Oregon and Washington BS thread

I am! I spend a lot more time working from home than being on campus now though. My office used to be in Peavy, but it got demolished and the search to find me a new has gotten lost in the bureaucratic hell whole of the administration system. Its always nice getting to the end of the term. I remember those days haha

 

Bleh, why do all of my best laid plans lead to complication or disaster?

So, about a year ago, I decided to jump on board with one of those big Sears Duralast Group 36 marine batteries (which are a variant of an Odyssey AGM, which is a child company of Enertec...).
I thought the battery would provide a ton of good power, would last a long time, and so on.
Well, it's a year later and I'm starting to have starting issues, especially if I've left the truck sitting for half a week in the cold.

I went to have it tested at Sears, and it comes out with a 'good' rating, around 880 CCA (down from original 1150), but a 'low charge'.
I was notified that Sears no longer carries their Platinum line. That means that if the battery goes bad, the store doesn't have any possible replacements, and the computer system doesn't allow for cash reimbursements. I would have to argue with corporate to get my 4 year warranty honored.

Thankfully, the battery hasn't reached that point, and it could just be a bad alternator.

In the meantime, I've looked into battery chargers/maintainers. I have a little Deltran unit I got from Costco, but it doesn't do AGM, for starters (I'll keep using it for the motorcycle, I guess).
I saw a lightning deal on Amazon today for a NOCO charger, but read that they aren't all that great (lots of hype).
I finally found an article that pertains to what is really needed to charge my battery, and it seems that I would need something that does a 40A charge (minimum) according to a guy called wrcsixeight, who seems to know his stuff:

Looking into that, the best portable-size chargers I could find were made by Pro-Logix, but they only do up to 20A. To charge this battery properly, at minimum I'd be looking into a wheeled charger, like one of these, which hits the wallet at $160 or so.

After I fight this battery, my next one is going to be back to your standard style battery so I can use dumb technology to charge it and I can make sure there's no warranty BS to play with.

 

Mike, despite stuff saying you need a 40A charge ability, have you considered that may be charging from completely dead? That seems to be way overkill to me, especially considering that this is a battery tender that you are looking for. If it can push 6A continuous, it will trickle charge the battery of your truck overnight, or keep it charged as the case may be.
Also, have you done anything that has a constant pull from the battery, even when the truck is off?

 

Reading that more, I see what you are saying - battery must be drained 50% or more for it to need the 40A charger. Hmm, wondering then what I want for a charger just for general maintenance.

Winch is always ran with the engine on. I've heard of people holding higher revs, but I haven't done that.

First time I had problems was the first cold morning in May after a series of generally moderate days. Had to jump start to move the truck. Worked OK after that.
First cold day in... Oct/Nov? I had a really tough start. Worked OK after that.
I ran the radio in the with the two amplifiers while I did some tuning about a two weeks ago (listen to a song for 30 seconds, pause, make a change, do it again...), and it had a tough start. I was expecting that. Also had a few weak starts following that.
I had a slightly tough start on Sunday, after the truck had sat since Thursday night.

 

This is what I'm using. Much better quatily than the NOCO's

CTEK (56-864) MUS 4.3 12 Volt Fully Automatic 8 Step Battery Charger

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-864-...&qid=1480365840&sr=8-1&keywords=ctek+chargers

 

thinking about replacing my UCAs. i know people like light racing for the price point. any other suggestions?

 

Just answered this on the Washington thread"

I feel that I out-wheeled my SPC, so I'm now on DKs.
If you are interested in some SPC, I have mine that I need to put up for sale, but they would need new ball joints immediately (an easy swap).
Being completely transparent, for mid travel I would consider JBAs for light wheelers/on-road people, TC/DK/Icon/Camburg for most heavy offroaders, and Icon heims for jumping and all-out-money.

 

is spc specialty products? did light racing change to that? its what shows up on Amazon too. the jba looks to be about the same price, probably go with those since you like them.

 

Trust in Mike's research. He spends more time than me looking into it, then we differ, as he actually gets the bigger, better stuff for his truck. I was planning to piggyback on his research and get the Dirt kings for myself, but my Tacoma is no more.

 

If I have it correct, Specialty Products is the company and Light Racing is the product. They have poor choices in names, regardless.

I know I'm killing my own sale, but I'd rather have you be fully informed and be confident in whatever you end up with. My experience is that this would be the... third(?) set of ball joints going on within 100k miles, and I was getting sick of changing them (even though it's just two bolts). My guess is that based on what you do, you probably would never need a change, but thought I'd give you that information anyway. I have definitely used them in rough conditions, but I felt that I needed something that might last longer for my use. The one issue that would affect both you and me, however, is the BJ boot design:

• On the old design, the boot was a ribbed shape, which pressed against my coils. It never wore out, but I didn't like that. The new design isn't ribbed and is just dome shaped, which doesn't make contact. Note that they have a lot of back stock it seems, so I'd specifically ask for the newer non-ribbed design
• The boot is held to the BJ housing by a keyring-shaped retainer ring. I've had it where it doesn't hold tight and the boot pops on and off. I'm not sure if the new design has this issue.

Looking at JBAs, they have a better design for droop (possibly even better than uniball), are greasable via a zerk, and might not have the boot issue (I haven't looked close).

 

thanks for the great info as always mike. ill probably just get a set of the jba ones. lots of parts on my 4runner are original still and i just hit 150k, so i should probably get around to replacing somethings with nice new stuff.

 

Mechanic suggestions for Wenatchee? I live in Leavenworth so anything between here and wenatchee is fair game.

 

What do you need done?

 

Hi all!

Hope to get a little input from anyone in the know. My wife and I are planning a trip to Mt Hood Meadows in January. I am looking to book a cabin in ZigZag. To me, just going by google maps it looks to be about a 22 mile drive from the cabin to the mountain on the 26. Anyone from Oregon have any experience with this drive? I know that half hour drive could possibly be an hour in the winter.

I'm only curious to see if we could possibly go back and forth to let our dogs out mid day. I appreciate any input anyone may have, and thanks in advance!

 

i drive it all the time. just leave early and avoid the crowd especially if its a powder day. i honestly dont know how it gets so bad sometimes.

there are also nice house/cabins you can rent in welches, and if you want to stay in government camp check out collins lake resort. i took my dog there last time, so im pretty sure they are pet friendly

 

I need help diagnosing a rapid engine click.

 

Thank you, really appreciate it! I am looking in Welches as well, just all depends on what's dog friendly and not unreasonably priced.

 

i really like collins lake. they have 2 different things you can rent, the chalets are like a townhouse with a garage and the "cabins" are really more like big condos. im also pretty sure collins lake has a deal where if you rent a cabin they give you a lift ticket or something like that. government camp is also only 10 minutes to the parking lot of timberline.

 

I would suggest trying to save a dollar or two by first asking the knowledgebase here first, however you can go about things however you like. I've been through Leavenworth, Quincy, wenatchee area enough times but haven't stopped long enough to find a mechanic.

Is there a particular circumstance when the rapid engine clicking happens? If it is when you are starting the vehicle and get clicking rather than cranking, that would suggest not enough power from the battery to the starter. If it is when you put on a turn signal, that would imply the light is out on one corner.

 

Pretty God damn annoying when you interview for a job that's 15 minutes down the road from home and they tell you they filled that spot, but would love to offer you a position at another office a freaking 1 and half away in Tillamook.