Just a few random shots of the Mighty Furd in the shop. These were taken by my intrepid service writer and texted to me. It’s now 5:15PM, so the thing fought tooth and nail on the front suspension. It’s just being finished up now, all work complete once the road test is done. I think we can all agree at this point that this should be the last post of its kind for awhile, eh?
No pictures today. They’d be too horrific. This day was spent at the Ford dealership while they dismembered the Mighty Furd’s front suspension. Got there ar 8AM, left at 4PM when it because clear that all of the needed work could not be completed by the time the mechanics end their workday. The suspension will be done and the new shocks are on, but then there’s the alignment and that bad tension pulley for the serpentine belt. They graciously carted me all the way out to Wellton, where I got out only to hear a newish Chevy pickup owner across the street climb into his cab and yell with a grin, “And they told me I should get a Ford!” Hyuk hyuk. Your day will come, my friend. Your day will come. …Or maybe you’ll trade it in before that day of reckoning and lose your wallet in that manner. In the end, we all pay.
My service writer had approached while I was in the dealer’s waiting room, once again looking like the messenger of doom. “Bad news, huh?” I asked.
“I’m afraid so,” he replied, looking very uncomfortable.
“They found something else?” I offered.
“Oh, no,” he said, “It’s just not going as smoothly as we hoped.”
“So it’s not about money, just time?” I asked.
“That’s right, it’s a time problem.”
“Then enter, friend!” I said, “Have a seat here and relax. I can take anything but finding more parts going bad.”
He explained, “There’s enough rust on the fittings that things have resisted coming apart, even with spraying a lot of Read more…
They washed it, and the tires are actually BLACK, not deep grey! The dot inside the cargo box lid is a mini-thermometer so I can monitor interior temps.
Well, among the final prep for departure items on my list is maintenance service that’s due on the Mighty Furd, and I also wanted them to check the front wheel alignment and check the front suspension parts, since the tires have been insistently cupping (wearing in weird and warpy concave patterns). That usually indicates suspension problems, and it’s been going on for a couple of years. The cupping transforms the aggressive Cooper ST/Maxx treads from their normal whine to a sound that closely mimics the harmonics of a blown wheel bearing, just enough to make it unsettling. The maintenance items were to change the coolant (best done every 3 years on this engine), change out the fuel filters (2) along with making sure that the water drain valve isn’t plugged up with sludge, and change the oil and filter. The service writer suggested changing the rear diff oil if not already done, which it has not been, which he said was normally due at 90,000 miles. Naturally, I suspected foul play here to drum up business, but agreed to have that added in. As it turns out, it was due at 100,000 miles and I just reached 105. Missed that one. Total bill when it was all over, $730. I’d suspected $600 going in, not including the diff change, and had braced myself for it. Didn’t stop the hanky from having to come out. The other people in the waiting room understood, but I don’t think the cashier likes to see grown men sobbing into one. She did pat my shoulder and say “There, there, now …Check or credit card?” I suspect she rightfully tagged me as one unlikely to carry that much cash. Ever.
I was in by 7AM and left at about 2:30, the main drag being that you normally don’t want to drop all the coolant out until the motor has cooled down some. I sensed bad news coming when the work was done and the writer was not smiling. He herded me toward where we could sit down. Turns out Read more…
This is from an interview with the news anchors at WGN in Chicago. I think it’s a fine idea! It’s very short at just 2.6MB, so have at it.
Know what? I just realized that my three-part series on pistols which I’ve groped has not necessarily not shown up on the Strolling Amok homepage on the date that each was actually published. Instead, they’ve gotten buried in the past, according to the date they were first begun as rough drafts. It’s a WordPress thing. That doesn’t affect anyone who has subscribed to this fiasco, since the notification emails always have direct links to the post. For everyone else who just wanders in to the home page, they see nothing new – it’s buried way back in the stack. That’s a tragic loss to all the people who have not subscribed. Yeah. Sure.
So, the most recent post on the mighty Smith & Wesson Model 500 is here, while an earlier post on the Glock Model 23 is here, and last and least, a post on the Ruger 22/45 Mark II is here. If you don’t enjoy things that go bang and throw pellets, don’t bother. Then again, they may prove to be a potent antidote to insomnia. If you do geek out on firearms built for very different purposes, or simply enjoy finding out how one life can be derailed so badly from making a difference in the world, just click on a link!
Throw me a frickin’ BONE here! …Need the info. Can anyone here tell me what I pay you people for? Honestly.
I received this urgent missive just today!
—————————————————————————-
“Thank you very much for your urgent response to to me
“I am Ms. Liza Wong the Head of Accounting Audit Department of HSBC BANK (HSBC)in Malaysia. In my department in the Bank where i work, I discovered a sum of $85.5 Million USD In an account that belongs to one of our foreign deceased customers, a billionaire Business Mogul Late Mr.Moises Saba Masri, a Jew from Mexico who was a victim of a helicopter crash since 2010 which resulting to his death and his family members.
“You can see more information about Saba Masri Mr.Moises unfortunate end accident on the website-link below.
[link deleted to ensure your safety]
“Now our bank has been waiting for any of the relatives to come forth for the claim but nobody has done that SINCE 2010. I personally have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives,Which the Board of Directors are planning to share this funds among them-self. Which i have good heart Read more…
Not clean, but cleaner. On the left is what I started with, and on the right is a relatively clean but not pristine cleaned area.
One task that’s never mentioned with pop-up truck campers is cleaning the flexible fabric walls. That’s probably because there’s no glamor in it. But, it has to be done, and sooner rather than later. Today’s little exercise shows what happens when you don’t or can’t keep up with it. See, weekending with a Four Wheel tends to create minimal soiling issues with the fabric walls, and cleanup is easy using only a rag, water, and perhaps a very mild cleaning agent. A quick once-over does the trick.
In the case of a Four Wheel camper, a lower shroud on the roof closes over the structure below in the same way that a lid sleeves over a box. Thing is, such a large structure is not going to be able to fit the box tightly, or you’d have trouble seating the roof all the way down. The Four Wheel has a gasket along the front edges, but this provides a fit that can only discourage dirt from getting up into the folded polyester fabric. It can’t truly seal and prevent it. Result: protracted travel on dusty dirt roads is going to soil the fabric, and vibration from such roads will tend to grind the dirt into folds of the fabric that contact each other. Most of the soiling my camper shows is from dust collected during travel on such roads. This is unmistakable when you begin a day’s travel with a relatively clean top, and raise it at the end of a day to find it remarkably filthy.
If cleaned on a regular basis, such soiling does not present much of a problem. It’s quite quick and easy to remove with either water, or water and a mild bleach-free dish detergent. Detergent should be avoided if it isn’t required. If you’re on the road for months on end as I am, things get more Read more…
Yep, the water hereabouts is pretty hard.
The photo above shows off the latest essential mod to any boondocking rig, a vintage brass plaque to a motor club. I’ve had it laying around for decades, with the plans to do something with it someday. I assume I picked it up at a garage sale, of which I am a recovering addict. The lack of space to put stuff really helps with that. It has three holes in it for mounting, so some stout copper wire did the job on the Mighty Furd’s grill. I think if I lived in a metro area, I wouldn’t expect it to still be there after a few months, so we’ll see how long it lasts out where I go. I don’t happen to use Triple-A as my Roadgoing Adventure insurance, so this is purely a decorative item as far as the Furdster is concerned.
In this day of cheap window stickers and clubs that exist mainly to generate income and profits, such badges as this serve to remind me that automobile clubs originated to help members with the myriad of problems that presented Read more…
Roughing it has its appeal, but a hot shower has more.
Well, there’s good news, and there’s bad news. The good news is that, as of yesterday, tickets are now on sale for this year’s Expo, if you’re planning on going. The bad news is cost. Apparently, the expenses incurred by moving this event to Fort Tuthill County Park near Flagstaff were higher than expected last year. That’s just a guess on my part. Whatever the reason, the result is that day passes are now $25 instead of $15, and 3-day weekend camping passes have jumped from $95 to $155 in one year. I do not know what the gate cost of day passes will be, but I do know there will be no such thing for the camping passes, since those will be sold out before long. I have mine now, but I can tell you that this will likely be my last Expo attend for awhile. I will make it a point to enjoy it!
The Mighty Furd’s lab test report is in and, on the whole, it’s quite good! Blackstone Labs is located in Indiana, so sending in a sample from Arizona via the Post Office takes a week, plus a couple of days to do the test and write up the results in humanspeak. They are one of several outfits that can test any automotive fluid you send them, and the usual goal in doing so is to evaluate wear status as well as fluid condition. In this case, if my oil’s additives are pretty well used up, then it’s high time for an oil change no matter what the odometer says. If there’s some coolant in the oil (or vice-versa) then it’s likely high time to address a blown head gasket. If trace metals commonly found in cylinder walls, the valve train or elsewhere are found in unusually high amounts, then decisions can be made now instead of during a mechanical crisis.
Since knowledge is power, then the the whole goal here is to become aware of budding problems long before they can wreak their havoc on your wallet. The more of your resources you have tied up in your vehicle(s), the more dependent you are on them for income, or the less financially able you are to deal with major breakdowns in equipment, the more valuable it becomes to know ahead of time what situation is or is not coming up. While it’s normally much cheaper to suffer the costs of regular maintenance than the costs of neglect, it’s also typically much cheaper to catch and address individual problems as they surface, than it is to wait until the damage has been done. Sitting beside the road with a connecting rod sticking out of a hole in the crankcase is a bigger problem to deal with than having to shorten up your oil change intervals. With the 6.4, not all potential harbingers of doom throw a visible warning flag ahead of time, but enough do that it pays to monitor what one can.
Having engine fluids analyzed – in my case engine oil – is not cheap. The base rate at Blackstone Labs runs $28, and for that you get Read more…
Strolling Amok 