PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Considering that the one in the series is owned and driven by a 16-year old girl, it’s probably a slushbox...

 

I love the As Told By Ginger theme song; I believe it was sung by Macy Gray...

The “revised version” heard in most episodes has more of a country music theme to it, and it is seriously one of those songs I could see myself cranking up when it came on the radio in the truck!

 

Here's one thing that really annoys me...

People who keep their cell phones right by their bed and don't silence them! I keep my cell phone next to my bed, but I always silence it. All of my friends either keep their cell phones by their bed and silenced or in another part of my house. One of my Aspie friends keeps his phone by his bed, doesn't silence it, and got mad at me one time for calling him at like 11pm because he was trying to sleep.

 

This is not a pic of my old car but it looked damn close to that, I paid $300 for it and had to put a floor and an interior in it.

 

My only means of watching As Told By Ginger is Dailymotion.com, and the site sucks; It crashes constantly and, at best, freezes...

There are also the ads that come on at random, and most recently they’ve been showing this ad for Quinnipiac University; They will play the same ad twice in a 30-second slot!

 

This diner in Furlong actually had pretty good food, but they also served huge portions and had this obnoxious policy of charging a "sharing fee" if you got caught sharing your food with whoever you were dining with (I love capitalism, but I think policies like these should be against the law). I have no idea when it closed, but I've noticed for months that there haven't been any cars in the parking lot when I've driven by. Last Friday, I decided to swing through the parking lot and saw that the diner was in disarray, and full of boxes...



One of my favorite things about this diner was that it had 1:18 scale models of 1950s cars and trucks on display everywhere. Back in 2011 or so, I talked the manager into letting me make a video of the building's Rheem "Stamped Octagon" air-conditioner. Within a year, that old Rheem died and was replaced with a reliable but super-common Carrier air-conditioner that I had absolutely no interest in filming.

 

The pink exterior should prove where this was filmed...

And it was a 1992, meaning it was almost 20 years old at the time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cfcn1u593U

 

Lots of test and tune nights there in the late 90s and early 2000s. Sad to see it go. The pics bring back memories of staging and breaking driveshafts on the line lol

 

When I was in high school, there was this special needs girl in my gym class. She wasn’t particularly attractive, but she was borderline normal; However, she did have one particularly annoying quirk...

Whenever communicating via text message or Facebook messenger, she would substitute the word “just” with the word “this”. She only did this in messages and not while talking as far as I remember; For example, she would say...

“I was this asking...”

- or -​

“I was this wondering...”

I don’t know if she was dyslexic, but this quirk became so annoying that I eventually refused to talk to her via text message!

 

The rear brake squeak is slowly but surely coming back...

I am using my truck to haul some flooring for a friend, from the Lumber Liquidators in Colmar to their new house in Doylestown, this afternoon. After that, my truck will be parked for the better part of a week...

We are going to be gone from tomorrow through Friday, and then we are going to my grandma’s house in Jersey for a second Thanksgiving; Basically, my truck will not be driven at all for the next few days, so I scheduled yet another appointment with the Toyota dealer to for Monday, December 2nd. I’m really hoping this is just a geriatric squeak, because I’m really getting fed up with these blown axle seals (and I’m sure the dealer won’t be happy with having to pay for the repairs a second time either).

 

I don't think I have a problem with authority...

I am a free thinker who tends to be very vocal about what he disagrees with!

 

I had an appointment with my therapist today; I told him about the axle seal fiasco and my subsequent frustration with the Toyota dealer. He said, I kid you not, "I think it's time for a new truck"...

I've been seeing the same therapist since November 2005, so he's obviously doing something right, but by his own admission he is not a car guy. He's been leasing cars and getting a new one every three years, for at least the last two decades! My Tacoma is the only vehicle I've ever had, and I've become quite attached to it; That said, getting rid of it especially for something as trivial as a chronic squeak would be akin to getting rid of a beloved family dog because it barks all the time. On top of that, society as a whole has become very "throwaway." Just about everybody in my neighborhood has at least one leased vehicle (some have two). When I buy my first vehicle (and I hope to keep my current Tacoma too), I will keep it for years and put over a hundred thousand miles on it just like I did with the truck my dad got me that I still have.

Get rid of my truck for a squeak?!?! Yeah right!

 

That's in reference to my therapist, right?

 

Back in the day, hitting 50K meant it was time to get rid of a vehicle (why do you think vehicles had 5-digit odometers as late as 1990?). Nowadays, over 100K is a badge of honor, especially for us truck guys!

 

Does your old mall crawler still have the original transmission?

 

My truck does not get driven hard and has been getting full synthetic since just before 80K miles.

 

How long do you think it would take to put fog lights in my truck?

 

If my truck starts to cost more to maintain then makes sense to spend it’s gone. I have no emotional attachment to a tool

 

@shakerhood

This saga started right after Halloween when my truck started squeaking like crazy whenever I hit the brakes. My parents were in California, my trusted mechanic was booked solid for four days, and I needed my truck that weekend, so I brought it to the dealer. My rear axle seal had blown and the flood of grease and oil destroyed my left rear brake. My rear brakes had about 22K miles on them at the time, and because of the relatively high miles, they had to replace both rear brakes in their entirety to even it out. The technician who did the job neglected to tell his supervisor about a "notched" wheel bearing and apparently decided to "make it work."

Within I'd say a day (based on how quickly my truck started squeaking again after I got it back), the brand new seal blew out. I took it to my trusted mechanic a week later for a second opinion, and he pulled both rear brakes apart. The right brake was fine, but the rear brake was full of grease and shit. I brought my truck back to the dealer and demanded both an explanation and free labor. The tech who'd previously worked on my truck admitted to his supervisor that he'd just "made it work", and was promptly read the riot act. The dealer ate the cost of replacing both the rear axle seal and the wheel bearing. The rear brake was not damaged this time and cleaned up nicely.

With a few days, the rear brake would let off a stray squeak or two occasionally, but eventually disappeared altogether. A couple of days ago, I realized it was squeaking again, but not as badly as before the second dealer visit.

Today, it seemed to be getting progressively worse. I called my mechanic and he said to just take it directly to the dealer this time and make them fix it for free again. I am going to be gone most of next week for Thanksgiving (traveling with my parents in dad's 2018 Yukon), so the truck will just be sitting in the driveway from tomorrow through next Saturday. I made an appointment to bring the Tacoma to the dealer on the afternoon of Monday December 2nd. I am thinking they'll honor their work again, but when does this stop? What use is my truck if I have to keep bringing it back to the shop every week or two?!?!

Could this just be bad luck or the result of something far more serious than an axle seal or wheel bearing?!?!

 

You can also afford to go out and buy a new truck. My goal is to keep mine running and avoid those dreaded monthly payments for as long as possible!