The Automotive Thread

[Road Guy]

cant remember if it was @Supe or @blybrook PEwho gave me the idea to use the Torx to get the stripped bolt out but it worked like a champ!

bummer the video isnt embedded but I promise its safe.

View attachment IMG_3092.MOV

 

[Supe]

J/K, glad it worked out.  I use that one quite a bit, especially on stainless button and socket head screws, as 99% of them are super soft shit steel.  

 

[Road Guy]

yeah cant believe I never thought of that before.

Now I got her doors off and its snowing  - tyring to get them repainted one got dinged up last summer so was trying to get it to the shop.. 

hope she doesnt have to drive to much this week  

 

[blybrook PE]

Did some wheeling with the daughter and some of her friends today- man I forgot how much better the 2 DR jeeps are compared to the 4 doors (and probably anything else) - hers is basically stock 33’s- no lift - but that thing made some climbs that mine was struggling with- and made it look easy. Just like watching a billy goat walk on a steep slope with ease..

It's the wheel base. The shorter the wheel base, the better off you are for wheeling (most of the time)...

 

[Road Guy]

I havent driven one in so long I just forget how nimble those things are, We did some failry steep climbs and I felt like I needed lockers and the 2dr (OG Jeep) just went on up...

They say most times you will lose traction before you flip over backwards but there were defina couple of oh shit moments..

 

[Road Guy]

So this early snow has brought up something I hadnt thought about with the wifes new truck - its got an Are Cab on the back, and it has power / lights - but when it snows or is cold, I guess you are just SOL in terms of using your rear view mirror?  - I was going to check out some tacoma forums but didnt know if anyone here had a similar issue - theres got to be a way to add some type of defroster to it? these tops are "fancy"

 

[Orchid PE]

/s

 

[Road Guy]

lol - I will send that option to the wife!

I did find this - https://frostfighter.com/pickup-truck-rear-cap-topper-window-defrosters.htm  I see a saturday being wasted in my future..

I really wish we had a window at the front of the camper top, so you could maybe send some heat back that way - I had a ford ranger in college with a cheap camper top but you could almost climb through from the bed to the truck - was a great place to keep beers cold in the Cooler  

 

[Orchid PE]

I have an ARE shell, but mine doesn't have a front window. It's completely open and has a rubber boot that seals up against the cab of the truck. Works well keeping the water out. The window in the cab is sliding, so I have access. 

 

[Road Guy]

did it come that way or did you have someone do that? I may look and see if we could have that changed cause that would be really excellent ( especially for our mini camper plans, if there is a ski season this year)

 

[Orchid PE]

did it come that way or did you have someone do that? I may look and see if we could have that changed cause that would be really excellent ( especially for our mini camper plans, if there is a ski season this year)

It came that way.

 

[Orchid PE]

You could probably do it yourself. It's something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Breezer-Compression-Weather-Connection-Optional/dp/B07SJN1KQL

https://www.custompickup.com/shop/index.php?l=product_list&c=18

 

[Road Guy]

okay cool thanks -  I may look around and see if I can find a place to take the window off and put this on, wife freaks out when I do things like take the sawzall out and trim my rock sliders on my jeep and put them back on - but this boot would be well worth it.

(Unless of course I do this one weekend she has to work)  :holyness:  always easier to get forgivness than permission!

 

[Orchid PE]

Does the window of your shell line up with the window of the cab? Mine does, which is good. Some shells have openings that are larger than the window, and if a boot is installed it will rub paint off the cab. My boot presses up against the window exactly, so it doesn't rub paint.

 

[Road Guy]

I will check - glad to know this though cause It was defin the one thing I didnt care for about the set up.

 

[mudpuppy]

@Road Guy I'm not sure if a rear defroster will help a lot without a wiper back there?  The rear wiper on my XJ stopped working a long time ago, and even with the rear defroster I usually can't see out the back in the winter because the window gets covered in salt residue within 5 seconds of driving.  But maybe they don't use as much salt over there as they do here.

 

[Road Guy]

yeah thats a good point. The pitch on this is a little steeper than an XJ - I wil have to ask around as this setup is everywhere.

CDOT puts out a de icer that gets pretty filthy

Ever since I added a 35 IN spare tire I cant see shit anyways to be honest - but at least I can see out the side, I drove the Tacoma this morning and it just feels (to me) like it has a lot of blind spots, made worse with iced up windows - but Its also only the 3rd time Ive driven it

 

[Supe]

Any Hyundai Palisade, Honda Pilot, or Mazda CX 9 owners here?

Now that we have three dogs, and two of them BIG boys, we're strongly thinking about upsizing from our CRV to something bigger.  Looking at a three row crossover to give us the most cargo capacity with 1 1/2 rows folded down. 

The CX 9 is supposed to be very underrated and gives you a ton of bang for your buck, but runs considerably smaller than some of the others.  The Palisade and Pilot seem to be very similarly priced, with the Hyundai appearing to give you a little more bang for the buck, with both hosing you if you want leather (which we'd like for the sake of ease of cleaning, but isn't mandatory).  

 

[Road Guy]

Never owned one but the Pilot cargo area and 3rd row seat was pretty small when we went and looked at them a few years ago.

Did you look at the Highlander?  Weve been pretty happy with ours (before we gave it to our kid) but its got a really roomy middle row (with seats that slide) and cargo area.

 

[Supe]

Never owned one but the Pilot cargo area and 3rd row seat was pretty small when we went and looked at them a few years ago.

Did you look at the Highlander?  Weve been pretty happy with ours (before we gave it to our kid) but its got a really roomy middle row (with seats that slide) and cargo area.

I did.  It actually gets really low scores based on bang for the buck, and their 4 cylinder option is absurdly anemic.