Cars, Part III

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu May 02, 2013 2:32 pm

People who buy brand new cars confuse me. My parents, for example, who are going to trade a 2011 Ford F-150 for a 2014 Ford F-150 because they can get a lower interest rate on the payments...the completely ludicrous payments, which they're now going to have to pay for another two years. I understand not everyone wants to buy a $850 car that's 20 years old and requires constant [if inexpensive] maintenance, but brand new? Weird.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu May 02, 2013 11:12 pm

The Cherokee got a last dance today, before I park it for a time and replace most of the steering and suspension.
Wish I could find a day to get Bishop and Joseph and Yancy all over here, but it's a hell of a drive for most of you,
and we all have the very worst of schedules. Sure hope this fixes the problem: hate to find out I need new wheel
bearings, too, and new ball joints. Hell of a lot harder than tie rod and drag link.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sat May 04, 2013 11:54 pm

3278 wrote:People who buy brand new cars confuse me. My parents, for example, who are going to trade a 2011 Ford F-150 for a 2014 Ford F-150 because they can get a lower interest rate on the payments...the completely ludicrous payments, which they're now going to have to pay for another two years. I understand not everyone wants to buy a $850 car that's 20 years old and requires constant [if inexpensive] maintenance, but brand new? Weird.

Was part of their equation simply being able to get into a brand new car after 3 years in the older one? If they're going to buy a new vehicle every three years, they should just lease...would save a couple hundred dollars a month, unless annual mileage would make that cost prohibitive.

My wife is big on getting a brand new car every three years. She thinks it is ultimately cheaper because you never have any major repair costs (not necessarily true). She also liked "new" stuff..new phone, new house, new everything (she gets this from her dad). No matter how much I try explaining to her that buying will always be cheaper as long as you are willing to drive the car for 10 years, she still looks at it primarily from the monthly payment. I finally convinced her to buy instead of lease when we got her Subaru. Only 31k on the clock right now, and it's a 2010. Should last a good long time. And annual repairs are almost guaranteed to be cheaper than monthly loan or lease payments once it's paid off. Sadly, due to age, it is out of warranty on everything but the drivetrain.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sun May 05, 2013 1:03 am

UncleJoseph wrote:Was part of their equation simply being able to get into a brand new car after 3 years in the older one?

A small part, but mostly it's like your wife's "monthly payment" thinking: they can have a lower monthly payment, and a whole new car! Well, yeah, but now they've got three more years of payments, so their total cost is huge, while the total benefit is minimal [since the new car isn't significantly better than the old one].

UncleJoseph wrote:My wife is big on getting a brand new car every three years. She thinks it is ultimately cheaper because you never have any major repair costs (not necessarily true).

Yeah, a lot of people I know say it's basically worth it to them because the warranty makes the car "thought free." They don't ever have to be worried about the car, because if something goes wrong, someone else will pay for the repair. But if they'd just buy a three year old car, it'll often have a warranty, and be so new it won't need major repairs, anyway. Oh, they say, but it's worth it to not think about it. What they really mean is that they wouldn't want their neighbors and friends and family to see them in an "old" car.

They'll drive a shit Hyundai [Hyundai makes some good cars now, but not in the early days] just because it's brand new, for the same price as a five-year-old BMW; which one would be a better car, a safer car, a more fun car, a car that would impress their friends more? But they still buy brand new. My parents buy brand new. Why not buy a three-year-old truck? But it has to be new, not for any logical reason, but so that they can feel wealthy, and show other people they're wealthy, even though - thanks to spending so much on a new car - they're not.

Thank dog I'm unimpressive in every possible way, so I don't feel the need to show off with my car.

I already know the car ain't why people would look down on me.

So I'm free to drive a $850 wreck, and because it's so cheap, never worry about it...well, that's the theory, anyway. The execution seems to depend on how well I choose the wreck.

Next time, we're thinking about stepping up: this constant repair bullshit is wearying. Unfortunately, even the very least expensive Wrangler TJ is very, very, very expensive by our standards.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Fri May 10, 2013 7:59 pm

3278 wrote:People who buy brand new cars confuse me. My parents, for example, who are going to trade a 2011 Ford F-150 for a 2014 Ford F-150 because they can get a lower interest rate on the payments...the completely ludicrous payments, which they're now going to have to pay for another two years. I understand not everyone wants to buy a $850 car that's 20 years old and requires constant [if inexpensive] maintenance, but brand new? Weird.

We were only planning to buy the new one for the wife to give our daughter something that could handle the mileage she would be putting on taking our granddaughter to Children's LA for her continued treatment. We could afford the payment, she couldn't. The purchase of mine was a total fluke because of the error at Kia. We only added 1 year to the current loan we had left and dropped the monthly payment $20 a month.

If I was buying something to show off, it would be an FR-S

Raygun · Post by **Raygun** » Sun May 12, 2013 5:52 pm

3278 wrote:People who buy brand new cars confuse me. My parents, for example, who are going to trade a 2011 Ford F-150 for a 2014 Ford F-150 because they can get a lower interest rate on the payments...the completely ludicrous payments, which they're now going to have to pay for another two years. I understand not everyone wants to buy a $850 car that's 20 years old and requires constant [if inexpensive] maintenance, but brand new? Weird.

Yeah. My Explorer (which is now 18 years old!) has just about had it and it's time for me to start considering something newER. While I'd like to have the money to blow on one of these, I just don't. Though one of the regular four-door JKs is looking pretty tempting, I'd likely end up getting a used one. I've never bought a new car.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon May 13, 2013 11:20 am

Raygun wrote:I've never bought a new car.

There is a certain level of "feel-good" that comes from buying a brand new car. I have purchased one and leased 2 new cars. For me, it was a colossal waste of money. I tend now to buy cars/trucks that have just come off lease or were traded in after a few years on the road. Still have most of the new car smell, and tend to be very clean with 90-95% of their service lives left. The difference between a brand new car and one that has, say, 24,000 miles on the clock and/or is only a couple years old is negligible. But the price difference...that indeed is not negligible. However, if I had the cash to throw away, I'd probably buy new.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed May 15, 2013 12:57 pm

Well, thank fuck.

We've been trying to get a good bleed on this Cherokee since day one, and haven't been
able to. I replaced [and bench-bled] the master cylinder, and that helped some [was
leaking past a seal, we think], but certainly not enough. If I crank the actuator rod down
far enough to get the pedal to respond as it should, the brakes are on just a little all
the time. So as I always end up doing, I bought a set of Speed Bleeders, which are
basically guaranteed to do the job right. If I can't get a good bleed now, it's because I
have a bad brake line somewhere up front, I suspect. Now, if I can just remember to take
them out when I sell it, instead of leaving them in for the next guy [who won't know what
they are or care]...

Out with the old, in with the new.

Thanks to Joseph and Yancy, got the tie rod and drag link assembly out, and the new
heavy duty versions in. [And put new poly bushings on the track bar, not pictured here.]
No idea if it'll help; it's at the shop getting aligned now. If it still death wobbles, than I'm
not replacing anything else: I'm just selling it as is, and the next guy can replace the ball
joints and wheel bearings. I'll keep driving 45 until I can buy a Wrangler, thanks. Love the
Cherokee, but you can't get the roof off, and apparently, that's something I can't do
without now.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed May 15, 2013 1:01 pm

UncleJoseph wrote:I tend now to buy cars/trucks that have just come off lease or were traded in after a few years on the road. Still have most of the new car smell, and tend to be very clean with 90-95% of their service lives left. The difference between a brand new car and one that has, say, 24,000 miles on the clock and/or is only a couple years old is negligible. But the price difference...that indeed is not negligible.

Amen. Not that I have the money to do this, either, but if you want a new-ish car, it's definitely the way to go.

UncleJoseph wrote:However, if I had the cash to throw away, I'd probably buy new.

I would like to think that I'd never spend more than, say, $5000 on a car, and never buy anything newer than ten years old, but if I had the money to throw away, I bet all that would go out the window. There's something really compelling about buying a car that's factory-new, and owning it its whole life, caring for it properly from day one, always doing all the work yourself, or paying the very best professionals to do it, running all the best fluids, using all the best practices. It's something I'd love to do with a car that deserved it, a BMW or Audi or Porsche: it's a very Bavarian sort of thing to want.

But since I'm poor, and smash my cars into rocks and trees, I'm probably better off buying cheap cars and running them until their deaths.

Still, I saw a couple of mint condition 1980s BMW 3-series this week, and it's tempting to get all Bavarian with one.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu May 16, 2013 3:25 pm

Initial test runs with the Cherokee indicate the steering component replacements have done their job, but I'll be doing a more thorough test today. It's possible the new steering damper is just masking the problem - the alignment shop noted my ball joints are also shot - but at this point, I'll take whatever lets me drive over 45 until I sell the thing and buy a Wrangler again. I love Cherokees, but the one thing you just can't reasonably do is take the roof off.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri May 17, 2013 12:24 am

Some asshole drove my Cherokee through a bunch of bogs today, over a logging field [one of the most treacherous and damaging environments possible
for such a vehicle] and far, far, far beyond where the trail ended into what can only be called "a forest." Broke a headlight surround, too, the dick.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri May 17, 2013 12:34 am

Joseph, you've got to go with me sometime. I anticipate a lot of replays of Mal and Wash scenes on the bridge of Serenity. "It's okay: I'm a leaf on the wind!"

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri May 17, 2013 6:40 pm

"What was that?"

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri May 31, 2013 1:13 pm

I'm fairly certain the shocks/struts on my Tundra are in need of replacement. I get some crazy wheel hop/chatter in the rear wheels any time I go over some mild bumps at low speeds. At high speeds, it feels like I'm driving across a mogul field.

In addition, my front brake rotors are warped, so I have some substantial vibration during braking. So brakes, shocks and struts are gonna have to be replaced soon.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:04 pm

Are you going to replace the shocks with OEMs, or something a little aftermarket? If they've been fine for you, I think the OEM shock would be fine; if you're looking for something more, I highly recommend Bilsteins. Should be an easy job all around: new cars sure are easier to work on!

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:32 pm

Well, I have no idea how the OEM shocks performed, since I'm rather certain the current ones were failing when I bought the truck. At 91,000 miles, I'm fairly certain they have never been replaced. I really liked the Bilstein HDs we put on the Audi, so I'm considering them or a Monroe OEM equivalent.

My front brakes have a known susceptibility to warping for this generation Tundra, so I'll probably do slotted from rotors with a decent street performance pad. Brakes will be first. Rear brakes are fine, so I''ll only be doing the front rotors and pads, unless I find problems with the calipers.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 5:15 pm

Okay, so I'm selling the above Cherokee [our third], and buying another. Some older pictures of it are here: I actually tried to buy it from that guy, but missed putting a deposit down by a couple hours. Well, the subsequent purchaser is selling it, plus several improvements, for the same price he bought it for.

The catch: it's in Springfield MO. So I've put a deposit down, and on Thursday, my dad's going to drop me off on his way driving to CA, and I'm going to pick up the new Cherokee and drive it back to MI. What could possibly go wrong?

Now, to sell the 93...

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:11 pm

Hey, I have a 4 ton tow strap. I hope I don't have to tow you ass back from MO, dude.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:35 pm

As it turned out, Dad didn't drive to California until today, and that timing didn't work for the seller,
so I did something a little crazier than hitching nearly to the Missouri/Arkansas border and driving a
car back sight-unseen: I drove there with a car hauler and picked it up, and then drove back. Left
at 1800 on Thursday; at 0300 on Friday, I pulled off and slept for 3 hours, then drove the rest of
the way to Springfield MO. I'd driven probably fewer than ten times with a trailer, and never with
my mom's truck, which itself I've only driven a couple times. But I made it, and loaded up the
new Cherokee:

Then I turned around and drove it back. I left around 0900 on Friday, and got in at about 0000 Saturday.
I kept meaning to stop and sleep, but I just never did. 36 hours of driving, 3 hours of sleeping, 1
new Jeep:

Got up this morning at 0900 and drove an hour. Going to go out now and drive a couple more.
Because I'm an idiot, that's why.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:40 pm

$287.77 in fuel.

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Sat Jun 29, 2013 4:10 pm

Ooof. But a driveable Jeep this time?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Jun 29, 2013 5:10 pm

Brother, it sure seems that way! He made a lot of fuss about it not being "a perfect Jeep." but I've struggled to find anything really wrong with it. The floorboard rust is lesser than any we've ever had [except the one with the rebuilt floor]: he's from MO, by way of CA, so I understand rust-through is a big deal for him, but this is the nicest 20-year-old offroader floor I've seen. The passenger rocker is gone, but the driver's looks brand new.

Mechanically, there's definitely some vibration from the front end while driving, but I can't tell if it's from the chunky tires or something like a wheel bearing; need to swap tires with some of my street wheels to figure that out. But no death wobble, which is a big deal.

3.5 inch Rubicon Express lift with super-flex control arms, which is exactly what I wanted. 99 transfer case with a modified and very smooth linkage, and a slip-yoke eliminator and shortened driveshaft, which almost no one bothers to do, but which you really, really should. 31 inch BFG all-terrain tires. Big sports exhaust, but not that loud. Seats out of a 2000 Grand Cherokee, very plush but supportive. Brakes work, no drivetrain vibration, stable at high speeds, only 160,000 miles on the body and engine, which is less than maybe any car I've ever owned. Rear swaybar is off, and we'll get disconnects for the front one.

Speaker bar in the back; speakers are supposedly Kickers, but they all sound pretty shitty to me, so eventually I'll put Polk MMs in there, with a big new amp, but until I get the tire roar calmed down, it's not really necessary.

Power windows, power locks, security system, remote car starter, air conditioning, lightly tinted windows, and lots of other luxury stuff we didn't really want, but that we're okay with.

Going to take it out right now and do some on-roading, to make sure it's all 100 percent, and then tomorrow - if I'm physically recovered, which at my age is no certainty - I'll take it out off-road. Cannot wait.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Jun 29, 2013 11:05 pm

Huh. Well there's one strange thing: it doesn't have a front driveshaft, or linkage to connect the transfer case to the handle inside the vehicle; it's basically a 4x2. Huh. Probably something I'll want to fix.

O-Funk! · Post by **O-Funk!** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:05 am

unrelated to the cherokee, but earlier this week I discovered that my AC in my 95 civic actually works. I have owned it for 2 years, and never bothered to turn it on (the AC, not the car) until I was ready to fix it. It was 93 degrees, 5 hours into a 10 hour delivery shift, and one of the best surprises in a while. I haden't had AC since 2001...

Related to the cherokee, I miss mudding. All my life I've wanted to build a wrangler soft'top up with a 6" lift kit, Nobbies, Headers, Snorkle, Heavy duty gear-box, and military axles. I salute your GPS map of now-where country covered in the earlier vehicle

Also, the new one is pretty...

O-Funk! · Post by **O-Funk!** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:12 am

Is it bad form to buy a really nice engine (B18C Spoon) and transfer it to a series of 17-20 year old cars for fancy pizza delivery?

A new old car every year or two with 10-20 hrs of work each time to transfer parts...

I'm a pizza dude, car parts are deductable, as are beer bribes to get a friend to be the grease-flunky to grab tools and whatnot... Also Snow Tires for Minnesota are not a luxury in my line of work. Trips to the junkyard are at least Bi-Monthly just to stay in cheap rims and tires...

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:03 pm

Hey, Bishop, I've been meaning to ask: how is the new car working out for your family? I mean, it's okay if you don't want to admit it in public, but I thought maybe if you wanted to just come right out with it, it'd be, you know, a brave thing for you to do.

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 12:36 am

Owning a Pontiac Aztek is not a bad thing.
God dammit, I am not gay.

Actually, it's a pretty nice vehicle. It rides very comfortably, has room for five, and gives my wife peace of mind with it's All Wheel Drive system for winter driving.
Never mind it sort of looks like a golf ball with wheels.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:41 am

Bishop wrote:God dammit, I am not gay.

I think the jury is still out...I mean, an Aztek? That's almost as bad (or maybe worse) than a Lezbaru!

Bishop wrote:Actually, it's a pretty nice vehicle. It rides very comfortably, has room for five, and gives my wife peace of mind with it's All Wheel Drive system for winter driving.
Never mind it sort of looks like a golf ball with wheels.

You want to know the really silly thing? I actually test drove one of these during the same visit to the dealership when I bought my Formula back in '99. Fortunately, I drove the Formula second, otherwise I never would have driven the Aztek. However, that test drive showed me that, despite the odd looks (at the time), the Aztek was way ahead of the game in terms of functionality, usefulness, etc. I wonder if you can still get the custom tent accessory.

Should serve you very well if you take care of it. I still can't believe GM killed the Pontiac line. Saturn, sure, but Pontiac?

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:08 pm

Uncle Joseph wrote: I wonder if you can still get the custom tent accessory

You can. I've found them on Ebay, mostly, and a couple on craigslist. Just haven't purchased one yet.

She wanted a Subaru, but every time we called on one it was already sold. And she has wanted an Aztek since their release. All I care is it runs solidly and drives smoothly and straight. Plus it has an engine/drivetrain that I am very familiar with.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:59 pm

Bishop wrote:She wanted a Subaru, but every time we called on one it was already sold.

We got very, very lucky on my wife's Legacy. Found it on eBay (or Craigslist?) a day after it was posted. Called & put a deposit on it that day. Picked it up two days later. I rarely buy cars sight unseen, but we got it way below Blue Book and it was in Caledonia...not a long drive.

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:01 am

My wife called on one 10 minutes after it was posted to Craigslist, and the guy had already sold it. You did, indeed, get lucky.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:16 pm

In truth, the Aztek was a really great car, a revolutionary redesign of GM's minivans into something that looked like an SUV, drove like a car, and had space like its minivan forebears. If it hadn't been for the aggressively retro-futuristic styling [carrying a kind of late-80s/early-90s vision of what the future would look like, but released in 2001] and the waist-height body cladding [eventually removed], there's a pretty reasonable chance it'd have been a big hit with customers. Instead, it's routinely put on lists of the 100 or 50 or 10 worst cars ever made, which is unfair, considering that functionally, it's extremely competent, and carries an extremely high customer satisfaction rating: people who actually own them, love them. You can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood on the floor, like a Transit van; it was available with a sliding cargo floor or a clever [confusing] system of nets; the rear center console was a cooler.

And, of course, it was famously available with a tent option. About which, I'd like to pass along the experiences of a friend of mine who owned an Aztek with the tent, and regularly used it: "We really liked it, until we realized you can't drive away and leave your tent there." Like many car tents, it's simply too dependent on the vehicle, and thus means you have to basically break camp any time you want to run out for marshmallows. Good idea, just doesn't work as well in execution.

Glad yours is serving you well, Bishop! They're great cars, despite looking like something you'd see in a low-budget RoboCop knockoff. If space, safety, reliability, versatility, low repair costs, all-wheel-drive and clever design are your priorities - and for many people, they are - then the Aztek is an excellent choice. Like Bishop, it won't win any fashion shows, but it does kick ass.

[edit: -change, +chance]

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:13 pm

I replaced the TPS (throttle position sensor) in it yesterday. It was having a weird idle every so often when you started it, and when I hooked in my brand-spanking new toy, along with a copy of Torque Pro, it threw the code for said sensor. (PO122, to be precise, I believe.) Everything I read about replacing this sensor said it was an easy, 10 minute job.

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

Maybe on other cars with the same sensor, it is. Not on the Aztek.

Removed : Air flow and filter housing.
IAC valve.
Bracket attached to throttle body that houses a bracket for the electrical connection to the EGR valve.
Throttle retaining bracket, along with throttle cables.
Throttle body
Then, I could get to the two mounting screw to the TPS. (Also had to hot glue the Torx bit into the 1/4" socket, to get it to stay put. Had to use a socket wrench, and normal 1/4" sockets are not magnetized. Lost the bit 3 times..after the third time of reaching my hand down the exhaust manifold and transmission case, I decided fuck that)

Putting it back together took about 10 minutes. Taking it apart, oh, probably about 2 hours of work, deciding what else I needed to remove/disassemble, and making sure the tool(s) wouldn't fall off getting them in there.

It did solve the problem, but it's like working on a minivan. Engine is set back under the hood a little, which makes things exponentially more difficult.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 6:37 pm

Yeah, that's one problem I have with these SUVs that are really just rebodied minivans. Not quite as bad as my old full-size Ford van - the engine is three-quarters inside the passenger compartment - but just tough access, not least because the engines are longitudinally-mounted between the front wheels.

Mind you, the counterpoint is that my Cherokee has probably half the usable cargo space, and doesn't have a flat floor, and is a pretty tight fit for modern Americans. But at least I can reach every inch of the engine from wherever I please.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 7:01 pm

Raygun wrote:My Explorer (which is now 18 years old!) has just about had it and it's time for me to start considering something newER. While I'd like to have the money to blow on one of these, I just don't. Though one of the regular four-door JKs is looking pretty tempting, I'd likely end up getting a used one. I've never bought a new car.

Hey Ray, did you end up replacing the Explorer after all? If so, what'd you end up with?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 10:56 pm

In 1992 I was at a mall in northern Kentucky when I saw a cassette with a warning label on the front: "WARNING:" it cried out, "This Album Has BASS, dropping as low as 10 HZ. We Can Not Be Responsible For Your Equipment Or Your Hearts!" In the preceding years, I'd become increasingly interested in hip-hop; while my personal aesthetic ran more toward Nine Inch Nails, I was deeply fascinated by the subversive art of rap music, essentially unknown in the tiny midwestern town I'd grown up in. [I bought Pretty Hate Machine, De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising, and LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out on the same day, from a Columbia House flyer, the only source of such music I had access to.]

It wasn't the message of hip hop that attracted me, or the personalities, though as I got more into Public Enemy and King Sun and Disposable Heroes of Hiphophracy I certainly found those appealing, as well: it was, instead, the beats, the bass that I found so compelling. I had no subwoofers, of course, being a junior in high school and hardly flush with personal wealth. I did stick a 10 inch guitar amp in my car, run off a head unit I'd taught myself to bridge, and that was enough, in its own way, to allow the enjoyment of the medium.

But here was something beyond: an album about bass, for bass. There were other cassettes there with similar themes - it was the trend in Kentucky at the time, particularly in cities; this was the period when the basshead was born - but something about this one drew me: Dynamix II was the artist, and the title of the album was You Hear It! You Fear It! I bought it immediately.

This was many beginnings for me. It started, though I had no concept it might, my interest in electronic music, which has culminated in hundreds of hours of my own. It started an increasing displeasure with the conventional instrumentation of my youth: how could guitar, bass, drums, and vocals make enough sounds to interest me for life? [Spoiler alert: they couldn't.] And it began my..."obsession" probably isn't too strong a word, with bass.

So many other priorities came first, though. I needed to buy a car, then fix a car. Girlfriends always needed gifts and flowers. My hobbies were frequently rather expensive, leaving very little left for spending hundreds of dollars outfitting a car I only spent mere minutes in every day. So subwoofers - truly, required to get the most out of any music, but absolutely essential for, you know, bass music - just got put off, and put off, and put off. High school passed, and I still had a homemade guitar amp in the trunk, and no front speakers. I would pore over every copy of Crutchfield that came to the house, and at any moment, I could name every component I wanted to purchase, and the exact dollar amount I couldn't pay.

College came, and my best friend - both a fan of Dynamix II and someone absolutely dedicated to buying the very best of the very few things he bought; you could call him "Uncle Joseph:" I do - dug deep into his pockets and bought a pair of speakers that would pass into history. They were so popular that I bought a pair, as did, eventually, my college roommate [who eventually became my musical co-conspirator, Estes]. Every minute of the hundreds of hours of music we've made was mastered on pairs of these monstrous, kitten-melting speakers.

They almost got me kicked out of college, because at one point I played Beethoven's Ninth so loudly it could be heard through nine floors of cinderblock, and across several square miles of campus. But still nothing for the car.

College ended abruptly, with substance abuse and a 0.67 GPA, and the speakers went home with me. Expenses become critical as I had my first child: it's hard to justify a thousand dollars of audio equipment in a car that needs to mostly transport a baby and its stuff. Still I got Crutchfield every month or two, and still I planned and plotted and regretted the impossibility. Eventually, when I didn't need to store things like strollers in the trunk, one of the massive kitten-melters went into the trunk of my BMW - I was homeless, staying with friends and family, and couldn't use the big studio - and finally I had something like a subwoofer...but really, what I had was a mid-range home stereo speaker shoved in the trunk.

Then, salvation: a house of our own, a job that lasted, pay that covered our expenses. Though 20 years had passed, I still got Crutchfield, I still knew my wants. I couldn't afford to buy new, no, not reasonably, not responsibly: we still don't always know where money for food will come, so again, thousands in audio equipment is unconscionable. But there was a window, a tiny window, through which I could see the shadow of a hint of a possibility's ghost.

Craigslist, and one sold Cherokee later, my bills were paid, my daughter was fed, our finances enough - even temporarily - to consider it. From Craigslist the money came, and through Craigslist it would go. Not the sealed box and Polk MM1240s that I wanted, no, but a quality ported box, a pair of Polk db subs, and - most importantly of all - a Polk mono subwoofer amp, including all wiring, brand new, installed briefly and then parked when a vehicle died. $200 later - that's money even the frugal would find reasonable, considering the price of these things new - and 20 years of dreaming, of hoping, of planning, have finally come to fruition. This basshead has finally gotten his fix.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:00 am

Congratulations! 20 years after high school, and you're the first of us to get a sub box! I still look at Crutchfield every month and have my list as well...but no subs!

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 8:48 pm

Why haven't I heard it yet?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:15 pm

Once I have decent front speakers, my new hobby will be driving out in the woods [where I won't bother anyone] and hooking my laptop up to the Jeep to make music.

If I were feeling particularly ambitious, I suppose I could load the kitten-melters up and drive around with those in the back. Oh, my.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:06 am

The Tundra's front brakes are toast. I've had it with the steering wheel shake that accompanies warped rotors. A set of StopTech slotted rotors and Hawk LTS pads are on the way. Hopefully 32 will have some time to come down and assist. I could use his supervision.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:43 am

I will pass your thanks onto my father. He is the reason Dynamix II made that album to begin with. See, he helped write the rules and helped sponsor this thing called "IASCA" or
International Audio Sound Challenge Association. So how did that tape come about you ask?

They needed music that could be played for each classification of vehicle. The problem they kept running into was the quality of the bass production recordings the higher wattage systems were needing. So awesome systems kept getting hit by large amounts of pink noise in the recordings. So my dad sent out the call to some of the music production companies and basically tasked them with making Bass Heavy recordings that were very clean. Why tapes? CD's were still relatively new in the car market. Minidisc players were not even available wide spread for the car market. So what would happen with some of these over the top systems was the Bass would hit...and the CD would skip. So they used Tape Decks on these $20K rigs built with solid bass. Their only purpose was to see what kind of Sound Pressure Levels they could build into the interior of these rigs. The Lower the bass, with tight quality, the Higher the SPL's could be. Builders were taking out the glass and replacing it with commercially available custom fit Lexan sheets. Standard Poly Carbonate just wasn't cutting it at the time, but Lexan's formula could withstand the SPLs without cracking. So what kind of pressures were they hitting? Some of the builders were having to use Sheet Metal screws through the Lexan into the windshield frames to keep them from launching across the hood.

Now for the Soul, my plan is to either use Lizard Skin or Dynamat on the doors, hatch, and hatch area, as well as the license plate itself. NOTHING irritates the hell out of me more, than someone who dropped a couple of Grand on their stereo system but all you can here is the ratty vibration of their License Plate flexing to the Bass Hit. Once that is done, I plan on adding 2x10" free floating subs under the front seats. The stock system is pretty good, just lacking on the tight crisp low end hit you can hear in some Industrial/EBM/Dark Dub or what ever the hell the kids of today are calling it. Not a fan of Hip Hop, and I am not looking for a competition quality system, just a tight clean, low pink noise system.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:41 pm

That's great, Sin! Awesome.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:58 pm

So, I recently had some major driveline vibrations. I crawled underneath, and lo and behold, saw shiny metal
on the rear pinion u joint [where the rear driveshaft meets the rear differential]. So I pulled the whole rear
driveshaft [which, of course, promptly fell on my throat].

And, yep, sure thing, the u joint is broke.

Oh, yeah. Very, very broke.

It looks like when they put the lift in, they wisely put in a slip yoke eliminator on the transfer case, but they didn't shim the rear axle, so the angle
the rear driveshaft meets the rear diff is too great. I'm pretty sure this u joint is only a couple month old, when it should have a lifespan of years [even
how I use it]. So I'm putting in a new, heavy-duty one, but I'll also need to shim the rear axle if I don't want the same thing to happen in a couple months.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:40 am

32 made the haul down to my house yesterday morning and we did the front brakes on the Tundra. What should have been a 2-hour (at most) brake job ended up taking closer to 3.5 hours. Part of the extra time was due to my obsessive cleaning of rust and surface preparation of the mating surfaces and using anti-seize to prevent future problems. The other part was due to a small manufacturing quality control issue with the Hawk LTS pads. The holes for the caliper pins were too small for the pins to fit. We discovered that the powder coating process and some residual drilling burs were ever-so-slightly reducing the overall size of the holes, thereby blocking the pins. Once we reamed the holes clean of the paint and burs, the pins slid right through. Took a little head scratching and debating before we decided to ream the holes because visual inspection didn't really reveal much.

So, the driver's side took a little over 2 hours. The passenger side only took about 45 mins. And we weren't working at break-neck speed either. But, around 12:45 yesterday, the brakes were done and test driven...success.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:15 pm

All of which is significantly better than what happened to my car on Saturday. Super-excited about my new functional rear driveshaft, I decided to make a small modification: I removed the front anti-sway bar. Slightly illegal, slightly dangerous, and definitely not recommended for road driving: it makes it much more likely that if you swerve, the car will roll over. If you want no front anti-sway bar, get disconnects, which is exactly what I'll do myself. But I wanted to try it out.

Since this is a modification with huge potential for changing the way the Jeep handles off-road, I really put it to the test. And therein lay the roots of the problem: I'm not a "rock crawler," I'm a "trail runner," and the difference is one of speed. I tend to drive under any trail conditions at upward of 30 mph, often far upward. But the thing is, some obstacles just aren't meant to be taken at those speeds, or anything above a creep. Looking for the limits, I found them. Hard.

Blew the stereo out of the dash. Broke the seatbelt receiver so badly it won't ever release again. And shot one of the seat mounts through the floor. Engine, transmission, suspension, "frame," all fine, but stereo and seating, not so much.

So I've parked it again, and tomorrow I'll pull the seats, console, and carpet out and see what needs to be done. I think there's just one 3" spar that needs welded back together, and all will be well, but if I have to take it all apart, I may as well take it all apart and make absolutely certain. Until then, it's road cars for me for a while.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:12 pm

Damn dude-what did all of that do to you?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:15 pm

Absolutely nothing. I do not understand. Somewhere out there is a sickly Samuel L Jackson, weeping.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 12:36 am

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 4:03 pm

Holy shit. This morning I discovered that I not only bounced the 80+ pound subwoofer box off the floor, I bounced it high enough that it flipped over and landed woofer-side-down on the floor. Thankfully I keep a pretty clean cargo area, so the only thing it landed on was our field bag: it appears there's no damage to either our survival supplies or the subwoofers themselves. Probably a good sign that Joseph's facetious statement is completely valid: "God made Jeep Cherokees only just so strong. Stop trying to defy Him."

3278 · Post by **3278** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:38 pm

After blowing my seat mount through the floor, I thought it'd be novel to maybe see what was really going on under the carpets.

I don't see what the big deal is, personally. Looks fine to me.