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

So, both of the roads heading out of my neighborhood are on a slight incline; Under ideal conditions, this is not a big deal, but in a RWD pickup truck with snow on the ground...?




The key is to get a lot of momentum going at the bottom of the incline and not let up on the gas until you reach the top...

My neighbor stopped his Highlander in the middle of the road so he could chat with another neighbor, but didn’t leave me any room on either side to pass him. I started laying on the horn and yelling out the window “If I stop, I’ll get stuck!”

He didn’t hear me yelling, and couldn’t comprehend why I was beeping the horn, so he just ignored me; This forced to me stop the truck and lose my momentum.

I jumped out of the truck and let loose a torrent of profanities. My neighbor who’d been stopped in the middle of the road got out of his SUV and calmed me down, telling me he didn’t realize what I’d been trying to do and that he’d help me get my truck unstuck. I ended up reversing down the incline and using the momentum to get back up again, with no issues...

 

We moved into the new house in March 2016; Within three months of moving in, I had at least two incidents with construction workers who drew my ire by blocking the road...

In the first incident, I have no regrets; I live on a culdesac, with only one way in and one way out...

The neighborhood was under construction until 2017, and this one time in about April 2016 (maybe May 2016), I came home and found an HVAC guy in a van and a construction worker in a utility truck chatting from window to window...

They were blocking my only access to my house, and they were no doing work on a house, so I wasn’t having it; I just laid on the horn and I got an annoyed look from one of them, but they moved immediately. I would later find out that these pricks complained to their supervisor about it...

Again, I have no regrets...

The moral of the story; Don’t block the road for literal idle chitchat!

 

The incident I had regrets over occurred in May 2016; I was already fired up over an incident in a shopping center parking lot where I'd literally had to bury the accelerator and retreat after what could have been a violent encounter with a guy who caught me taking pictures of his truck; That's a story for another day...

Anyway, so I came to my neighborhood and found two construction workers blocking the way; They were sitting in utility body trucks blocking the entire road. Unlike the prior incident where the two guys were blocking the culdesac with their vehicles, I could have gone another way, but I was not thinking straight. I laid on the horn, and the bald guy in a white Silverado utility body threw up his hand to say "wait"...

I wasn't having it; I yelled something that I can't remember out the window at him (but what I do remember is that I was so angry my voice started to crack), then laid on the horn more...

After that, in what I can only describe as a millisecond of blistering fury, I jerked the wheel to the right, floored it, and used the incline of someone's driveway to drive on the sidewalk. My tire (right rear, I believe) hit a water valve in someone's front yard and made a noise that can be best described as being like a shotgun going off; The tire pressure warning light immediately came on and the distinctive "fwap-fwap-fwap" of a flat tire came soon after...

I drove off the curb, stopped at the stop sign, made a right turn, and headed to my house; In my short-sighted thinking, I didn't think anything would come of it. The tires on my truck were brand new and I had the no questions asked road hazard warranty, so my plan was to call AAA, have the truck flatbedded to what was then STS in Jamison (Now Mavis Discount Tire), and get a new tire put on; My plan did not involve telling my parents how I'd destroyed a brand new tire. I was an idiot for thinking that there would not be consequences for my actions...

 

To be honest, if I'd have even considered that the guy in the Silverado would turn his truck around and chase me, I would have pulled my truck into the garage and shut the door, at which point I could have gained the upper hand and told the worker that if he didn't leave I would call the cops on him. At the very least, I would have backed into the driveway so my license plate wasn't visible (for my readers who don't live in Pennsylvania, my state doesn't have front license plates);

I got out of my truck, still a bit stunned over what I'd done and what had happened; I was staring in disbelief at my destroyed tire when I heard a squeal of tires and looked down the street...

The guy in the Silverado ran the stop sign and roared up to my house, then further enraged me by taking a picture of my truck's license plate; This is where backing my truck into the driveway would have helped a lot, because at that point taking a picture of my license plate would have required him to trespass on my property. Taking pictures of vehicles on private property (and their license plates or any part thereof) from a public street is not illegal (I got stopped by the police in Doylestown Borough for the non-crime of photographing vehicles and old houses back in March 2013, so I would be a HYPOCRITE with a capital H if I made a big deal about someone taking pictures of my truck).

We exchanged some words, and purely out of frustration I bellowed at him "GET OFF MY PROPERTY!" even though he was in his truck on a public street, and well within his rights to be taking pictures of my truck even I hadn't done anything wrong. He said the cops were on the way, and I stormed into the house and slammed the door...

 

At that point in my life, I’d only been pulled over once in my life due to a misunderstanding, when I still had my learner’s permit; I’d never been arrested (still haven’t been) and my only legit encounter with the cops had been the aforementioned photography incident in March 2013.

The police station is only about three miles from my house, but there is no way that in the short period of time that had passed between me driving on the sidewalk and the construction worker chasing me around the corner to my house, there’s no way in hell he could have called the police and given the dispatcher a full description on what had happened...

I say again, I wasn’t thinking clearly; I was convinced that the cops were gonna show up at my house and write me a ticket at a bare minimum, or possibly tow the truck. Freaking out, I called my mom who was at our old house that hadn’t been sold yet, about ten miles away.

I had done some really stupid shit in my 27 years on planet earth, but this incident really took the cake and to say my mom was pissed was an understatement! She got in car and frantically drove to our new house, by which time the cops still hadn’t shown up.

Finally, probably 30 or 40 minutes after the screaming match with the construction worker, I happened to look out the front window and see a familiar late model Silverado pull up in front of our house; It was the site manager for the whole neighborhood.

I was terrified of facing the guy so, I kid you not, I hid in the powder room for a few minutes while my mom dealt with him. I could still hear the entire conversation, and when it became clear that I wasn’t going to be getting in trouble, I came out of hiding...

During the process of getting the house built, my parents had become very friendly with this guy; The guy in the white Silverado had apparently gone to the site manager, showed him the pictures and told him what happened. He had never called the cops; He wanted to, but his boss talked him out of it...

There ended up being no damage beyond my destroyed tire, and the manager believed that calling the cops on the son of a couple who had just bought a very expensive house from him when (A) he hadn’t personally witnessed the incident and (B) there was no damage or injuries, would be very bad for business. He assured me that the cops were not going to be called, but also mentioned that his employees had complained to him about the recent horn honking incident (which I’d forgotten about). I was not really reprimanded by the manager, who aside from stating the obvious that I should stay off the sidewalks, said that I should come to him if I had anymore issues with his workers and just keep my cool.

I told him that I’d been stressed out about a number of things, which was the truth; I did not mention the angry GMC Sonoma owner from earlier that day, but I did tell him about how my truck had been hit by a drunk driver the previous October, the asshole was trying to plead his charges way down, and the prosecutor had told me there was a good chance of me having to testify. This solidified the manager’s sympathy towards me...

 

I had the truck flatbedded to STS the next morning, and didn’t divulge to the tow truck driver or the people at the tire place how the incident had occurred; I still had the 16” aftermarket wheels at the time, and the adapters on the hubs prevented the factory 15” wheels from being fitted, which rendered the spare useless...

After the road hazard warranty was applied, it ended up costing just $75; The financial impact was absolutely nothing compared to the thorough bitching out I got from from parents for a couple months afterwards. The new tire ended up developing a bulge in the sidewall within a week of being fitted, and it was replaced for free by STS.

 

There is a famous British singer named Gary Numan, who is on the autism spectrum; My mom happened to read a story (either in a magazine or online) where Numan told the story of a road rage incident he’d had in the 1980s...

I don’t remember the specific details, but the other person began physically attacking Numan’s car; Numan ended up driving onto the sidewalk to get away from the aggressor, and was never charged for any offense. My parents’ criticism of my behavior softened greatly after they read about this...

 

It is common knowledge that active duty military do not have to register their vehicle in the state where they are stationed, or obtain a driver’s license in that state.

My dad was in the Navy from 1982 to 2007; From 1982 to 2005, he had a New Jersey driver’s license with the address of his parents’ house. This allowed him to avoid paying income tax as well!

When we moved back to Pennsylvania in 2005, had got a Pennsylvania license; All of our vehicles had been registered in Virginia since 1998. This was also totally legal since my dad was active duty military.

He bought a third vehicle (a 2003 Honda S2000) in September 2005 and registered that in Pennsylvania; By 2006, the Pathfinder, my dad’s Harley, and my mom’s minivan were still registered in Virginia.

I got my learner’s permit (the first time, anyway) in December 2005.

At some point in late 2005 or early 2006, we had been chased off the campus of what was then Delaware Valley College (now University) by security because they stated it was private property.

 

My dad primarily gave me driving lessons in 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE, which he ultimately planned to give me; By May 2006, when this incident occurred, my dad had a Pennsylvania driver’s license, but the Pathy was still registered in Virginia.

On that extremely warm May day, we went to the parking lot of Doylestown Hospital and my dad let me drive around for about an hour; Nobody approached us...

After at least an hour, I felt like I was comfortable enough to go out on the mai road; I stopped at a stop sign, and I made a left turn onto the the main road, at which point I noticed a marked Crown Vic. I forget whether this was a 3-way stop, but even if wasn’t, the cop car was far enough away that my dad said I did not “fail to yield” or break any other laws.

 

As a new driver, a cop car so close behind me made me nervous; The red and blue lights came on and I was shocked; My dad was pissed because he didn’t think I’d done anything wrong.

I pulled onto the side of the road, which was dirt and gravel; The Pathfinder had handbrake in the center console, unlike my Tacoma which has a push-to-release foot pedal to the left of the brake pedal, and my dad didn’t think I was slowing down quickly enough so he yanked up the handbrake and brought the Pathy to a quick stop.

The cop walked up to the Pathfinder and asked for my license and stuff; I smiled at the cop and said something like “I have a learner’s permit and my dad’s giving me driving lessons, but he has his license.”

Seeing as my dad was 45 at the time and obviously had a valid license, and I was a 17-year old with a learner’s permit, no laws had been broken; One of us asked the cop why we we d been stopped, and he explained it...

This was less than five years after 9/11, and overzealous hospital security had called 911 about “two guys in a green Pathfinder with Virginia plates circling the hospital parking lot for more than an hour.”

The cop informed us that we had not actually broken any laws, and no citation would be issue, but he still had to run my dad’s license as a matter of course; Ticket or no ticket, it was still fucking aggravating!

 

It was hot that day and the Pathfinder had really good A/C, which we’d been making full use of during the driving lesson; My dad rolled down all the windows and made me shut off the engine so as to not cause anymore potential aggravation. As an autistic teenager who did not being idle in the heat, I started to testy without the A/C on and began complaining; My dad would not let me start the engine to turn on the A/C, and I think he’d even taken the keys so I wouldn’t be tempted...

 

Obviously, both of our records came back totally clean; However, the cop wasn’t done and in what I can only describe as very poor police work on his part, he failed to notice the following...

• A rear license plate that said FLY NAVY on the top and NAVAL AVIATION on the bottom.
• A VP-69 Totems sticker in the rear window.
• A Department of Defense sticker clearly displayed in the windshield.

All the cop saw was a vehicle with Virginia pates, registered to a man with a Pennsylvania license; As stated above, he had no intention whatsoever of writing a ticket, but he started to lecture my dad about Pennsylvania law requiring him to register his vehicle in Pennsylvania within thirty days or sixty days of establishing residency or whatever.

My dad got pissed; He remained calm but I could see the veins showing in his neck. He took out his military ID and said that he was in the Navy, which exempted him from having to register his vehicle there.

The cop apologized, told us to have a nice day, and left; That stupid traffic stop ruined what should have been a fun and memorable day of father/son bonding, as my dad switched places with me and drove us home.

Even though he would have been well within his rights to keep all of his vehicles registered in Virginia until late 2007 (when he retired), he registered the Pathfinder and my mom’s van in Pennsylvania so we would “blend in” while I was getting driving lessons and not get unwanted attention from bored suburban cops.

 

The Pennsylvania plate that was issued to my dad’s 2002 BMW 325Ci in 2006 was transferred to a new Acura TL when my traded the BMW for that car in August 2008; The plate was transferred to my mom’s 2013 Nissan Murano in September 2014 when my parents traded the 2008 Acura for that, and it still retains that plate to this day...

The plate issued to the Pathy in 2006 could not be transferred to the Tacoma in 2009 because it was a nonpersonalized standard issue passenger plate and the Tacoma was obviously a truck...

The Tacoma had the original plate from 2009 until just last weekend, when I got the special “Railroad” plate.

 

The Virginia plate that was on my mom’s 2004 Honda Odyssey until 2006 was originally issued to my dad’s 1990 Mazda B2600i in late 1998. Unlike in Pennsylvania, pickup trucks in Virginia that aren’t used for commercial purposes carry the same license plates as other passenger vehicles; This applies to all trucks from import mini trucks all the way up to big 1-ton duallies. The Mazda’s plate was transferred to a brand new GMC Safari in May 2000 when my parents traded the Mazda for the van; The van remained registered in Virginia during the two years we lived in Oak Harbor, Washington (there’s that active duty military loophole again!). We lived in Virginia Beach from 1998 to 2000, and then moved to Northern Virginia in 2002; The GMC was traded for a new Honda Odyssey in 2004, and the Odyssey kept those same plates until my dad applied for a Pennsylvania title and plate in 2006.

 

Since 1990, all of our vehicles have exclusively been registered in Pennsylvania and Virginia, even though we’ve lived in California and Washington as well. I have a box of PA and VA plates dating from roughly 1998 to 2006 that have been on numerous vehicles, and I plan to hang them up in my garage. I also have a few New Jersey plates, A California plate, and a Washington plate; I bought the latter two at a store in San Francisco in 2009, because I wanted a license plate from each of the four states I’ve lived in.

The most recent additions to my collection are two West Virginia plates given to me by coworker who lives there, and now I’ve got the PA plate originally issued to my Tacoma by the dealer in 2009!

I also have a 1920s or 1930s NJ plate that I bought at a flea market, and one of the special issue USMC “Leatherneck” NJ plates that had been on my late grandpa’s leased 2007 GMC Envoy. The lease was up on the Envoy in my 2010, and my step-grandma decided to buy a new Hyundai Santa Fe and give the Envoy back because she thought it was too big. My uncle collects license plates as well, so my nana let me take one USMC plate and my uncle took the other one...

 

I think I'll be close to 200K miles by the time 2025 rolls around!

 

My Cooper Discoverer AT/3s have about 30K-32K miles on them (I had the tires installed in March or April 2019 with like 91-92K miles on the truck, and it had like right around 123K mile at the time of this post, so do the math)...

Discovered this; Tire is holding air and TPMS light has not come on. Have a road hazard warranty through Mavis Discount Tire, but if this tire needs to be replaced then I may as well replace all four...

 

If the tred is 4/32" or lower, or greater than 5 years old, they won't repair it.
You could probably keep driving on it. Unless you have a big trip coming up, in that case you'd repair it.

 

Should I get four new tires then?