Well, actually there reportedly IS a difference between the early, WWII-style shovel and the later style which is like your store-bought job. Chiefly, the spade is a lot bigger. Ya gotta be a real he-man to wield one of those big ones. Mine was left in Europe after WWII and finally made it back home in a bulk purchase made by an importer of former military goodness.
If there is any truth to the change-over (and I admit, I got that info from several moderately reliable sources) at some point, I'm betting enough store-bought shovels started appearing (so YOU'RE the guy who's responsible for all this!) the military shrugged its shoulders and that kind became the new normal.
And remember the old saying, "There is only one thief in the military. Everybody else is just trying to get their stuff back."
Cheers,
TJ
Beverly Hillbillies
Moderators: rickf, raymond, Mr. Recovery
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Now, would that one thief just happen to be a member on this forum? 
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Perish the thought.
Making lunch for the family, I look outside through the kitchen window...at a clear blue sky...but it's raining buckets and all over my freshly painted pioneer tools which are sitting outside, drying. Drop what I'm doing and I take three giant steps off the porch... and I'm soaked. Then it hits me. HEY! These are going to be sitting outside anyway! Smooth move, genius. Now you're REALLY all wet.
Making lunch for the family, I look outside through the kitchen window...at a clear blue sky...but it's raining buckets and all over my freshly painted pioneer tools which are sitting outside, drying. Drop what I'm doing and I take three giant steps off the porch... and I'm soaked. Then it hits me. HEY! These are going to be sitting outside anyway! Smooth move, genius. Now you're REALLY all wet.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
No comment, None needed.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
The forum is really about helping people help themselves because in the final analysis, unless your help is right around the corner, or maybe even several hours away (as has been the case with some of our more wayward members, much to their credit) you simply have to roll up your sleeves, line up a few frosty beverages, dust off those Henweighs and get after it on your lonesome.
What follows is not the sort of thing you would expect to have to do with a Mercedes Benz dealership but, I am beginning to understand them a little bit better. They stand behind their product, but as a dealership, they are never happy to see older versions of their product.
So here's the scenario. When my wife finally, at long last began receiving 'Doctor Pay' she set her eye on having something other than the tired old car she had been driving. Since it had long been our habit to only buy Used and only from private sellers, when she found a sweet little 2002 Mercedes Benz SLK320 we snapped it up. It's a car for people who like getting out there and touring the back roads or driving the seawall in Galveston, or cruising Highway 1 in California or just hanging out and enjoying a chili-cheese dog at night in a drive in restaurant lit by neon lights. Very cool.
Now the SLK320 is a drop-top coupe. Very small in size, you kind of wear it, rather than sit in it. It comes with a large, normally aspirated engine with about a thousand valves (alas, not an AMG). It is a bare bones sports car with a hard top roof. But, through a series of mysterious mechanical machinations, it transforms itself into a very slick looking convertible and like a David Copperfield, there is absolutely no hint of where the darned roof went. Stow that roof and the fun begins! It really scoots and handles VERY well.
To go from hard top the no top, you just hold a toggle and the car automatically lowers the windows just a touch, lifts and roof and the trunk lid; a few things fold up or down and the trunk swallows up the whole thing and closes back up to transform the car into a very sleek little ride. Conjure up an image of the absolute King of drop-tops, the 1959 Ford Fairlane Galaxy Skyliner, and you'll pretty much have it nailed.
All these drop-top cars depend upon a series of things happening exactly right, at exactly the right time, in order to work. Have an issue with that on any car manufactured by other than Mercedes Benz, everyone just shrugs their shoulders. But have an issue with a Mercedes Benz and everyone goes nuts... points, laughs at you behind your back and whispers, "See? I told you those Mercedes Benzs were no good" which is really doing nothing other than showing one's ignorance and stupidly perpetuating a myth. Don't believe me? For people who know (i.e. the people who BUILD cars) the myth does not exist. Don't believe me? Under its skin, the Chrysler Crossfire IS a Mercedes Benz SLK320. In fact a LOT of manufacturers involve Mercedes Benz in their businesses and they go out of their way not to say too much about it. Fair enough.
ANYHOO... My wife got the itch for the 'New Car Smell' and bought herself a fancy new Mercedes Benz which was kind of a small SUV but with a slightly smaller engine (turbocharged) and a very high tech driveline and it is OMG!-quick and JHC!-nimble. With the exception of the SLK's high marks in the Cornering & Good Looks Department the SLK320 couldn't keep up with the new car. But the SLK320 looks far sportier and it does let the sun shine in and sometimes, Doctor Smith just wants the wind in her hair so, she kept it.
Which brings us the long way around the barn to the matter of what we chiefly discuss here on the G838 which is....fixing things and the realistic decision we MV owners have to make when doing that. We are the owner, the operator and the mechanic. We do it all. IMHO, in this age of use-it, abuse-it, then, throw-it-away....that's pretty high praise.
Our little SLK finally developed a problem.... with the roof.
The Texas sun is relentless and southern-based SLKs have issues with the hydraulic servo and sometimes the cables that release the top from the windshield frame. All those parts are right up there, top-dead-center, under nothing more than a piece of sheet metal and a coat of paint. So they bake, and bake, and bake until they break. For southern SLKs, that failure is inevitable.
AhHAH!, you say? Well, I reply, ours failed after...ummm...18 years.
Mechanical things break. That's all there is to it.
So, I diagnosed it (correctly, as it turned out) and dropped it off at the dealership because my working on someone else's toy, particularly my wife's toy, is NOT gonna happen. I don't like people cracking the whip on me to get things done. I'm retired, dang it! Initial estimate for repair...$3500. They wanted to replace everything. Uh...no thanks. So the car didn't get fixed...at least not right away.
I learned a long time ago that when my wife wants something, she'll run roughshod over folks to get it and I just wasn't going to subject myself to that sort of thing and have to listen to "When is my car going to be fixed?" over and over again. So with me refusing to work on it and summer passing her by, she finally said, take it to the dealership. i think this was also to be her consolation prize for my acquiring a Gama Goat, by the way.
Uh... Okay!
So I dropped her car off at the Benz dealership and told them, "I know what the problem is and I want that, and ONLY that fixed. Then it sat and sat and sat. We heard absolutely nothing from them. And, full disclosure I did tell them the SLK was kind of an extra car around our house so their lack of 'getting around to it' didn't disturb me in the least. Who knows, maybe they were sulking.
Mercedes Benz never is happy to have a vintage car in their shop. Show up in a Gull Wing and they will feel the same way about it. For them, the matter is a rather ticklish one. Their customer base consists of people who are well off and who (a) really don't want to have a car that breaks in the first place and, (b) are loath to have a car in the shop because having a car in the shop is for 'little people'.
Personally, I always enjoy going to the Benz dealership. The fact is, there, the only thing they don't give you for free are the shiny bling-things in the glass cases in the parts department and....repair work. Going there is always a treat for me...especially in the morning when there's almost a full buffet! I can go in and get a massage for cryin' out loud! No, I'm actually not kidding about the massage. You do have to make an appointment and there is the minor matter of tipping, but otherwise, it really is free. But, somehow, getting a massage at a car dealership, no matter how nice, is anathema to my way of thinking. I just cannot seem to shake a mental image of some burly, uniformed shop mechanic with his rough, greasy hands on....
Ok, enough of that!! I'm sure their masseuses are fairly run-of-the-mill.
While I'm there, I really DO enjoy looking at the new cars; always standing back at respectful distance because I'm 'little people' and I know it. I'm the guy dressed like a slob and I'm holding my free Coca Cola (FREE!..which I think is just dandy) and admiring the high end Benzs....ones that I will never, ever own, or drive, for that matter. They're really an eyeful under the special showroom lighting. But they can't throw me out on my ear because I'm a bonifide customer.
How.
About.
That.
BUT, getting back to the fundamental concept of Mercedes Benz service.....the BIG issue is, (number C) the possibility, however remote, of repairing a car improperly, or misdiagnosing a car, only to have it returned for repair again which goes strictly contrary to (a & b). That's the quickest way for them to lose their customer to Audi, or some other high end manufacturer we've never even heard of.
So what is a dealership to do when faced with such finicky and discerning customers? Well, they take the low road. By 'the low road', I mean that their customers are generally very happy to pay a lot, for little piece of mind...so the Dealership is only too happy to oblige, even if it means their having to give away free stuff. Except for the freebies, their wanting to replace EVERYTHING and charge for it is too bitter a pill for cheapskates like me, but I do understand their thought process.
So, I was not surprised when I finally heard from them and that their new plan to repair the SLK would consist of replacing EVERY component in the roof/windshield release GROUP which is a pill I AM prepared to swallow. Far better than replacing everything in the whole retractable roof SYSTEM. To be fair, that did have a certain undeniable logic to it, what with the baking issue and the commensurate age of the other parts in that area of the car.
Then there was their rather ominous disclaimer that disassembly and reassembly sometimes does result in damage to some trim components (which can be a rather ticklish situation on vintage cars). But, I am not their 'normal customer'. I'm a fully informed and reasonable customer. I'm a guy who owns MVs so, I know that these circumstances sometimes result in unintended consequences.
It is entirely true that Mercedes Benz plastic does not hold up well in the Texas heat. So I told the service advisor, if you fellas break something, let me know and I'll come get it and repair it and/or source a replacement from salvage if I cannot find a new one.
After seeing some of the things that I've seen in dealing with MVs, I really don't get too excited about stuff like that. It's a pretty simple situation, actually. They do their best and I remain flexible and calm. So with that understanding, I told them to git after it. Having your car sitting at a dealership for a month and hearing not one peep is troublesome for most Mercedes Benz owners. Not for me. I'll admit, I was really enjoying having the extra space out by the curb in front of the house.
Two more weeks go by. Then I get another call. Boo-hoo-hoo. We can't find one of the cables for the roof. It's going to be on back order till December 24.
(I admit, I'm prone to hyperbole but that is exactly what they told me. 2020 has been a helluva year. )
I was in front of my laptop when I took the call. Immediately, I go on eBay. "Okay, Eddy... (not 'E-D-D-I-E" like Eddie and the Cruisers but, E-D-D-Y ) Okay, Eddy, give me the part number." I'm typing while he's talking. Hit enter. Hit Buy It Now...Bazinga! And in the time I took you to read this paragraph, I had not one, but TWO cables on the way; a right side and a left side for $50 with free shipping. Paid less than ONE new cable from the dealership. "Okay, Eddy, here's the deal. You're off the hook. I'll be bringing you two cables just as soon as they arrive. Put her on the back line."
Five days later, I sat down with Eddy and put the cables on his desk. "Wash your hands after giving these to the shop guy...I don't know where they've been." Eddy is relieved to be off the hook...and to be dealing with a Mercedes Benz owner who has a realistic view of the world.
So, Dear Reader, in closing this chapter of Beverly Hillbillies I will leave you with this happy thought. When you are grumbling about what seems to be an endless list of things you must fix on your MV, remember that you are among a select group of very talented people...and don't forget to say a little prayer for those poor, well-to-do folks because they really have it tough.
Cheers,
TJ
What follows is not the sort of thing you would expect to have to do with a Mercedes Benz dealership but, I am beginning to understand them a little bit better. They stand behind their product, but as a dealership, they are never happy to see older versions of their product.
So here's the scenario. When my wife finally, at long last began receiving 'Doctor Pay' she set her eye on having something other than the tired old car she had been driving. Since it had long been our habit to only buy Used and only from private sellers, when she found a sweet little 2002 Mercedes Benz SLK320 we snapped it up. It's a car for people who like getting out there and touring the back roads or driving the seawall in Galveston, or cruising Highway 1 in California or just hanging out and enjoying a chili-cheese dog at night in a drive in restaurant lit by neon lights. Very cool.
Now the SLK320 is a drop-top coupe. Very small in size, you kind of wear it, rather than sit in it. It comes with a large, normally aspirated engine with about a thousand valves (alas, not an AMG). It is a bare bones sports car with a hard top roof. But, through a series of mysterious mechanical machinations, it transforms itself into a very slick looking convertible and like a David Copperfield, there is absolutely no hint of where the darned roof went. Stow that roof and the fun begins! It really scoots and handles VERY well.
To go from hard top the no top, you just hold a toggle and the car automatically lowers the windows just a touch, lifts and roof and the trunk lid; a few things fold up or down and the trunk swallows up the whole thing and closes back up to transform the car into a very sleek little ride. Conjure up an image of the absolute King of drop-tops, the 1959 Ford Fairlane Galaxy Skyliner, and you'll pretty much have it nailed.
All these drop-top cars depend upon a series of things happening exactly right, at exactly the right time, in order to work. Have an issue with that on any car manufactured by other than Mercedes Benz, everyone just shrugs their shoulders. But have an issue with a Mercedes Benz and everyone goes nuts... points, laughs at you behind your back and whispers, "See? I told you those Mercedes Benzs were no good" which is really doing nothing other than showing one's ignorance and stupidly perpetuating a myth. Don't believe me? For people who know (i.e. the people who BUILD cars) the myth does not exist. Don't believe me? Under its skin, the Chrysler Crossfire IS a Mercedes Benz SLK320. In fact a LOT of manufacturers involve Mercedes Benz in their businesses and they go out of their way not to say too much about it. Fair enough.
ANYHOO... My wife got the itch for the 'New Car Smell' and bought herself a fancy new Mercedes Benz which was kind of a small SUV but with a slightly smaller engine (turbocharged) and a very high tech driveline and it is OMG!-quick and JHC!-nimble. With the exception of the SLK's high marks in the Cornering & Good Looks Department the SLK320 couldn't keep up with the new car. But the SLK320 looks far sportier and it does let the sun shine in and sometimes, Doctor Smith just wants the wind in her hair so, she kept it.
Which brings us the long way around the barn to the matter of what we chiefly discuss here on the G838 which is....fixing things and the realistic decision we MV owners have to make when doing that. We are the owner, the operator and the mechanic. We do it all. IMHO, in this age of use-it, abuse-it, then, throw-it-away....that's pretty high praise.
Our little SLK finally developed a problem.... with the roof.
The Texas sun is relentless and southern-based SLKs have issues with the hydraulic servo and sometimes the cables that release the top from the windshield frame. All those parts are right up there, top-dead-center, under nothing more than a piece of sheet metal and a coat of paint. So they bake, and bake, and bake until they break. For southern SLKs, that failure is inevitable. AhHAH!, you say? Well, I reply, ours failed after...ummm...18 years.
Mechanical things break. That's all there is to it.So, I diagnosed it (correctly, as it turned out) and dropped it off at the dealership because my working on someone else's toy, particularly my wife's toy, is NOT gonna happen. I don't like people cracking the whip on me to get things done. I'm retired, dang it! Initial estimate for repair...$3500. They wanted to replace everything. Uh...no thanks. So the car didn't get fixed...at least not right away.
I learned a long time ago that when my wife wants something, she'll run roughshod over folks to get it and I just wasn't going to subject myself to that sort of thing and have to listen to "When is my car going to be fixed?" over and over again. So with me refusing to work on it and summer passing her by, she finally said, take it to the dealership. i think this was also to be her consolation prize for my acquiring a Gama Goat, by the way.
Uh... Okay!
So I dropped her car off at the Benz dealership and told them, "I know what the problem is and I want that, and ONLY that fixed. Then it sat and sat and sat. We heard absolutely nothing from them. And, full disclosure I did tell them the SLK was kind of an extra car around our house so their lack of 'getting around to it' didn't disturb me in the least. Who knows, maybe they were sulking.
Mercedes Benz never is happy to have a vintage car in their shop. Show up in a Gull Wing and they will feel the same way about it. For them, the matter is a rather ticklish one. Their customer base consists of people who are well off and who (a) really don't want to have a car that breaks in the first place and, (b) are loath to have a car in the shop because having a car in the shop is for 'little people'.
Personally, I always enjoy going to the Benz dealership. The fact is, there, the only thing they don't give you for free are the shiny bling-things in the glass cases in the parts department and....repair work. Going there is always a treat for me...especially in the morning when there's almost a full buffet! I can go in and get a massage for cryin' out loud! No, I'm actually not kidding about the massage. You do have to make an appointment and there is the minor matter of tipping, but otherwise, it really is free. But, somehow, getting a massage at a car dealership, no matter how nice, is anathema to my way of thinking. I just cannot seem to shake a mental image of some burly, uniformed shop mechanic with his rough, greasy hands on....
Ok, enough of that!! I'm sure their masseuses are fairly run-of-the-mill.
While I'm there, I really DO enjoy looking at the new cars; always standing back at respectful distance because I'm 'little people' and I know it. I'm the guy dressed like a slob and I'm holding my free Coca Cola (FREE!..which I think is just dandy) and admiring the high end Benzs....ones that I will never, ever own, or drive, for that matter. They're really an eyeful under the special showroom lighting. But they can't throw me out on my ear because I'm a bonifide customer.
How.
About.
That.
BUT, getting back to the fundamental concept of Mercedes Benz service.....the BIG issue is, (number C) the possibility, however remote, of repairing a car improperly, or misdiagnosing a car, only to have it returned for repair again which goes strictly contrary to (a & b). That's the quickest way for them to lose their customer to Audi, or some other high end manufacturer we've never even heard of.
So what is a dealership to do when faced with such finicky and discerning customers? Well, they take the low road. By 'the low road', I mean that their customers are generally very happy to pay a lot, for little piece of mind...so the Dealership is only too happy to oblige, even if it means their having to give away free stuff. Except for the freebies, their wanting to replace EVERYTHING and charge for it is too bitter a pill for cheapskates like me, but I do understand their thought process.
So, I was not surprised when I finally heard from them and that their new plan to repair the SLK would consist of replacing EVERY component in the roof/windshield release GROUP which is a pill I AM prepared to swallow. Far better than replacing everything in the whole retractable roof SYSTEM. To be fair, that did have a certain undeniable logic to it, what with the baking issue and the commensurate age of the other parts in that area of the car.
Then there was their rather ominous disclaimer that disassembly and reassembly sometimes does result in damage to some trim components (which can be a rather ticklish situation on vintage cars). But, I am not their 'normal customer'. I'm a fully informed and reasonable customer. I'm a guy who owns MVs so, I know that these circumstances sometimes result in unintended consequences.
It is entirely true that Mercedes Benz plastic does not hold up well in the Texas heat. So I told the service advisor, if you fellas break something, let me know and I'll come get it and repair it and/or source a replacement from salvage if I cannot find a new one.
After seeing some of the things that I've seen in dealing with MVs, I really don't get too excited about stuff like that. It's a pretty simple situation, actually. They do their best and I remain flexible and calm. So with that understanding, I told them to git after it. Having your car sitting at a dealership for a month and hearing not one peep is troublesome for most Mercedes Benz owners. Not for me. I'll admit, I was really enjoying having the extra space out by the curb in front of the house.
Two more weeks go by. Then I get another call. Boo-hoo-hoo. We can't find one of the cables for the roof. It's going to be on back order till December 24.
(I admit, I'm prone to hyperbole but that is exactly what they told me. 2020 has been a helluva year. ) I was in front of my laptop when I took the call. Immediately, I go on eBay. "Okay, Eddy... (not 'E-D-D-I-E" like Eddie and the Cruisers but, E-D-D-Y
) Okay, Eddy, give me the part number." I'm typing while he's talking. Hit enter. Hit Buy It Now...Bazinga! And in the time I took you to read this paragraph, I had not one, but TWO cables on the way; a right side and a left side for $50 with free shipping. Paid less than ONE new cable from the dealership. "Okay, Eddy, here's the deal. You're off the hook. I'll be bringing you two cables just as soon as they arrive. Put her on the back line."Five days later, I sat down with Eddy and put the cables on his desk. "Wash your hands after giving these to the shop guy...I don't know where they've been." Eddy is relieved to be off the hook...and to be dealing with a Mercedes Benz owner who has a realistic view of the world.
So, Dear Reader, in closing this chapter of Beverly Hillbillies I will leave you with this happy thought. When you are grumbling about what seems to be an endless list of things you must fix on your MV, remember that you are among a select group of very talented people...and don't forget to say a little prayer for those poor, well-to-do folks because they really have it tough.
Cheers,
TJ
Last edited by m3a1 on August 28th, 2020, 8:23 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Wait til you have suspension issues with the SLK! You will not be so happy. I don't remember if that one has the hydraulic controlled setup in the rear but if that goes bad you just convert to regular shocks and give up a bit of comfort. Parts are unobtanium. And if your wife got the ML series get rid of it before the warrantee runs out! They have a lot of problems and as you say, most owners are well to do and they do not keep them long enough to find those problems. Or if they do the dealers buy them back just to keep the well to do customers. I do not think you would fall into that bracket. I about lost dinner when you were describing the massage! I will be stuck with that image for a long time! You say you are one of the "little people" so you go in there with the AR, or even better, the AK strapped over your shoulder and start looking at the cars while waiting for yous to get done. It will be finished in less than an hour, I will bet money on it!!!
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
The problems associated with those suspensions can be traced directly to those regions who use salt, sand, chat, or other abrasives on their roads, especially during winter time. Those sorts of materials are also terribly abrasive to any sort of system, whether it be pneumatic or hydraulic, no matter who makes it. That's not a Mercedes problem. That's an OWNERSHIP problem! Treat your car with the care it deserves and most of those problems will never take place. Unfortunately, most owners never think about it Those of us in the south really count on that because it means an almost endless supply of spare parts for our cars down here.
At the end of my teens and into my early 20s when I was 'A Lincoln Man', I would put my absolutely gorgeous, jet black, 4 door 1967 Lincoln Town Car up on jacks every autumn and there it would remain until spring time. Then I would buy a clapped out Lincoln (usually rusted all the way up to the door handles) and drive that all winter with complete impunity, knowing that my beauty was in storage, all safe and sound.
Cheers,
TJ
At the end of my teens and into my early 20s when I was 'A Lincoln Man', I would put my absolutely gorgeous, jet black, 4 door 1967 Lincoln Town Car up on jacks every autumn and there it would remain until spring time. Then I would buy a clapped out Lincoln (usually rusted all the way up to the door handles) and drive that all winter with complete impunity, knowing that my beauty was in storage, all safe and sound.
Cheers,
TJ
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Well, this should be a fun project.
There's always something going on at the Beverly Hillbillies....
There's always something going on at the Beverly Hillbillies....
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Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Some days are diamonds. Some days are stones. Yesterday, it was stones. I am so glad that day is over with! Perfect storm of stupidity ending with an actual perfect storm.
Spent most of the morning cleaning up some parts and getting them into paint. What a lovely day. I'm doing my level best to get things organized around here which means going through some of the extras that came with the Gama Goat and separating them into the spare engine stuff and, other Gama Goat stuff.
Since it all came back from Illinois in one of my Hardigg cases it was all rather nasty. Diesel, plus dirt makes a very fine mess (but it smells great). I had to remove all of it before giving the Hardigg case a good scrubbing with degreaser and Tide+water. Meanwhile, one pile of parts over here. One pile over there. Nice.
Then, a trip over to Home Depot for a new, smaller container for the engine stuff, after putting the freshly cleaned Hardigg case out to dry. When I got back, I decided to run the Goat up to temp and that's where the fun started. Clutch in, STOP toggle in, master switch on, press the starter button....Nuthin.
1. Battery power...non-existant.
WTH? These are brand new batteries! Disconnected the driver's side battery and hooked up my trusty old charger. Nuthin.
2. Battery charger...dead as a doornail.
Put the charger on the other battery. Nuthin. Put the charger on a loose battery I have laying around. Nuthin. WTH?!! This charger has been an absolute pleasure to have. Suddenly it doesn't work? Waitaminute....AND maybe the battery doesn't work? What the heck happened...lightning strike?
...they have happened.
There's no telling. So, I go to Walmart and open my wallet for another battery charger (a newer version of my old one with a few nice upgrades). Take it home and immediately notice the sky to the North looks black....like, REALLY black. Great. A storm is coming.
3. A BIG storm... What could possibly be better when you want things to be DRY?
So I hooked up the charger and let her rip and then scrambled around picking up things that I didn't want to get soaked including my now almost-dry Hardigg case. Then I went back and found the charger just sitting there, doing nothing. Oh, COME ON!
4. Driver's side battery...dead as a doornail.
And there's a ton of resistance there because the brand new cables are hot to the touch. Now I'm really in a hurry because we are definitely gonna get a soaking. Snagged a few more things I missed to get them under cover. Hooked up the new charger to the passenger side battery (at 13%) and waited a moment for the charger to start. Ok, the numbers are going up and things are happening now. I covered it all up, plucked the dead battery off the Goat and ran that over to Walmart to get it exchanged under warrantee.
"It's only a month old!" they say. "You don't say!" I say. (They eyeball me and my sparkling, yet broken battery, rather suspiciously.) And while they're discussing what to do with me, I think maybe while I'm there I ought to be shopping for some good, stout rope so I can hang myself, just in the case the day gets any 'better'...
But, let's be positive about things because it's always good to be positive. On the Plus side, the best place to find out your new battery has taken a dump is....right in your driveway....so, there is that. Walmart gave me a new $150 battery and I returned to the house with high hopes and with the leading edge of the storm already upon our little town and I'm feeling some trepidation...a bit like Dorothy...because this is gonna be a big one.
The rain was just hammering down and because it was so heavy, I decided to park the suburban in the open lot around back of the house because, parking around front is getting a little crowded and we've had our cars run into by passers-by...and if ever there was a day for trouble...this is it. So, I wheeled in there and promptly...
5. Lost all traction and got stuck.
Really? REALLY?!! Rain, or no rain, I've never had this problem here. Okay, today is obviously a wrap. The truck can sit there till things dry out for all I care. Stick a fork in me, cause I'm DONE. I snag the new battery and head to the house and become completely and utterly soaked by the time I've walked 50 feet. Get inside and towel off and by the time I'm reasonably dry and thinking about getting into some new clothes and getting some 'medicated' coffee in me, the storm is fully upon us. It sounds like a freight train; a very, very impressive roar of wind and rain. The dogs and cats have all gone into hiding. Then I remember...
6. The big pile and the little pile.
I put aside the thought of dry clothes and a warm cuppa and I go back outside, grab a few important things and get them under cover. The rest is pretty much weather proof anyway. I am now soaked far worse than I was in the first place (if that's possible). But my day is officially over as far as I'm concerned. Enough is enough. Sometimes ya just gotta take the hint.
Cheers,
TJ
Spent most of the morning cleaning up some parts and getting them into paint. What a lovely day. I'm doing my level best to get things organized around here which means going through some of the extras that came with the Gama Goat and separating them into the spare engine stuff and, other Gama Goat stuff.
Since it all came back from Illinois in one of my Hardigg cases it was all rather nasty. Diesel, plus dirt makes a very fine mess (but it smells great). I had to remove all of it before giving the Hardigg case a good scrubbing with degreaser and Tide+water. Meanwhile, one pile of parts over here. One pile over there. Nice.
Then, a trip over to Home Depot for a new, smaller container for the engine stuff, after putting the freshly cleaned Hardigg case out to dry. When I got back, I decided to run the Goat up to temp and that's where the fun started. Clutch in, STOP toggle in, master switch on, press the starter button....Nuthin.
1. Battery power...non-existant.
WTH? These are brand new batteries! Disconnected the driver's side battery and hooked up my trusty old charger. Nuthin.
2. Battery charger...dead as a doornail.
Put the charger on the other battery. Nuthin. Put the charger on a loose battery I have laying around. Nuthin. WTH?!! This charger has been an absolute pleasure to have. Suddenly it doesn't work? Waitaminute....AND maybe the battery doesn't work? What the heck happened...lightning strike?
...they have happened.
There's no telling. So, I go to Walmart and open my wallet for another battery charger (a newer version of my old one with a few nice upgrades). Take it home and immediately notice the sky to the North looks black....like, REALLY black. Great. A storm is coming.
3. A BIG storm... What could possibly be better when you want things to be DRY?
So I hooked up the charger and let her rip and then scrambled around picking up things that I didn't want to get soaked including my now almost-dry Hardigg case. Then I went back and found the charger just sitting there, doing nothing. Oh, COME ON!
4. Driver's side battery...dead as a doornail.
And there's a ton of resistance there because the brand new cables are hot to the touch. Now I'm really in a hurry because we are definitely gonna get a soaking. Snagged a few more things I missed to get them under cover. Hooked up the new charger to the passenger side battery (at 13%) and waited a moment for the charger to start. Ok, the numbers are going up and things are happening now. I covered it all up, plucked the dead battery off the Goat and ran that over to Walmart to get it exchanged under warrantee.
"It's only a month old!" they say. "You don't say!" I say. (They eyeball me and my sparkling, yet broken battery, rather suspiciously.) And while they're discussing what to do with me, I think maybe while I'm there I ought to be shopping for some good, stout rope so I can hang myself, just in the case the day gets any 'better'...
But, let's be positive about things because it's always good to be positive. On the Plus side, the best place to find out your new battery has taken a dump is....right in your driveway....so, there is that. Walmart gave me a new $150 battery and I returned to the house with high hopes and with the leading edge of the storm already upon our little town and I'm feeling some trepidation...a bit like Dorothy...because this is gonna be a big one.
The rain was just hammering down and because it was so heavy, I decided to park the suburban in the open lot around back of the house because, parking around front is getting a little crowded and we've had our cars run into by passers-by...and if ever there was a day for trouble...this is it. So, I wheeled in there and promptly...
5. Lost all traction and got stuck.
Really? REALLY?!! Rain, or no rain, I've never had this problem here. Okay, today is obviously a wrap. The truck can sit there till things dry out for all I care. Stick a fork in me, cause I'm DONE. I snag the new battery and head to the house and become completely and utterly soaked by the time I've walked 50 feet. Get inside and towel off and by the time I'm reasonably dry and thinking about getting into some new clothes and getting some 'medicated' coffee in me, the storm is fully upon us. It sounds like a freight train; a very, very impressive roar of wind and rain. The dogs and cats have all gone into hiding. Then I remember...
6. The big pile and the little pile.
I put aside the thought of dry clothes and a warm cuppa and I go back outside, grab a few important things and get them under cover. The rest is pretty much weather proof anyway. I am now soaked far worse than I was in the first place (if that's possible). But my day is officially over as far as I'm concerned. Enough is enough. Sometimes ya just gotta take the hint.
Cheers,
TJ
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Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Those new computer controlled battery chargers are absolutely worthless if the battery has less than 11 volts. They will start to charge then go into a test mode and the battery will 9 times out of 10 fail the test mode due to low voltage and the display will now read "BAD". I have had it happen more times than I can count. Then I break out the 40 year old marine charger and throw that on the battery and set it for automatic and go to bed. It is going to charge 10 amps until the battery comes up no matter what. Then it tapers off and goes into trickle. The problem is that the meter went bad on that charger and I suspect it is not charging like it used to. I have been trying to find an automatic charger that is NOT microprocessor controlled and I have not been able to find one. At least not one I would trust.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Well, maybe that's it. I kept the old charger.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Well, after days and days of unrelenting rain, we finally have sunshine. Naturally, what comes down must go up, so the humidity is through the roof. Everything needs to be thoroughly dry-dry-dry before being locked up in a trunk but Damp Rid may be the perfect solution. (I love that stuff).
So, despite the humidity, I will proceed with getting boxed parts into their respective bins and thus, give myself a little wriggle room to do some other projects around here such as the upcoming Halloween projects, which I hope will turn out well. This year may be quite a departure from other years, not only because of the La 'Rona...but because the theme is going to be so much different.
What I may find is that there will be NO visitors this year, which is okay because each successive year is built upon the last year's efforts and this is Year One for the new theme. Fewer guests means more time to fine-tune everything and the pleasure of the creative aspect, uninterrupted. I do this stuff really just for myself, anyway. it's good to keep the creativity coming.
The Gama Goat battery issue seems to be over. May well be that my buddy isn't being quite straight with me about that master switch he was fussing with the other day. Might he have left it ON by accident and then came back over and turned it off? Could be. In any case, no real harm done and a lesson learned. I'll keep an eye on it...maybe install a power cut-off at the battery terminal, just to be sure.
Cheers,
TJ
So, despite the humidity, I will proceed with getting boxed parts into their respective bins and thus, give myself a little wriggle room to do some other projects around here such as the upcoming Halloween projects, which I hope will turn out well. This year may be quite a departure from other years, not only because of the La 'Rona...but because the theme is going to be so much different.
What I may find is that there will be NO visitors this year, which is okay because each successive year is built upon the last year's efforts and this is Year One for the new theme. Fewer guests means more time to fine-tune everything and the pleasure of the creative aspect, uninterrupted. I do this stuff really just for myself, anyway. it's good to keep the creativity coming.
The Gama Goat battery issue seems to be over. May well be that my buddy isn't being quite straight with me about that master switch he was fussing with the other day. Might he have left it ON by accident and then came back over and turned it off? Could be. In any case, no real harm done and a lesson learned. I'll keep an eye on it...maybe install a power cut-off at the battery terminal, just to be sure.
Cheers,
TJ
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Back at the Beverly Hillbillies....
Let's suppose you have a great big metal box on your trailer; a box that weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300 pounds.
Let us also suppose it is resisting all attempts to move it into suitable position to gently unload it and get it back onto its wheels, because...
...your great big metal box has about 30 cubic feet of space inside, is locked up tight and filled with water.
How much water, you ask?
Like....roughly 1.872 pounds of water....(and maybe a drowned magician and his lovely, and somewhat soggy, assistant).
What to do?
What
To
Do?
Well, the first thing you do is get most of the water out. So you pick a spot and you drill...
...chisel...
...and drill again....
...and it pees water for almost exactly FOUR HOURS. Happily, the water isn't soup and it doesn't smell like dead things.
Then you wait till darkness (so as not to get jammed up by the cops), drive around the block and put one side of the truck's and trailer's wheels upon the curb and let her pee some more. Another HOUR, in fact!
Oh boy, the things I get into!
Cheers,
TJ
Let's suppose you have a great big metal box on your trailer; a box that weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300 pounds.
Let us also suppose it is resisting all attempts to move it into suitable position to gently unload it and get it back onto its wheels, because...
...your great big metal box has about 30 cubic feet of space inside, is locked up tight and filled with water.
How much water, you ask?
Like....roughly 1.872 pounds of water....(and maybe a drowned magician and his lovely, and somewhat soggy, assistant).
What to do?
What
To
Do?
Well, the first thing you do is get most of the water out. So you pick a spot and you drill...
...chisel...
...and drill again....
...and it pees water for almost exactly FOUR HOURS. Happily, the water isn't soup and it doesn't smell like dead things.
Then you wait till darkness (so as not to get jammed up by the cops), drive around the block and put one side of the truck's and trailer's wheels upon the curb and let her pee some more. Another HOUR, in fact!
Oh boy, the things I get into!
Cheers,
TJ
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Re: Beverly Hillbillies
Ok, So just WHY did you buy a safe that has obviously been sitting at the bottom of a lake? Good reason to let someone with forensic connections have it in my opinion but.................. Wouldn't it have been easier to go through the door? Drilling a safe lock is not all that hard to do if you know where to drill and I am sure you have enough locksmith connections to help. Oh, and a carbide drill bit.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone
Re: Beverly Hillbillies
1. I didn't buy it. i traded two headlight buckets for it...without bulbs. I bought those at a garage sale. Total investment - $10.
2. It hasn't been sitting at the bottom of a lake. It's been sitting at a sand-blasting business where it was abandoned and left sitting on its back after a failed attempt to get it open by peeling the door to get to the mechanism. It sat there for several years and filled with rain water. No doubt the mechanicals of the door are pretty well rusted up by now.
3. It was loaded on my trailer on its back (for free) by a struggling (and ancient) fork lift by an equally ancient fork lift operator. When you are at that point, you don't start asking for favors, particularly on an item that weighs in at OVER 3000 pounds.
4. Previous owner never got it open so it made more sense to drain the water content by drilling the side (this thing called gravity, dontcha know?) Draining off over 1800# of water so we can manage to unload it without being crushed.
Ultimately I think I'll be plasma cutting the door skin to expose the mechanism and try to release the pins in that way.
Today we tipped it with a bobcat and blocked it up on an angle so as to drain off a wee bit more water.
Cheers,
TJ
2. It hasn't been sitting at the bottom of a lake. It's been sitting at a sand-blasting business where it was abandoned and left sitting on its back after a failed attempt to get it open by peeling the door to get to the mechanism. It sat there for several years and filled with rain water. No doubt the mechanicals of the door are pretty well rusted up by now.
3. It was loaded on my trailer on its back (for free) by a struggling (and ancient) fork lift by an equally ancient fork lift operator. When you are at that point, you don't start asking for favors, particularly on an item that weighs in at OVER 3000 pounds.
4. Previous owner never got it open so it made more sense to drain the water content by drilling the side (this thing called gravity, dontcha know?) Draining off over 1800# of water so we can manage to unload it without being crushed.
Ultimately I think I'll be plasma cutting the door skin to expose the mechanism and try to release the pins in that way.
Today we tipped it with a bobcat and blocked it up on an angle so as to drain off a wee bit more water.
Cheers,
TJ