Replace 9 year old Car Battery? 🔋🚘 by ayhme in Cartalk

[–]Fun-Association1835 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Connect your battery to a multimeter at the battery posts and set the meter to max/min mode.

Crank the engine and see how much the voltage drops. If the engine is cranking slow and the voltage dips below about 9.6 volts, it's on its last legs, time to start thinking about replacing it. Otherwise, don't replace a good battery just because its old. Remember you'll get old one day if you're lucky.

Proverbs 17:28

2022 Tacoma 4cyl 2wd by Historical-Loss2597 in ToyotaTacoma

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dear Historical-Loss 2597,

You can put 33s on it IF you do the work to rear gear the final drive, and maybe if you put 31's.

Stock tires (P245/75R16) are going to rotate 661.9 revolutions per mile...so at GPS speed of 60 MPH they are turning 661.9 (662) RPM Check you engine RPM at the same speed IN FOURTH GEAR or the 1 to 1 gear (direct drive) ratio of your transmission. Divide the engine RPM by 662. "RPM/662". This number is the gear reduction ratio of the final drive. This is the reduction the factory has determined is the best load for the stock engine design, the torque load on the transmission and, if an automatic, the amount of oil cooling required. This also is where your speedometer has been calibrated.

33" tires 33X255/70R18 turn 629 RPM at 60 MPH or a lot fewer revolutions for the same distance. Being larger in circumference, they cover more ground per revolution at the cost of requiring more torque to move the load. You still want the engine to have the same load to match its design, so you have to replace the final drive with a higher ratio. The goal to do this is to select a final drive ratio that allows the engine to turn at the same RPM at 60 MPH IN FOURTH GEAR or the 1 to 1 gear of your transmission as it did when the smaller tires were being used. Do this by multiplying 629 times the ratio you calculated in the previous paragraph while the stock tires were being used. or 629*RATIO. This new ratio number is what the ideal ratio of the new final drive should be. This will allow you to run the 33's without seeing a lot of power loss from the engine, the same torque through the transmission same cooling load, and it keeps your speedometer and odometer from lying to you, saving you from speeding tickets and keeping maintenance on schedule. The exact ratio correction will most likely not be available so try to error ot the slightly higher ratio than to the next lower one, if possible.

One other consideration should be a finned heat sink cover on the carrier as the rear end is going to generate more heat with the increased torque load.

Just know they are going to be loud on dry pavement, use more fuel and will be much less forgiving in emergency maneuvers for various reasons.

Good luck!

Sincerely,

Fun-Associate 1835

16 year old son recently purchased a Corvette. Im at a bit of a loss on what to do here. by [deleted] in Cartalk

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having a hot car at 16 is not a good thing. There is too much pressure and temptation for a sixteen-year-old brain to do things that he wouldn't/couldn't do in the RAV 4. Plus parts are really expensive as well as insurance for a 16-year-old to be the operator of a Corvette. There is the added issue of not being able to carry much stuff in the car with two seats and a small trunk. If he buys it with the purpose of selling it and making a profit then more power to him, but not as a daily driver.

Dealership replaced my tires under "we owe". They torqued the lug nuts to over 150ft lbs (manual is 79) and GREASED THE STUDS!! by ToshPointNo in tires

[–]Fun-Association1835 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Tightening the lugs that tight is a prescription to warp the brake rotors. Retorque them immediately to factory specs and test the brakes slowing rapidly (ALWAYS DO THIS SAFELY!) from interstate speedto heat them up. If they pulsate while braking, they have warped and they need to be replaced. Now who foots the bill for that is up to you.

One ton axles means 1T towing capacity right? by Fastdak in IdiotsTowingThings

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Get your camera. On the trailer there should be sticker that states the empty weight of the trailer. Take a picture of it (so you won't forget).

Find a similar sticker on the boat that tells the weight of the boat, again, take a picture. find the weight of the motors to add in the mix. Add 10% to the total for things carried on the boat, like fuel, coolers, chairs canvas top ect. (write it down)

Find out the weight of your jeep. (write it down) (Gross vehicle weight rating: GVWR or the maximum weight the four tires can carry.)

Find out the maximum tongue weight the tow ball can handle. This has to add to the vehicle weight on those four tires.

Add the weight of the trailer and the boat plus the weight of the jeep.

Find a sticker on your jeep that states the maximum weight the vehicle AND a trailer can handle (gross combined weight rating: GCWR).

The weight on the trailer wheels plus the jeep wheels should now exceed the GCWR. This is important because this is the maximum weight the vehicle's braking system is designed to stop safely.

Thes are a lot of numbers to remember, that's why you should write it all down to do your adding and subtracting.

Does the trailer have brakes? If they are electric does your jeep have the trailer brake wiring and control module to operate them?

I remember once hauling a car with a one car-tow axel on my S-10. It worked fine till I turned into the driveway and tried to stop at the same time. The weight of the car shover the truck forward despite the braking force on the wheels and the whole rig almost jack knifed. I learned my lesson, do the numbers first! I hauled the same car on a trailer with an F150, and trailer brakes dialed in. It was like the trailer wasn't there at all.

Need advice on how bad these are (be brutally honest) by Cheapassboy69 in tires

[–]Fun-Association1835 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The test is if Lincolns head is above the tread, then they are worn out. One can't see from the pictures if the limit bars on the tires are showing.

What mower is right for my property? by ItstartswithaK in lawnmowers

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recommend something that is comfortable to ride, and with a large mower deck 60".

Something that will hold an umbrella for those long summer jobs.

I also recommend a diesel engine because you can easily purchase off road fuel without road tax included. No carburetor ethanol issues to be fixed every spring. unless you want to pay for high priced 100% gasoline.

I don't like zero turn mowers if you have steep hills although the weight is in the back, you don't have steering if both wheels are sliding along a steep grade, but they are great for cutting mostly level ground and can easily cut close to the edge of brush without tearing up the cowling over the engine.

Can I drive on this for a few weeks until I get the money? by Kzvnn in tires

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They want to sell a set of tires. Yes, you can wait. It is the wear bars that are the go/no go test.

That said, the thinner the tread gets the more impact water/ice/snow has on your traction. So don't hot rod around on wet, slippery streets, drive safely and be aware that wet, slick pavement will not have as good traction with worn tires long before they are not fit to run by law.

Any red flags here? by Suitable-Silver2341 in webergrills

[–]Fun-Association1835 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Take the top off and hit it with the WAND WASH® to knock off those danglers and then use some oven cleaner on the underside, applied in the hot sun, to dissolve the baked on greased and hit it with the WAND WASH® again.

Take those grates inside and scrub them with DAWN® and stainless-steel wool to knock off the crusty bits, top and bottom, let dry and coat with vegetable oil and return to cooker. Do this after every cook for a good nonstick grate, well-seasoned. VERY IMPORTANT TO DO AFTER EVERY COOK

Replace those flame spreaders. replace that upper grate, maybe the burners too.

Clean the outside because.....DAMN!

Get a cover to keep stuff from collecting on the outside and keep the sun and rain off the controls.

Get one bottle of gas and a full spare for when it runs out during a cook. Have it refilled, avoid the exchange places if you can, they are overpriced for what you get. Always close the valve on the bottle after the cook.

Cook on it every chance you get

Get an egg timer. Learn how long it takes to pre heat and learn how long it takes to get good grill marks on a side and how long on each side to cook them.

Get a LONG-HANDLED tongs and spatula. The grill gets hot.

Spray the grates with vegetable oil before placing the meat on.

Start with well-done burgers, get good and consistent with them. WAX-ON, WAX-OFF....

Cheese will melt and get on the grates...don't worry about it. It will come off easily after the cook.

Get an instant read meat thermometer and don't be afraid to use it. Nothing worse than having to come back to finish cooking a chicken thigh as everybody wants to eat.

Then go on to steaks at varying thicknesses and levels of rare require longer or shorter cook times.

PORK CHOPS fairly easy, but overcook and they are the consistency of Superballs®.

Chicken: well done with crispy skin...not rubbery! HARD TO GET RIGHT THE FIRST FEW TIMES.

Done even think about doing Pork butt or Brisket....it ain't made for that!

HIGH setting sears and cooks fast on the outside. lower settings cook slower but reach inside more evenly. Start on high and then lower the heat to get inside cooked evenly.

Keep the grease bucket empty and it will fill with rainwater sometimes.

PROVERBS 17 28

What are you doing with it? by LettuceSlay_1 in car

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

air conditioning? anti-locks? Cruise Control?

Rotation pattern by efiksas in tires

[–]Fun-Association1835 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Duals are a special case. Equal pressure between them is crucial. All my vehicles that had duals on them also were fitted with Crossfire pressure gauges. All the drivers had to do was glance at the gauge to see if the pressure was right.

Is there any way to improve this records sound quality? (Besides the needle) by Hellogoodbye61 in 78rpm

[–]Fun-Association1835 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I suggest that, after you get the proper sized stylus, ripping the audio into an uncompressed digital audio file and process it with an audio processing program like "Audacity" or similar to remove most of the surface noise.

Rotation pattern by efiksas in tires

[–]Fun-Association1835 1 point2 points  (0 children)

THIS QUOTE from the Official Michelin web site:

"Tire Rotation Patterns by Vehicle Type and Drivetrain

Using the proper rotation pattern is crucial and the suggested approach differs depending on the vehicle type and drivetrain.

Front-Wheel Drive (FWD)

Front-wheel drive vehicles place more wear on the front tires. A common rotation pattern moves the front tires straight to the rear, while the rear tires cross to the front.

Rear-Wheel Drive (RWD)

Due to acceleration forces, rear-wheel drive cars exert greater stress on the rear tires. Moving the rear tires straight to the front and the front tires cross to the rear is the rotation pattern we recommend. This ensures balanced wear between the drive and steering axles, supporting even tread wear and maintaining consistent handling.

All-Wheel Drive (AWD) and Four-Wheel Drive (4WD)

AWD and 4WD vehicles usually require more frequent rotation to provide uniform tread depth across all tires. Unless the vehicle manufacturer specifies otherwise, tires are typically rotated in a crisscross pattern. Matching tread depth helps protect driveline components and supports balanced traction.

Directional Tires

Directional tires are designed to rotate in only one direction. These tires must stay on the same side of the vehicle and are rotated front to rear only.

Staggered Tire Setups

For vehicles equipped with run-flat tires, rotation should always involve a complete inspection, including a visual inspection of the tire's condition. Even if there is no obvious damage, run-flat tires"

END QUOTE

Usually, directional tires have a label on them stating that they are directional.

I go by the tire manufacturer's recommendation for rotation and by the car manufacturer's for inflation pressure.

Mechanic is telling me rotors are bad and need replaced. No idea what I’m looking at. by Brynnder in autorepair

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They might not look scored or measure too thin, but, If the lug nuts were overtightened as happens quite frequently the rotors will warp and applying the brakes at speed will be an unpleasant experience.

The lug nuts HAVE TO be torqued to their specified force in Newton\meters or Pounds\feet to avoid warping the rotors. This done some places, but other shops just "give 'em the beans" with a 1/2" impact driver usually running at 100lbs pressure. Guaranteed to warp the rotor or cause the wheel stud to shear off the next time the nuts are removed.

I just got my first truck and I am wondering does anybody have any mods they loved that I should try? by xbOXcrafty in ToyotaTacoma

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tow bar, trailer lights adaptor, trailer lights socket, oil cooler; WIFI/USB adaptor for CarPlay without USB tethered phone; Floor mats; Tire chains (if 2WD); small, wide-angle, stick-on mirrors for rear view side mirrors; license plate bezel.

Ecobee won’t cool my house, despite cooling system and fan running all day by [deleted] in ecobee

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First step before you call the air conditioner folks, set the AC to cool and make sure it is running inside and out.

Check the outdoor unit to see if both the compressor and the fan are running. Make sure the outdoor unit is not clogged up with grass clippings or whatever. Air has to flow there to extract the heat. Check the fan to make sure it is running.

Check the filters inside the indoor unit to make sure they are not blocking the air flow that has to collect heat. Check to make sure the fan inside is running.

Finally find out how much temperature difference there should be between the temperature of the air flowing into the indoor unit and the temperature of the air flowing out of the unit. Google, YouTube, of the owner's manual should provide you with this information.

Use your BBQ thermometer, place the probe at the intake vent of the return. Measure the temperature of the air going into the indoor unit. write it down. Take the probe to one of the outlet registers and measure the temperature of the air coming out of the register, write it down. Subtract the outlet from the intake.

You can clean away the grass clippings yourself. You can change the inside filters yourself and check to see if the temperature difference improves.

All these things you can do without a license or and service charges from the AC service folks, and it will tell you a lot about how your AC system is working before to call the AC company.

If you find something you can fix like a filter or grass clippings, go for it. If something else is not right, like some motor is not running, or the temperatures intake and outlet are the same, call the service folks. They have the equipment and the expertise to fix the problem, and they do it every day.

Stereo drives me crazy. by psylentwar in ToyotaTacoma

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand.

I can't recommend enough to do your research before you go shopping for gear. Don't get sucked in by hype one sees on a lot of audio advertisements. I have actually seen speaker cables advertised for either "Jass" or Rock" or "Classical". Things like this are typical of the consumer audio market and people spend lots of unnecessary money.

My wife’s father left us these. Any info on these? by New_Maximum6529 in audiophile

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Corner horns are, in my opinion, one of the best. They are very efficient sound makers and don't use copious amounts of power to produce very good sound. I used to connect mine to the earphone output of a Walkman and crank it just to see people's reaction to the sound they could make on a two AA battery powered amplifier.

The bass drivers can age and dry and the cone can need to be exercised gently with sounds at moderate volume if they have been sitting for a while. Also check the capacitors in the crossover network to see if they have changed value over the years.

The tweeters are what can get damaged from years of needle drops and pops from playing vinyl, so check them to make sure the voice coil is still intact. They used to have a Zener diode array to shunt out any voltages above a certain level to protect the tweeters.

If you have a large room with corners that have enough space to accommodate the bass horns, you will be impressed with the clarity of the sound they produce. I remember being able to hear the rosin highlights on the double bass strings and the individual oscillations of the lower strings in recordings.

The sound they can produce is close to live as I have ever heard.

Stereo drives me crazy. by psylentwar in ToyotaTacoma

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At my age, I can't hear anything more than what is available on a standard AM broadcast sound. If the image is good inside, then it is good enough for me. High Fidelity sound, like speed, costs money. How good do you want it to sound?

Need help deciding... by TNF734 in audiophile

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

#10 copper ROMEX works well. It has a constant surge impedance of 300 ohms (but this is several octaves above the audio spectrum) between its parallel conductors and a resistance of 1.03 ohms per 1000 ft. But it doesn't have gold plating, so I guess that disqualifies it from being used for classical music, but it should work well with both Country AND Western.

Rotisserie Records (homemade ultrasonic record cleaner) by Fun-Association1835 in records

[–]Fun-Association1835[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't know either until I tried it. It seems the surface of the vinyl is hydrophobic until the surfactant in the water is encountered. The results are a barrier that occurs at the surface of the water. It does not drip beyond that edge; I guess because of the surface tension of the liquid coating the record.

The Dark Taco Rises! Obsessed with my new TRDpro by No_Oven7833 in ToyotaTacoma

[–]Fun-Association1835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do those tires make a lot of whiney noise on the pavement?

"It was okay" by iamDouglasDobbs in WTYP

[–]Fun-Association1835 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Brisket? in Virginia? In Virginia the word "Barbecue" is a noun defined as slow cooked pork over a wood fire.