has tons of legroom in the back. We're down to one booster seat now, but there's plenty of room for a car seat. When we went camping this summer all 5 of us were in the truck and three dogs were in the back (truck has a cap) and we were fine...I wouldn't want to go across the country that way, but we were fine. The only thing I really wish my truck had is the window in the back so we could have fed some A/C back to the dogs, but it actually stayed pretty cool back there with the vents open.

Personally, that's all the room we need. I don't want to become the taxi service for everyone else's kids. If you really wanted room for one more, you can go for the flip down console up front. My current truck has a built in console, but my previous truck, you could flip the console up and have a legit 3 seats up front and 3 across in the rear.

 

[snickerd3]

never a good sign when the tire sales guy on phone says Holy **** (out loud) when the price of the tire you are inquiring out pops up on the screen.  Soon followed by the oh sorry I didn't mean to say that out loud.  Like they have never sold that expensive of a tire before...

stupid nail in the sidewall...

 

[Road Guy]

Why does this happen so quick?

 

[MA_PE]

What you're only at 600RPMs nothing very quick going on there.

You drive all over creation, of course the miles rack up.  Nothing a nice bonus can't cure.

 

[Dleg]

Give up skiing and hiking.  

So I bought an air compressor and an impact wrench this weekend, mostly for filling tires and removing/tightening lug nuts.  There were almost a dozen different impact wrneches to choose from, $30 to $300.  I picked one that was on sale for $75.  It's a half inch drive but a very compact body.  It says to run it at no greater than 90 psi input pressure, so that's what I set my compressor outlet regulator to (a 6 gallon pancakce style compressor). Well, it couldn't remove lug nuts nor could it tighten them anywhere near what I could provide by hand.

So my question is, did I buy "too small" an impact wrench?  Or can I improve it with more adjustment?  I noticed that when I pull the trigger on the wrench, the pressure at the compressor drops below 90.  Should I increase it to well above 90 when static, to provide 90 when it's running?  

I also used the hose that came with the compressor.  It's not very large, so maybe that's the limiting factor?
 At any rate, just wodnering if I need to return the wrench and get a bigger/more expensive one. 

 

[Supe]

Yes and yes.  You will get considerable pressure drop when you hit the go button, and volume plays a big part in it, especially if its those ****** coils of air hose.

 

[starquest]

Give up skiing and hiking.  

So I bought an air compressor and an impact wrench this weekend, mostly for filling tires and removing/tightening lug nuts.  There were almost a dozen different impact wrneches to choose from, $30 to $300.  I picked one that was on sale for $75.  It's a half inch drive but a very compact body.  It says to run it at no greater than 90 psi input pressure, so that's what I set my compressor outlet regulator to (a 6 gallon pancakce style compressor). Well, it couldn't remove lug nuts nor could it tighten them anywhere near what I could provide by hand.

So my question is, did I buy "too small" an impact wrench?  Or can I improve it with more adjustment?  I noticed that when I pull the trigger on the wrench, the pressure at the compressor drops below 90.  Should I increase it to well above 90 when static, to provide 90 when it's running?  

I also used the hose that came with the compressor.  It's not very large, so maybe that's the limiting factor?
 At any rate, just wodnering if I need to return the wrench and get a bigger/more expensive one. 

Here is the gun I have; IR 2235TiMax .  It's expensive but I have nothing but good things to say about this thing.   I feel you get what you pay for when it comes to pneumatic tools. 

I have a decent compressor running on 220V with about 13cfm at 180psi (I regulate down to 120psi as a result of my dryer system/traps).  However I have used this on small pancake style compressors before and it spins the lug nuts off with ease.  

 

[Dleg]

Thanks for the advice - based on what you say, i will return the small gun and look at getting this or a bigger and better one.  Because what's the point in having the compressor, if I'm just using it to fill tires every few months.