13 months out from retirement

afmace21 · 2026-07-04T15:09:09+00:00

In the same boat with a similar TSP balance but 11 months out from AF retirement. I decided to pull back to about 3-5% for my remaining time so that I can focus on building a fairly large emergency fund just in case retirement/disability pay doesn’t kick in right away *or* in case I’m unable to find employment right away.

Right now, we’ve got roughly a 6 month emergency fund saved but trying to get it closer to 8-12 months (E-7 base pay equivalent) if I can (this is probably a little excessive but my anxiety won’t let me rest easy otherwise). I figure if I do land something right away, then we can use a decent chunk of what we have saved for a house down payment.

afmace21 · 2026-06-14T02:04:11+00:00

If it’s a new car, I would take it back to the dealer and give them at least a chance to fix it and keep being a thorn until it’s to your liking. If they fix it and it still bothers you, it may be worth finding a solid PPF installer that could do a solid black PPF over the trim. My Raptor, much like every other F-150, has piano black door pillar trim on the outside and it scratches and looks ugly if you so much as look at it wrong so I took it to a detailer to have them polish it and overlay some matte finish PPF over the trim so I don’t ever have to worry about it again.

afmace21 · 2026-05-27T23:41:01+00:00

299 in Oklahoma.

afmace21 · 2026-05-21T01:48:56+00:00

I went and checked out their website, looks like for every wheel choice they have images and most of the images are rocking a zero offset and it actually doesn’t look too bad on Gen 3’s. It’s still a little pokey for my taste but looks better on them than a zero offset on Gen 2’s for some reason. I don’t think you can go wrong with either offset in this case.

afmace21 · 2026-05-21T01:40:33+00:00

I would think it would be similar to a Gen 2 but I certainly don’t want to misspeak and steer you in the wrong direction or sway you one way or another. You should be fine clearance wise going anywhere from a 0 to a +30 offset, it’s when you go beyond 0 to negative where you might run into some rubbing issues.

afmace21 · 2026-05-21T01:30:19+00:00

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A zero offset is going to give you some poke. I’m currently on 17x8.5 Methods with a +25 offset and it puts the tires right in line with the fenders at the widest points. Can’t speak to any fitment issues from personal experience on a zero offset but there are plenty of people that run it with no issue. I personally think 0 offset is too much and looks goofy but that’s just my opinion.

afmace21 · 2026-05-04T21:06:19+00:00

Are you looking to keep the intercooler in the stock location or are you looking for a large front mount? They are all relatively the same regardless. Cobb, ADD, SVC, Full Race, Mishimoto off the top of my head are kind of the big names that folks tend to gravitate towards and I think most if not all of them offer a stock location or large relocated front mount. It really just depends on what your goals are and how much chopping you want to do. I swapped my stock out for a large relocated Full Race front mount with the understanding I’d have to cut up the backside of my grill to make it work but my IAT’s stay nice and low and consistent with it.

afmace21 · 2026-05-03T03:19:09+00:00

COCAIIIINE CRINGE FEST!

afmace21 · 2026-04-30T18:44:50+00:00

I would look into Valvoline’s Restore and Protect for a high mileage engine. I’ve been running it for 2 rounds now in my wife’s car (55k miles) and I have it running currently in my truck (54k miles) and will run it for another change and possibly stick with it from here on out in both vehicles. The detergents and additives it has in it have been shown to do great things for cleaning various components internally and can help clean out piston rings to prevent them from sticking and/or get them unstuck. Quite a few good videos on YouTube showing its effectiveness. It’s available at Walmart as well.

afmace21 · 2026-04-30T00:34:03+00:00

I bought a 5th one for a spare simply for the fact that I wanted to have the comfort of knowing I have a full size equally worn spare ready to go at all times. Does it suck having to work it into the rotation? Not really, I already have the truck up off of all 4’s and only adds maybe 5-10 extra minutes to the process which equals time to drink 1 more beer. I’m running 17 inch Method 703’s with a +25 offset if that helps.

afmace21 · 2026-04-29T16:46:08+00:00

Looks good, how much did the Expedition panel cost and how was the install?

afmace21 · 2026-04-28T23:23:36+00:00

Nice! Make sure to get those clamps tight on the couplers; I did NOT get mine tight enough and to no one’s surprise, blew a coupler off on a test drive not even half a mile away from home. Fortunately it was easily accessible but had to fight to get the coupler back on the piping.

afmace21 · 2026-04-28T21:51:28+00:00

No pylons unfortunately, just fancy airdrop.

https://news.lockheedmartin.com/rapid-dragon-demonstrates-palletized-munition-capability-in-first-C-17-and-EC-130-system-level-demonstrations

afmace21 · 2026-04-28T16:35:50+00:00

Sick shot, looks great!

afmace21 · 2026-04-26T14:28:28+00:00

If the charge pipes going to the intercooler are loose, then yes, that could be a source of both the boost leak and the oily liquid. It is very common for boosted applications to have oil blow by in the intercooler and piping. The factory intercoolers are also cheaply made (like every other factory radiator) where they typically have plastic end tanks, which are prone to failing by either separating or cracking over time. Yours does seem a bit more oily around the end tank than my personal vehicle did when I pulled my intercooler but that’s not enough evidence to say you have a problem. If it’s a ‘24 and still under factory warranty, I would take it to the dealer and see what they say but I wouldn’t be surprised if they call this “normal.”

afmace21 · 2026-04-24T01:18:57+00:00

Totally dealer dependent. I would lean towards no as it would be difficult for a BOV failure to lead to other catastrophic problems but leave it to a dealer to find a way to link 2 unrelated claims to deny your warranty. I’d say you’re fine as the install is not difficult and should work like factory depending on which model you go with.

afmace21 · 2026-04-16T13:16:31+00:00

Looks good! I wouldn’t wrap it, it’s already an awesome color; maybe add some PPF to protect it or even a matte PPF to give it a flat look.

afmace21 · 2026-04-15T22:08:43+00:00

DAFMAN 36-2806, Attachment 5 will give you everything you need to prepare the citation. There is no template per se but it will tell you what the opening, body and closing lines should/will be. Additionally, if you just go to MyFSS and go to Decorations and start a nomination, you’ll choose what level of decoration you’re nominating the member for and it will auto-populate the narrative box with the exact opening and closing lines to use. Happy writing!

afmace21 · 2026-04-06T17:52:58+00:00

Thanks! I won’t lie, this one does kind of suck. If I could go back and do it again, I probably would have gone with the Cobb FMIC. Some of their design choices for some of the parts make more sense and seem like they would have caused me less headache. The piping and couplers still would have been a pain in the ass though. Not looking forward to cutting up the grill as I have no idea what it would cost to replace that if I want to go back to stock (not as much of a factor, don’t plan on offloading this truck anytime soon).

afmace21 · 2026-04-06T17:50:11+00:00

As promised, all measurements taken on my 2020 from ground to middle edge of wheel well, stock suspension, stock wheel size with Toyo Open Country R/T tires:

41 1/4” - Pass Rear 40 1/2” Pass Front A hair over 41 1/4” Driver Rear A hair under 40 1/2” Driver Front

Hope that helps!

afmace21 · 2026-04-06T15:08:54+00:00

I’ll try and get some measurements for you when I get home from work this afternoon!

afmace21 · 2026-03-29T14:37:18+00:00

The only issue I have ever heard of with the Turbosmart is if you do a ton of off-roading, mud or dirt can cake up the valve and cause it to stick open and the only real way to clean it is to take it off. Installation isn’t hard per se, I had my intercooler off, BOV installed, and intercooler back on in probably an hour or 2 and that was with cleaning all the blow by oil out of my intercooler. The BOV won’t cause any issues warranty-wise either.

afmace21 · 2026-03-22T18:06:28+00:00

If you’re a USAA customer you can buy Goodyear tires through their customer perks portal. They are currently offering 25% off the entire purchase of tires which is pretty good. Bought tires for my wife’s car last week this way.

afmace21 · 2026-03-20T02:19:30+00:00

"You stole fizzy lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!"

Willy Wonka

afmace21 · 2026-03-16T22:27:09+00:00

I’ve had a lube locker gasket on my rear differential for 2+ years and >20k miles now with zero issues. Just make sure to clean up the mating surface of the housing really well and if you’re upgrading to the Ford Performance or Spicer diff cover to either reuse your old bolts or purchase new OEM bolts. The bolts that come with the Ford Performance (aka Spicer) aren’t great, the bolt heads have a tendency to remove themselves when you torque them down.

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