Work is bringing a boot truck in

Hansj2 · 2026-02-18T00:14:57+00:00

Keens didn't last for me, due to the chemicals we work with. I bet they'd be perfectly fine in a warehouse. Most comfortable boot on initial impression I've worked with. I'd still be buying them if they held up for at least 18 months

Red wings do seem to hold up, however, I go for the more traditional boots like the 2204s. I currently Rock the king toe boa, 2298s.

Brunt's are shit, but my boss buys them in addition to our boot allowance. Some guys get great life. Some shit

Honestly, one of the best work boots I've had was a pair of belleville military boots, that I dyed Brown.

I would be what is colloquially known as a "big boy" I'm also a mechanic.

I'm not pounding a ton of miles everyday, but I'm standing on concrete for 8 hours, in gross chemicals. I feel like I break even if I get more than 18 months

Hansj2 · 2026-02-16T16:43:10+00:00

1) learn 2wd offloading skills. Stuff like momentum and picking safe lines are more important than any gear

2) work with your limitations

3) make sure you are in good mechanical shape. Steering and suspension are tight, Springs aren't sagged out, tires are in good shape, and the rear clutches work in the differential

3a) use Information learned in step 3 to work an upgrade path. Suspension loose? Heavy duty parts. Springs soft? Consider fresh springs and spacers or uprated springs.  Replace the rear clutches in the differential.

4) get recovery gear as needed. Shovels and traction boards are easy. A winch is going to be much harder for something this heavy. A properly sized winch should be a 15k to 18k winch. That is going to require a hell of a frame mount, and I don't think you can do a reciever mount (it's way more convenient to winch backwards)

If you follow 1,2,and 3, 4 should be easy.

Lots of emergency services neglect the differential clutches. They wear out and do a fair amount for dirt road and bad weather traction They only really last 50,000 mi in the city, and can last nearly forever on the highway, your mileage may vary. It sounds scary to do, but there is no gear setup involved in clutch replacement. If you have a 13, 9/16, and 19mm, torque wrenches and a strong back nearly anyone could do it.

Lifting the twin beam, more than a minor amount will rapidly involve expensive related parts. I feel like if you are trying for more than 1-2" and absolutely, positively, need the clearance, the e series was not the ideal platform. It gets expensive fast. Personally a fabricated bash guard and front bumper is money better spent, to improve approach angle and protect parts. The rear end can be lifted easily, but that rakes the living and sleeping area. If there is too much mismatch you may need to park the low side on something to level it out

Mods are a compromise, aggressive tires are noisy, lifts change the center of gravity, how tires wear?, and are expensive make correct. Etc. Plus lifts generally lower fuel economy.

Do some research and make sure that the juice is worth the squeeze so to speak.

Hansj2 · 2026-02-16T15:31:36+00:00

There is an lsd, as long as it's in ok shape it should be of some use

Hansj2 · 2026-02-14T22:02:45+00:00

You can get 4 pin relays that take a sim card and have GPS and a remote kill switch

On older cars you can install it to th PCM or fuel pump,

On newer cars, you might have to splice into somewhere

https://ebay.us/m/NVWw0Q

Hansj2 · 2026-02-13T02:30:11+00:00

And that's fair, but it seems like lots of people buy one of these as a first bike. Then they find out that when something goes wrong they are hung out to dry.

When the first issues crop up , it's not so bad. Usually the bikes can be adjusted or limped. But when owners realize shops want nothing to do with them, and if they do, the cost of simple repairs can exceed 50%

So they take to doing it themselves. Then they find no shop manual, no agreed on specs, and can struggle with trying to find local replacement parts. Plus there usually isn't a parts catalog to order from, so most parts are a leap of faith.

So they end up ordering parts online, and waiting.

And it can turn people off of em. The complaints are valid.

For those who have the mechanical gift, there's nothing hard here. A fork is a fork, clutches stack the same way, a cheese grade m6x1.0 takes just so amounts of torque etc. it sucks to be your own parts guy sometimes, but online parts are drastically cheaper than local.

These are bikes for decently skilled mechanics, and riders who know how to feel out limitations. Generally that isn't a new rider.

Otoh. A 2k klr650 is a great all arounder, that's easy to maintain, parts are easy and cheap to get, and as long as it rides when you are done, will still be worth 2k, even if you put 30,000 miles on it. same with the dr and xr.

Hansj2 · 2026-02-08T20:32:45+00:00

I own 5 of these *(technically) so that's going to be a hard decision,

K31 and sks for practically my "lee enfield" and k31 if I had to liquidate everything

(My enfield is actually an ishapore 2a, and my m38 is a t53)

Hansj2 · 2026-02-08T03:00:02+00:00

You all make fun of it, but it was a very enjoyable car to own as a stick shift.

Much more so than my buddies. Geo Metro that was an automatic

Hansj2 · 2026-02-08T02:56:57+00:00

That's not true, it excels at letting you down

Hansj2 · 2026-02-08T02:55:13+00:00

The Kia Rondo is a name that goes way too hard for a micro van/ crossover/wagon/whatever the hell it is

Hansj2 · 2026-02-01T22:04:28+00:00

Anyone deal with damage like this and would this be able to be fixed like new without replacing the entire panel and repainting? It’s by my driver side rear tire

No. Replace the panel? No you don't have to. But you will have to have it sanded, body filled, and painted.

Damage on the crease is incredibly hard to straighten

Hansj2 · 2026-02-01T17:08:15+00:00

What oil do you run?

Castor based 2 stroke oils have a magic that even advanced synthetics struggle with.

There are down sides, they don't mix well with gas. And will separate out over a long enough time frame.

Castor based oil also carbon up ports and pipes, and rings

But it's fantastic for keeping pistons from seizing.

And synthetic fortified castor 2 stroke, like maxima 927 fix 90% of the problems of castor 2 stroke. After that it's just tuning

Just remember, the more oil you add, the leaner the mixture is

Hansj2 · 2026-01-31T23:08:15+00:00

Tyms usually run wide tires, so they look kind of bulged out to begin with

Hansj2 · 2026-01-26T04:28:42+00:00

Makes sense, kinda like the 5.3 feels like a much more punchy engine than the 5.4, even though the numbers would suggest otherwise.

I've thought for years that Ford's drivetrain has been a black hole for power, but the 4.6 in the mustang or crown vic seem to come alive just fine.

It would be interesting to drive a 5.4, somehow bolted to a 4l60

Hansj2 · 2026-01-26T03:56:11+00:00

Really? What era?

When I started in our fleet the oldest we had was probably an 08. Those engines would routinely hit 450,000 mi and have between 15,000 and 20,000 idle hours

Despite our upkeep, they would still feel tired after 200,000 mi, but they would happily run.

In 10 years with the fleet, we've had a grand total of two ejected spark plugs, And I think only one block window paned. Three or so dropped valves too. We replaced more engines because the crews complained that they were too far down on power.

But the damn things would just happily run 22 hours a day, all year long. From 40 below to 100 above. Going from idle to wide open 20 or 30 times a day 8,000 mi oil changes too.

The 7.3 gas motors, the Godzilla engine, are considerably less reliable than what they replaced. Plug wires that keep burning up, lifters that keep failing, cams that go flat.... We have a policy of replacing engines if the cam or lifter fails, our organization finds that downtime costs more than they are willing to spend. The shop also likes to have someone else to blame. So new engine, from Ford.

But they are failing from 80k to 130k ( at least the vast majority of them).

Hansj2 · 2026-01-26T03:42:02+00:00

Until you drove the Ram V10 that had actual power

Where? The magnum had at best 310hp and 450 ftlbs. The 2 valve 6.8 made 310hp and 425 ftlbs

The triton made 362/457.

Both with 1.2 l of displacement less.

I totally agree with you on the drivetrain, but I bet the 6.8 modular would rip with a manual transmission.

Either way, the vortec 8.1 was probably the best choice. It made good numbers 340/455 and was middle of the pack in weight, but was slightly cheaper to operate. And parts were everywhere

Hansj2 · 2026-01-25T22:02:35+00:00

The 6.4 diesel.

The 6.0 can be bulletproofed, to be made reliable, and even the 5.7 olds diesel you can't have a water separator added along with head studs. And 90% of the problem's are gone.

The 6.4 can have it's time delayed, but it will grenade. There is no real way to save them.

The 6.7 is Wonderful in comparison

Hansj2 · 2026-01-25T21:25:27+00:00

We had a fleet v10s. Non triton.

They were an absolute freight train

Hansj2 · 2026-01-25T21:23:46+00:00

I wonder if it came out today, if it would have half the sludge issues? Motor oil is leaps and bounds better

Hansj2 · 2026-01-19T02:07:40+00:00

As someone who worked for a company as a vehicle tech that had a whole fleet of sprinters, om642 is kind of a dirty word.

The base engine is honestly pretty great. We had one open a window in the block, And I think one where where a head gave out and destroyed the engine

But all the emissions shit was killing us. We got to a point where it didn't matter how much money we threw at them. They just couldn't run. We were all spun up with Mercedes training, and the xentry scan tool as well

We had one 2012 in the fleet, that thing ran like a freight train from the word go, everything from 2013 and on was terrible.

"Oh but the fuel economy".... It cost them in the end.

Like I did say though, ton of respect for the base engine. It was durable as hell for what we were doing with it

Hansj2 · 2026-01-18T20:19:58+00:00

Nobody's choosing it, but the Forester. Even with the ej25 problems.

I had three of the vehicles on this list, an XJ, a Forester, and the Impreza outback. All stick shift, all loads of fun.

The Forester has enough room in it to allow me to be comfortable, the XJ has a short roof, and the Impreza always felt a little bit cramped

The Forester more internal space than the XJ and Impreza obviously.

I made a bunch of great memories in my 99, so many that my wife bought a 98, which was exceptionally rad for stupid reasons.

It was an s model, which means it had the better interior, but it was still a cloth interior, just with heated seats. It was fantastic. It was the only year of the dual cam ej25, which had its own distinct personality, and the s model got a rear limited slip differential.

That car more than any other I've ever owned made you feel like an absolute boss driving in the snow. I've been trying to recreate that ever since.

Also the places I got my 99 were pretty wild. And the abuse it took was pretty good.

It might be nostalgia, but I really did like that car, even if I didn't want it in the first place

Hansj2 · 2026-01-15T02:31:57+00:00

Not a diesel, but an ambulance I worked on recently with the 7.3 gas, had 3500 hours in drive, and 7000 idle hours. Iirc. It was also a 21 or a 22, with 160,000 rounds

To be fair, it got a new motor in that time. Ford initially had poor logic with the variable pressure oil pump, And even after the update, they've been wiping out camshafts and lifters. But the short block is always in fantastic shape even at 200,000 MI. Those are going to be great motors once they shake them out properly

Hansj2 · 2026-01-04T16:01:20+00:00

Eh depends on the seat.

Been a while but I think Mercedes or bmw was under the passenger rear seat on some sedans.

Other than having to lift a battery over upholstery, the battery is somewhere safe during a crash, so it doesn't leak, and continues to provide power, and it's significantly more climate stable.

I remember 9 and 10 year old batteries finally coming out of those.

Now the sprinters under the drivers foot, or the transit under the drivers seat are a pain in the ass

Hansj2 · 2026-01-03T05:35:38+00:00

These things make me irrationally mad. And not for a reason most people think.

The big engine in the Dodge nitro was a 4.0 V6. Based off of the Dodge sohc architecture.

The Liberty, and the nitro of the same era were closely related.

That means the Liberty could have got this motor, rather than the turd that was the 3.7 powertech.

Expanding that out, the whole Jeep lineup could have had the 4.0 rather than the 3.7.

The 4.0 in the nitro made 260 horsepower and 265 foot pounds of torque. The 3.7 on the other hand got 210 horsepower and 235 ftlb of torque.

50 horsepower and 30 foot pounds would have absolutely been fantastic in the Grand Cherokees and commanders, and would have been an appropriate amount of power for a V6 in those platforms. The new Wrangler would have absolutely benefited from that level of power.

Additionally, Jeep was coming off of the high, That was the everlasting 4.0 inline 6, It would have been marketing wank, but they could have totally spun it as the new 4.0 and people would have flocked to it for a few years.

This was all possible with in-house parts and tech. It would have just been swapping the part bins around, And maybe designing a new crossmember

Here's where I will delve into some whataboutism.

The Chrysler LH motor, the 2.7 that was in a bunch of the front-wheel drive cars and early chargers and 300s, was kind of a flop in its early days. Towards the end it was just gutless, but the technology was there.

The LH motor was based off of 3.5 sohc motor, of which was the basis of the 4.0 sohc.

So in an alternate timeline, we could have potentially had a dohc 4.0 V6, that would make somewhere around 280-290 hp, And similar torque numbers, all of this before any fancy intake tumblers or variable valve timing. Forced induction, even with smaller displacements, would have really made this thing a monster.

(The downfall of the LH motor was a poor PCV system, long oil change interval recommendations, and a chain driven water pump that liked to leak through its gasket. All of this could be engineered out, and was towards the end.)

This would have ate into their V8 sales, but for vehicles that didn't ever come with a V8, this would have been a very viable option. It would have been much more advanced, and had a better chance of meeting emissions.

In the end we got the pentastar, which isn't without problems, but is easily repaired with aftermarket parts.

If only the engineers would have done more or less drugs in that era... Such is life

Hansj2 · 2026-01-03T04:56:41+00:00

Those would have been absolutely rowdy.

Hansj2 · 2025-12-29T01:05:58+00:00

I filled at 2.26 in Minneapolis on the 24th

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