BENCH

This is definitely a fear of mine.  My wife has only been riding about 4 years (43yo).  She rides a Honda 400EX with long travel, TCS suspension, etc to make it as stable and comfortable as possible.  She usually rides at the back of the pack with me and at the moment, the only injury is putting her foot down and riding over her ankle (just a bruise).

Good luck and hope she has a speedy recovery.

On 10/19/2022 at 10:22 AM, RIDERED said:

I bought one of these. I haven't used it yet, but for $13 I will give it a try. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008133KB4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a few of these, they work great.  The wide beam allows you to catch glimpses to further investigate.  Every trip we take the kids scorpion hunting at night.  They love it!

Still available? Have a buddy in Needles looking for one.

http://www.socalsanddrags.com/

I grew up going to the sand drags (and Speedway) at Glen Helen.  Haven't been to a sand drag event since they closed that down.  I still catch a Speedway race in Industry every once in awhile.  Anyone planning on going?

Sticking with parts off the shelf is always the best option.  If anything goes south, you can have a replacement in a few days.

17 minutes ago, jailbird141 said:

Nothing is made in America because it is cheaper to make it over seas. More tariffs, higher taxes and a HUGE reduction in the red tape and bullshit it takes to own and operate a business in this country would be a good start to addressing this problem. Work ethic of todays work force, well that is a whole other discussion.

You lost me at "higher taxes".  MAGA

1 hour ago, L.R.S. said:

My ex-wife was a manager for the McDonald's Corp and ran a large one with 200 or 300 (I forget) seating capacity in a major downtown area.  She went through 5 to 6 employees per months and they were starting at $18/hr.  They'd call in sick, not show up, leave halfway through a shift, etc.  It was common that they would close the 'dinning room' numerous times per week due to lack of staff.  $22/hour won't change that mentality, and I doubt anything will.  No work ethic whatsoever.  

The company I have worked for the past 24 years is relocating the shipping/receiving warehouse out of state and I don't blame them.  I had to maintain 20% over per-pandemic staffing to keep the business afloat due to the lack of workers.  Ever since the mandatory minimum wage increase from $9.75 to now $15.50 began work ethic took a dive.  Why put in the effort when you know you were guaranteed a 50+% raise of the next few years.  All they had to do was show up and some of them couldn't even do that.

My warehouse staff was notified 100+ days in advance, were provided stay bonuses, severance packages and future unemployment benefits. All they could talk about was getting unemployment and being able to sit on their asses for a few months while they spent their bonuses. 

Meanwhile, productivity came to a trickle, I was lucky to have a 3/4 staff once a week and it was a miracle for some of them to show up with an hour of their start time.  All the while, they complained that I was doing them wrong and that they couldn't believe the new owners didn't want to keep them. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe this only applies to California....it's nationwide!  When the government passes out money for literally anything and tells them to stay at home for the "greater good", how did you think it was going to turn out.

7 minutes ago, wesinls said:

True, but rent will still go up while their mortgages stay the same...squatters are going to exist regardless.   If I owned a bunch of apartment buildings or rental properties, I'd be happy about this change.

 

Agreed

22 minutes ago, wesinls said:

Rent and other cost of living expenses will just rise and the rich (landlords) just get richer.

The same "rich" landlords who had squatters living in their apartments / condos for free the last two years.  i guarantee the banks didn't let them slide on their payments.

https://www.dailybulletin.com/2022/09/05/newsom-signs-fast-food-worker-measure-on-labor-day/amp/

Newsom does it again!  When does working at Del Taco deserve $22 per hour?  When I was growing up McDowells was filled with high school kids and criminals on parole. They worked around your night classes and everyone knew is was an entry level position.  You proved yourself and moved on to a better paying job.  Now everyone wants to afford a house in nice neighborhood flipping burgers.

Are the small ones double sided?  Can be used on a whip?

Doesn't look too bad.

I know it's a completely different truck but maybe there are a few tricks you can pick up.  Also, take a look at VW buses in regards to front tires, wheel tubs and door openings.

3 minutes ago, SANDBAM said:

I have a set for the buggy, my work trucks, and my garage set

Im thinking I may create another one for the hauler as well, but crap that’s a lot of $$$ tools - but it will save from hauling tools back and forth

My brother learned this the hard way.  He used one set of tools for everything.  He would just pack a small crate or two full of tools, impacts, sockets, jacks, scanner, electrical stuff, etc for every trip.  The morning we left for a week long trip to Utah, he was packing the bed of his truck up and walked in the house for two minutes.  Some @$$h0l3 drove up and stole his tools.  BTW, my brothers is a diesel / fire truck mechanic and used nothing but Snap On.  Two crates came out to roughly $7,000 to replace at today's prices. New plan is too go to Home Depot and buy one of those 100+ piece "homeowner sets" with the essentials and just leave it in the trailer.

Also, if anyone is looking great storage ideas, real world tool reviews or people who spend WAY too much money on their garages, check out https://www.garagejournal.com/ .

I have to do some deep cleaning before I post on this thread. l @dunenfool are those containers 20ft?  I have a 24x30 back two car garage and need to add more storage space.

Very cool concept.  Can't wait to see some updates.

I am currently on a Matt's Off Road Recovery kick on YouTube and have learned a ton about tow ropes, hooks, etc.  Be warned, watching stupid people getting stuck in places they do not belong is addicting. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/MattsOffRoadRecovery

10 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

It's $1295.  Newer cars don't need it yet enough to be worth remanufacturing the packs, but even then, most of the hybrid packs are similar in cost unless it's a plug-in model.  

In any case, what's your point?  An AC compressor swap for that car is $900-1200.  It's an old car, almost any repair is a significant percentage of the vehicle's value.

https://www.greentecauto.com/product-category/honda-hybrids/accord

Hence the 3 year warranty I specified. 

You are correct, any repair would make you question whether keeping the car on the road is worth the investment. 

Also, I would estimate that by the time I have the car 15 years and 150,000 miles that I would not be on my first battery replacement.

1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

https://www.greentecauto.com/hybrid-battery/honda-hybrids/accord/honda-accord-hybrid-battery?gclid=CjwKCAjw6MKXBhA5EiwANWLODA9FwUomkpnuLxvRCTJ8OCSGYPc1WF3jYvcfidgIMPf016OyXr1ASRoCGwwQAvD_BwE

 

And generally can be swapped in 2-3 beers with regular tools.

That battery is still $2,000 with a 3 year warranty for a 15 year old model.  

KBB puts a '07 Accord Hybrid with 150,000 miles on it at $5,500.  That is Private Party in "very good" condition.

Still almost 1/2 the cost of the vehicle.

Truck still have a long way to go.  My '21 Ram 3500 came stock with a 50 gallon tank.

I am currently in the market for a new Honda Accord.  A hybrid version gets 47 city /48 hwy and gas version gets 30 city /38 hwy so I took a peak at the hybrid.  One major problem is the battery itself.  The Honda hybrid battery life expectancy is warrantied for up to 8 years or up to 100,000 miles and cost to replace is north of $14,000.

Still available?

Sad story. Thanks for the info

Nice truck!

5 hours ago, South Bay said:

Cycling, guitars and I'm pretty good at Day Drinking as well . . .

Nice to see another Epiphone semi-hollow body.  Looks like a Casino.  I have a '95 Sunburst Riviera.  Super fun to play with the small neck.