New England B.S. Thread

MA was like that, my mom's El Camino had the commercial plates..as did my friends who had trucks in the mid 90s.

That osprey sounds sweet, AKA pterodactyl

 

I had the osprey plates on my mazda.



I was going to go to the wildlife plates on the taco instead, but NOOOOOOOO now I can’t.

Also can’t do radio op license plates. Which, to be fair in RI is super boring. It’s just the wave plate with your call sign. but still, all those fun plates can only be done on Passenger, not on Combo, for some reason.

Also my trade in value isn’t reduced from sales tax at a dealer for a trok. More shenanigans.

 

My wife's yellow plate is all but gone up front hahahaha, I ended up getting the truck just after the new plates started going out so I've got one of the first of em. Registering in mass this summer when my current one expires so I won't get to find out if this one lasts any longer

 

I'm glad Mass if finally starting to pull its head out of its ass with this regard..
A Tacoma doesn't need commercial plates, unless... it is being used for commerce..
My F350 doesn't need commercial plates either.
Grandpa's f350 dually used to tow their 5th wheel... doesn't need commercial plates... yet, it is required because it is a dually.

Each state has their own interpretation of the federal laws....

 

Anyone ever rebuild the JBA UCA ball joints? If so, how hard is that? I'm either debating on doing that, or just buying new ones.

 

That all went away in the late 1990s. Your mom's El Camino couldn't go on any MDC Parkway, Storrow Drive, or Memorial Drive. Commercial vehicles were allowed to get on for one exit, but any further than that was citable. Once in a while I'd forget and drive the tow truck on Furnace Brook. The MDC cops never stopped me, maybe because it was a two truck and had Dealer Plates. But they did stop a lot of other trucks even if they weren't owned by a business.

AFAIK, that rule is still in effect, but at least now pick up can have PC plates and not Commercial ones.

 

Yup, which makes sense as in theory a tow truck isn't a daily per se. Mom had the Elky in the early 80s..and my friends I mentioned was mid 1990s.

My wife had a 96 Tacoma when we met in 2002 that never had commercial plates.

 

They are super easy. They just bolt right on. No need to get new ones.

 

Rhode island says it's a truck if it has a bed.

Ridgeline? Truck. Maverick? Truck. Santa Cruz? Truck.

Honestly I think the maverick and Santa Cruz will be a turning point and a point of contention that might actually change something in RI. They're small, almost smart car city vehicles but they're sold, taxed, and viewed the same by lord DMV as a pooper duty F350 etc.

There's gonna be some granola cruncher who makes a stink. I guarantee it.

 

Except the Maverick has a relatively high payload capacity at 1,500 lbs and can tow 4K lbs which puts it swinging with the Tacoma and Frontier (on paper anyways). So they’d have to make changes for quite a few vehicles if they let the Maverick slide.

 

But it was a commercial vehicle and a truck. I never really worried about it and knew which roads i could and couldn't drive on.

 

It drives me crazy when I see a license plate that is completely covered in registration stickers. It’s usually on a beater Camry or Altima. Only in RI.

 

Can anyone help? I bought new tires for my Volk TE37’s. I had them mounted today. On the first tire removal, the foot slipped on the machine, and my wheel raised up and destroyed the wheel on the machine. These are gloss black, 16x8-0. I’m heart broken. Not sure if I can post a WTB on TW, or if anyone has advice. Thanks.

 

No advice but you can definitely post a WTB since you're at 50 plus posts..OW

 

Thanks - I wasn’t sure how that worked. I can do that in the marketplace?

 

Yes sir, looks like you already found it...fingers crossed for ya

 

Thanks Man - we’ll see.

 

What's today's preferred process & coating for armor and sliders that are definitely going to get used? I'm thinking:

• sandblast ('cause my shit's rusty as hell)
• ospho metal prep
• automotive primer (Rustoleum rattle can)
• spray-on bed lining (Duplicolor rattle can)
• topcoat with paint (Rustoleum rattle can)

Any redundant steps, for example, would I really need to hit it with the metal prep following the sandblasting, or would I be fine with a self-etching primer? Any estimates on how much primer, paint, etc. I'd need for a full plate bumper, sliders, three front skids, and a fuel tank skid?

 

I use self etching primer and rustoleum bed liner, but my process on new armor is basically the same except I use acetone before priming

 

Same approach as I use. I don’t sandblast though, I just hit any spots with rust with a bit more sanding than the rest, and just roll with it.

I need to get some grip tape to wrap around where I step to get in and out. Shit gets slippery in the ice

I use the self etching primer too. But yeah, rattle cans all around. At least for armor, not worth it I know I’m going to be abusing it.

I have to do my skid this spring